Chapter 11
The red and blue strobes painted the rusted iron tracks of the old railway station in erratic, dizzying strokes of light. Three police cruisers blocked the main access road, their doors standing wide open. Officer Miller and two other armed men were casually leaning against the hood of the lead cruiser, sharing a cigarette while scanning the treeline with thermal binoculars.
David pulled Clara back into the deep shadows of the pine trees, his heart sinking into his stomach. They were completely surrounded. Every exit route out of the valley was locked down tighter than a vault.
"What do we do now, Dad?" Clara whispered, her voice barely a breath against the wind.
David stared at the station house. The emergency transmitter was housed inside the old ticket office, barely fifty yards away across an open expanse of gravel. In daylight, it would be an impossible run; in the dark, with thermal optics sweeping the area, it was nothing short of a suicide mission.
Yet, staying in the freezing woods meant certain hypothermia within the hour. Clara’s lips were turning a frightening shade of blue, and her breathing was growing dangerously shallow.
"We're going to make a distraction," David said grimly, pulling a heavy iron bolt he had picked up near the cabin out of his pocket.
He didn't wait for Clara to protest. He crept forty yards to the left, positioning himself behind a rusted fuel drum. With a powerful heave, he hurled the heavy iron bolt across the open gravel lot. It landed with a loud, metallic clang against the side of an old flatbed railcar.
Instantly, the three officers snapped to attention. "Over there! By the railcar!" Officer Miller shouted, waving his men toward the noise as they swept their flashlights across the gravel.
"Now, Clara! Run!" David hissed, grabbing her hand and bolting across the open clearing toward the side door of the ticket office.
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They sprinted with every remaining ounce of energy they possessed, their wet boots crunching loudly on the gravel. Just as they reached the wooden steps of the station house, a bright white spotlight flared behind them, catching them squarely in its blinding glare.
"Freeze! Don't move an inch!" Officer Miller’s voice bellowed across the clearing, accompanied by the distinct, terrifying sound of a rifle bolt being racked into place.
