"Spike insert," he muttered. Victoria stepped closer. "Meaning?" Elias answered before Marcus could. "It's designed to finish tearing the tire after the cut weakens it."
Victoria's eyes narrowed. "So whoever did this expected the tire to fail at speed." "Yeah," Elias said. Marcus looked between the two of them. That's still only half the problem.
Elias nodded. The brake line, Marcus held up the steel wedge, and this. The rain intensified, pounding against the convoy vehicles. One of the security drivers approached Marcus quickly. "Sir, we may have something else."
Marcus turned sharply. "What?" The driver pointed toward the rear of the SUV. "Look at the tread pattern." Marcus crouched again.
Elias followed his gaze. The wet pavement revealed something that hadn't been visible before. A faint oily sheen trailing from the back tire. Marcus's jaw tightened. "That's hydraulic fluid."
Victoria went still. Elias exhaled slowly. "Brake pressure would have dropped fast once the line opened." Marcus rose again, running a hand through rain-soaked hair. "This wasn't random."
No, Elias said quietly. "It was planned." The security chief turned toward the dark highway stretching ahead. "Planned for where?" Elias followed his gaze.
Because whoever did this expected you to drive away. Marcus crossed his arms. "And now we haven't." "Right." The security chief frowned.
"So, what does that mean?" Elias glanced down the road again. Rain blurred the distant curve. "It means the plan just changed." Marcus felt a chill that had nothing to do with the weather.
"Changed how?" Elias looked at the convoy. Then at the dark road beyond it. If I were the one who set that trap, he said quietly, I wouldn't stop at one. Victoria's voice dropped.
"You think there's more?" Elias met her eyes. "I think someone out there expected this convoy to crash tonight." The rain continued falling. The convoy engines hummed.
And suddenly the quiet roadside repair felt less like a delay and more like the beginning of something far worse. Rain continued to pour over the convoy, turning the shoulder of the highway into a slick ribbon of reflected light. The guards moved quickly now, crouching beside wheels, checking undercarriages, scanning electronics with small handheld devices. Marcus Trent stood in the middle of it all, watching the quiet mechanic who had just overturned the entire security assessment of the evening. "You're saying someone planned for the car to fail at that turn?"
Marcus said. Elias nodded once. "And you're saying that if we'd driven off ten minutes ago," Marcus added. "You'd probably be cleaning wreckage out of the guardrail right now," Elias finished. Marcus exhaled slowly through his nose.
That possibility settled into the air like a weight. Victoria Hale wrapped her arms lightly around herself against the cold rain, though her mind was moving too fast to notice the weather anymore. "Marcus," she said calmly, "assume the sabotage is real." Marcus looked at her. "Yes, ma'am."
"Then assume whoever did it hasn't given up just because we stopped." Marcus turned toward his team. "Expand the perimeter," he ordered. "200 yards both directions." Guards moved instantly, spreading along the roadside and into the dark tree line with flashlights.