Chapter 10 - The Condemned Span
The heavy timber bridge groaned beneath the weight of our truck, the ancient wooden planks creaking and popping like gunshots as the tires rolled over them.
"Ray, gun it!" I shouted.
Behind us, the first SUV barreled down the dirt track, its heavy steel push-bumper smashing through the overgrown brush. It hit the entrance of the bridge at full speed, its headlights blinding our rearview mirrors.
"Look at the right support post!" Leo shouted from the floorboard, pointing his small finger through the back window. "Mom’s yellow tape!"
Tied around the main tension cable of the timber support was a bright strip of surveyor’s ribbon—the exact neon-yellow markers Rachel used in her civil engineering firm. Dangling from the cable was a heavy iron winch lever, hooked to an emergency release cable Rachel had rigged when she discovered Marcus was tracking her movements through the logging trails.
"Ray, the passenger side! Get me close to that beam!"
Ray sideswiped the edge of the bridge, sliding the truck's passenger side within inches of the timber upright.
I rolled down the window, leaned halfway out into the freezing downpour, and grabbed the iron lever with both hands.
"Sarah, hold on!" Ray roared.
I yanked the release pin backward with every ounce of strength in my body.
The heavy iron cable snapped with the sound of a whip crack. The rotting crossbeams beneath the rear half of the bridge buckled instantly under the weight of the pursuing SUV.
A terrifying crunch of splintering oak echoed through the gorge. The SUV’s front wheels gripped empty air as the entire rear span collapsed, sending the vehicle tumbling sideways into the darkness, crashing into the swollen river eighty feet below.
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The second SUV slammed on its brakes at the edge of the chasm, its headlights illuminating the sheer drop.
Ray slammed his foot on the gas, the front tires of the truck catching solid rock on the other side of the ridge just as the final timbers gave way behind us.
