The car roared down the highway, headlights cutting through the darkness as Hayes and Wallace sped through the stillness of the night. The adrenaline from their escape at the safe house hadn't worn off yet, and the rush of what they had just uncovered sent Hayes' mind into overdrive. The tension inside the car was thick, the kind that presses down on you, making every breath feel heavier.
Hayes glanced at the rearview mirror again, eyes scanning the road behind them for any sign of pursuit. The dimly lit highway stretched for miles, but paranoia gnawed at them. Reed's men could be anywhere—hiding, watching, waiting for the right moment to strike.
"Do you think they're following us?" Hayes asked, more to break the silence than anything.
"Not yet," Wallace muttered, rifling through the stack of documents on their lap. "But they will be. We rattled the wrong cage tonight."
Wallace held up one of the documents, squinting at the small print in the low light. "Look at this—bank transfers to offshore accounts. Dates going back almost ten years. This isn't just business laundering; this is a cover-up of something way bigger."
Hayes glanced at the document briefly before turning their attention back to the road. "Reed's been hiding in plain sight, using his influence to keep everything buried."
"We're sitting on a goldmine of dirt," Wallace continued, flipping to another file. "Names, dates, transactions. It's all here. If we can connect this to the bigger picture, we could end Reed once and for all."
"And that's exactly why we can't sit still," Hayes replied, tightening their grip on the steering wheel. "Reed's going to know soon enough what we've taken. When that happens, it'll be open season on us."
Wallace let out a slow breath, closing the file and leaning back in the seat. "Who do we even give this to? Reed's got his claws in everything. We hand this over to the wrong person, and we might as well paint targets on our backs."
"I know someone," Hayes said after a pause. "He's been working on Reed's case for months, quietly building something bigger than local law enforcement can touch. Federal agent. He operates off the grid, and he's clean. We get this to him, and it might just be enough to bring Reed down for good."
Wallace raised an eyebrow. "You trust him?"
Hayes nodded. "As much as I trust anyone in this mess. He's got nothing to gain from selling us out."
The highway stretched ahead, miles of empty road, with the city lights long behind them. The moon hung low in the sky, casting silver light across the landscape. The eerie calm of the drive felt like the calm before a storm—silent, heavy, and foreboding.
As the hours passed, dawn began to break, and the first slivers of light peeked over the horizon. Hayes pulled the car off the highway, following a barely visible dirt road that wound through a thick forest. The trees closed in on either side, the path narrow and hidden, leading deeper into the woods until, finally, a small, weathered cabin came into view.
"This is it," Hayes said, pulling the car to a stop a few hundred feet from the cabin. They killed the engine, and for a moment, they sat in the stillness of the forest, listening to the distant chirping of birds and the rustle of leaves in the morning breeze.
Wallace glanced at the cabin. "Quiet. Too quiet."
"Yeah," Hayes agreed, stepping out of the car. "But this guy knows how to stay off the radar. If anyone can help us, it's him."
They approached cautiously, eyes scanning the perimeter for anything out of place. The cabin looked abandoned—windows dark, no signs of life—but Hayes had been here before. The agent had taken great care to keep his safehouses looking uninhabited, blending them into the environment like they had been forgotten by time.
Hayes knocked on the door three times, a specific rhythm they had been told would signal the agent. For a long, tense moment, there was no response. Then, slowly, the door creaked open.
Standing in the doorway was a tall man in his mid-fifties, his graying hair tousled and his eyes sharp with suspicion. He wore an old leather jacket, and his weathered face bore the signs of a life spent in the shadows. He scanned Hayes and Wallace with a quick, assessing glance before stepping aside to let them in.
"You picked a hell of a time to show up here," the agent muttered as he closed the door behind them. His voice was low, gravelly, a lifetime of secrets and tension woven into every word. "What've you got for me?"
"This," Hayes said, pulling the bag of documents from under their jacket and placing it on the cabin's dusty table. "Everything we pulled from Reed's safe house—offshore accounts, bank transfers, key names. It's enough to bury him."
The agent opened the bag and began flipping through the papers, his eyes narrowing as he absorbed the information. After a few minutes, he nodded, a grim smile tugging at the corner of his lips. "You've been busy. This could do it. Reed's been untouchable for too long, but with this… we can finally nail him."
"We need to move fast," Wallace said, pacing near the window and peering out into the woods. "We barely got out of there alive. Reed's going to send his people after us. It's just a matter of time before they track us down."
The agent grunted in acknowledgment. "I'll get this to the right people, but you need to disappear. If Reed knows what you've got, he won't stop until you're dead. And believe me, his reach is longer than you think."
Hayes shook their head. "We're not running. We've come too far to hide now. We want to see this through."
The agent's eyes hardened. "You don't know what you're asking for. Reed's dangerous. His people will burn everything in their path to protect him, and that includes anyone standing in the way."
"We know," Wallace said, stepping forward. "But we're not backing down."
The agent sighed, rubbing his hand across his chin. "You're making this harder on yourselves, but I can respect the determination. I'll contact you when the gears start turning. Until then, keep your heads down and don't do anything stupid."
He handed Hayes a burner phone, cheap and untraceable. "Use this. I'll call when the time's right. But when that happens, you'd better be ready to move fast."
Hayes pocketed the phone and nodded. "We'll be ready."
The early morning light filtered through the trees as they stepped out of the cabin, the peace of the forest starkly contrasting the storm brewing beneath the surface. For a moment, the world felt normal—birds chirped, leaves rustled, and the faint scent of pine filled the air. But Hayes knew better. This was just the eye of the storm.
"Where do we go from here?" Wallace asked as they climbed back into the car.
Hayes started the engine, their expression hardening. "We don't wait. We need to keep digging, find out who else is tied to Reed and cut off his power before he can use it against us."
Wallace nodded. "If Reed's going down, he's not going down quietly. It's about to get messy."
"Let it," Hayes said, determination burning in their eyes as the car pulled onto the dirt road, heading back toward the highway. "We've got what we need. Now it's our turn to take him down."
As they drove away, the trees closed in around them once more, the road ahead dark and uncertain. But Hayes knew one thing for sure—the fight was far from over, and they were ready for whatever came next.