He struck the flare, sparks flying before red fire bloomed to life, bright and furious. He waved it high, the light slicing through the storm. The SUV screeched to a stop yards away, its lights cutting through the mist. Far off, barely audible at first, sirens began to echo through the night.
The SUV idled for a few seconds at the quarry’s edge, its lights glaring across the mud. Then, as the faint wail of sirens grew louder, the engine roared, and the vehicle reversed, vanishing into the forest road like a shadow dissolving in the rain.