Chapter 8: The Abandoned Cabin
Julian threw himself flat against the rotting wooden porch, dragging Clara and Maya down into the tall grass beside him. Another suppressed gunshot whined overhead, chipping a thick chunk of cedar from the front step and burying itself deep into the cabin door. The attackers had flanked them faster than Julian had calculated, closing the distance through the dense brush with ruthless efficiency.
“They’re cutting off our path to the shed,” Clara whispered, her voice trembling violently as she pressed herself flat against the damp earth. Her dark red gown was now stained with dark mud and forest debris, completely ruined, mirroring the total collapse of their hidden world.
Julian peeked around the edge of the porch, his eyes scanning the tree line fifty yards away. He spotted the brief flash of dark tactical gear moving between the trunks of two thick maples. They were professional mercenaries, untied to any local law enforcement, operating under orders to leave no witnesses.
“Maya, listen to me,” Julian said, turning his head to look directly into his daughter’s wide, terrified eyes. He reached into his jacket and pulled out the tightly rolled canvas containing her charcoal portrait of his face. He pressed it firmly into her hands. “Take this. If we get separated, you run straight north toward the highway. Do not stop for anything.”
“I’m not leaving you again, Dad!” Maya cried, clutching the rolled canvas to her chest as tears cut clean tracks through the dirt on her face. “I just found you!”
“You’re not going to lose me,” Julian promised, his voice carrying an absolute, unyielding conviction that cut through her panic. He unbuttoned the cuffs of his white shirt, rolling them up swiftly. “Clara, take her through the back door of the cabin. There’s a root cellar underneath the floorboards that connects to the vehicle shed. Get the SUV started.”
Clara didn’t hesitate this time. She grabbed Maya’s arm, hauling the young girl up from the grass. Together, they kicked open the warped wooden back door of the cabin and vanished inside just as another round of suppressed gunfire shattered the remaining windows of the front porch.
Julian drew a deep breath, dropped low, and scrambled off the porch into the brush to the left. He needed to draw their fire, to create a window of opportunity for Clara and Maya to reach the vehicle.
“Over here!” Julian shouted, standing up briefly and firing a tactical distraction flare he had swiped from the estate’s emergency kit into the upper branches of a dead oak tree.
May you like
The flare hissed to life, showering blinding red sparks over the forest canopy. Instantly, three muzzle flashes erupted from the tree line as the mercenaries redirected their fire toward the decoy. Bullets shredded the leaves around Julian, but he was already moving, sliding down a muddy embankment toward the cabin’s vehicle shed.
He reached the back entrance of the shed just as the deep, throbbing roar of an SUV engine vibrated through the floorboards.
