Elias didn't look away. I'm telling you someone set a trap. Marcus stepped back toward them. "If that's true," he said slowly, "then we have a bigger problem." Victoria nodded.
"Yes," she said quietly. Then she looked again at the single dad standing beside the wheel. Which means, she added, we might also have the right person standing in the rain. Marcus frowned. "Ma'am?"
Victoria gestured toward Elias. "He saw something my entire security team missed." Marcus looked at the mechanic again. Rain ran down Elias's hairline, but he didn't move. Marcus crossed his arms.
"Mr. Rowan," he said carefully, "how exactly did you learn to spot something like this?" Elias hesitated. Not long, just long enough for the old life he'd buried to brush briefly against the present. "Let's just say," he said quietly, "I used to work around vehicles that people really wanted destroyed."
Marcus stared at him. The rain grew heavier. And for the first time since the convoy arrived, the most powerful people on that dark stretch of highway were listening to the quiet mechanic. The next moments on that roadside would prove exactly why. Because Elias Rowan wasn't finished looking at that car yet.
Marcus Trent remained crouched beside the wheel long after Elias finished speaking. Rainwater slid down the edge of the SUV and dripped steadily onto the pavement, forming a thin stream that ran toward the gutter of the shoulder. The security chief didn't like what he was seeing, and he liked even less that the man who'd spotted it first was standing there in worn boots with a socket wrench still lying beside him. "Flashlight," Marcus said. One of his men handed it over instantly.
The beam cut through the rain and illuminated the brake assembly. For several seconds, Marcus said nothing. The thin incision in the line was almost invisible unless you knew exactly where to look. Now he did. "That's clean work," he muttered.
Elias nodded once. "Too clean for highway debris." Marcus straightened slowly, water running off the brim of his collar. "Full inspection," he ordered his team, "engine compartment, undercarriage, electronics, everything." Two guards moved immediately, sliding under the SUV with portable lights while another opened the hood.
Victoria Hale watched the operation unfold with quiet intensity. The CEO's calm exterior hid a mind already running through possibilities. Someone had sabotaged her vehicle. Someone had done it precisely enough that her own security detail missed it. And the only reason she knew now was because a single dad with grease on his hands had decided to stop and help.
Her gaze shifted to Elias again. He wasn't watching her. He was watching the road. Not the convoy. The road.
Traffic blurred past in long streaks of white and red light. Rain hammered against the asphalt in steady waves. Elias finally spoke. "How long was the car parked before the tire blew?" Victoria answered without hesitation.
"ten minutes." Marcus glanced at her. "At the gas station." She clarified. "I stepped inside to take a call."
Elias nodded slowly. "That's enough time." Marcus crossed his arms. "Enough time for what?" "For someone to weaken the tire and prep the brake line."
One of the guards slid out from under the SUV wiping rain from his face. "Marcus." He said quietly. The security chief turned. "There's another issue."
"What kind?" The guard held up a small piece of metal he'd found lodged near the suspension. Marcus took it and examined it in the flashlight beam. A thin wedge of steel sharpened on one side. Marcus's expression hardened.