Even in Darkness She Chose to Rise (Tatiana and Jasper) novel Chapter 531

Chapter 531 A Dead End

40 Finished

Marcus clutched the mangled, bloody mess of his face, his voice a ragged scream. “Dammit! Get them! If they get away, we’re dead!”

He knew the score. With the kind of bankroll and power Jasper swung, letting him vanish into the night meant Marcus and his crew were marked men. This had to end here.

“Marcus, you pathetic screw–up! You let a woman put a bullet in you!” Icarus spat, his face twisted in contempt as he gunned the engine and tore after them.

Marcus hissed a string of curses. Who could have pegged that porcelain doll for a gunslinger? He’d nearly punched his ticket right then and there. A jagged, ugly grin split his face as he thought about what he’d do once he got his hands on her.

Jasper’s security detail had managed to tie up most of the hunters, but two trucks had broken through the chaos. The escape vehicle was no match for the poachers‘ custom–built rigs; the gap between them vanished in seconds.

The air shattered with a fresh volley of gunfire. The rearview mirror exploded into shards, and a second later, the driver slumped over, dead before he hit the wheel. The SUV jerked, veering wildly toward the edge of the road.

Jasper didn’t hesitate. He lunged across the center console, wrestling the wheel from the dead man’s grip and shoving the body aside to regain control. It was a frantic, thirty–second blur; a desperate gamble for survival that left everyone breathless.

Ann and Hubert were white–faced and trembling, their skin flecked with the driver’s blood. Tatiana’s jaw set in a hard line. She reached under the seat, hauled out a heavy–duty weapons case, and began snapping components together. Her hands moved with terrifying efficiency, assembling a high–caliber sniper rifle in seconds.

“Jasper! Give me a steady line!”

“You sure about this?”

A murderous glint flashed in her eyes. “Just drive.”

Jasper trusted her. He eased off the gas, letting the lead truck surge forward. The moment they were in range, Tatiana leaned out and squeezed the trigger.

Despite the blinding plumes of dust, the shot was surgical. The lead truck’s front tire disintegrated. The vehicle lurched, fishtailed violently, and slammed into a massive roadside boulder in a cloud of twisted metal. Tatiana ducked back inside just as a spray of return fire from the second truck peppered the frame.

1/3

Chapter 531 A Dead End

Finished

Jasper floored it, the engine roaring as they put distance between them. Only one truck left. But these knew the backroads, and they had the bigger guns. It was only a matter of time

guys

before they were pinned down.

“Hubert, Ann, remember that stunt–driving game we used to play?” Jasper’s voice was hauntingly steady.

The kids nodded frantically. “Yeah!”

“Good. You’re my co–pilots now. I need you to call out every rock, every ditch, and every turn on the right side. Can you do that for me?”

“We can!” they shouted, the terror in their voices replaced by a desperate focus. They wiped the tears from their eyes and pressed their faces to the glass. “Deep trench on the right!”

Jasper wrenched the wheel, the SUV dancing across the riverbed in a jagged, high–speed slalom. Tatiana watched, stunned, as the kids‘ callouts allowed Jasper to maintain a punishing pace. She finally had the breathing room to pick her shots.

“Fork in the road!” Jasper yelled. “Tatiana, left or right?”

“How the hell should I know?”

“Pick one. Now!”

“Left! Go left!”

He didn’t second–guess her. The tires shrieked as they drifted onto the gravel path. The second truck stayed glued to their bumper, a man with a scarred face leaning out the window with an assault rifle leveled.

“Brace yourselves!”

Jasper pulled a hard bank, sent the SUV charging up a steep embankment, and plowed straight into a wall of thick scrub. The screech of branches against the chassis was bone–chilling, but the heavy brush swallowed the incoming fire.

“Daddy’s the best!” Ann whispered, her eyes wide with awe.

But the reprieve was short–lived. The brush cleared, revealing a sheer drop–off with the river churning violently thirty feet below. Jasper slammed the brakes, the tires skidding to a halt inches from the precipice.

“Out! Everybody out!”

He threw off his belt and grabbed Hubert. “Tatiana, take Ann! Move!”

2/3

12:03 Sun, Apr 12

Chapter 531 A Dead End

38

Finished

They scrambled behind a massive rock formation just as the hunters‘ truck roared up, cutting off their retreat. Icarus and his men piled out, weapons drawn and closing in.

“When I say go, take the kids and run for those caves,” Jasper whispered, nodding toward a dark opening in the cliffside. “Don’t look back. Don’t stop.”

“What about you?” Tatiana’s fingers sank into his arm, her knuckles white.

Jasper just gave her a grim, fleeting smile. He scooped up a handful of heavy stones and hurled them into the brush further down the ridge. The noise pulled the hunters‘ eyes away for a fraction of a second.

“Go!”

Tatiana didn’t hesitate. She grabbed Ann’s hand, tucked Hubert under her arm, and bolted for the cave. Gunshots and panicked shouting erupted behind them, but she kept her eyes forward, her heart hammering against her ribs like a trapped bird.

The cave mouth was tight and slick with moisture. She shoved the kids inside but couldn’t help herself, she turned back. Jasper was a blur of motion, already on top of them. He was fighting like a man possessed, moving with the brutal, calculated grace of a predator. He crushed one man’s windpipe with a single strike and drove a knee into the face of another before the first could even hit the ground.

290