Chapter 5
David released Mrs. Albright’s collar and dove through the open window, shattering the remaining pane of glass as he vaulted out onto the overgrown lawn behind the school. He ignored the stinging cuts on his hands and arms, sprinting toward the looming wall of dense pine trees that marked the beginning of Blackwood forest. The coordinates he had seen on the chalkboard burned in his mind like a physical brand.
The canopy overhead blocked out the remaining twilight, plunging the forest into a suffocating, ink-black darkness. The air grew suddenly cold, smelling of damp earth and rotting leaves. David pushed past low-hanging branches that whipped viciously across his face, his breath coming in ragged, painful gasps.
"Clara!" he shouted into the void, the sound swallowed up almost instantly by the dense thicket of trees.
He pulled out his phone, praying for a signal, but the screen displayed a dead icon with a red circle of no service. They had jamming equipment nearby. This whole area was a dead zone designed to isolate anyone foolish enough to follow the trail.
As he scrambled down a steep, muddy embankment, his foot caught on a hidden root, sending him tumbling headfirst down the slope. He crashed hard into a thick patch of briars, scraping his face and tearing his grey button-down shirt. Groaning, he pushed himself up, wiping mud from his eyes.
Ahead of him, through the tangled trunks of the trees, a faint amber light flickered against the fog.
David crept forward, moving as quietly as the rustling underbrush would allow. The light was coming from a dilapidated wooden cabin that didn't appear on any official topographical maps of the county. Through a cracked, grime-covered window, he saw movement.
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He crept up to the side of the cabin, pressing his back against the rotting cedar siding. Peering inside through the gap in the glass, his breath caught in his throat.
Clara was tied to a wooden chair in the center of the dusty room, a thick strip of duct tape covering her mouth. But she wasn't alone. Standing over her with a flashlight was a man David recognized instantly—Mayor Thomas Henderson, the very politician David was scheduled to expose in the Sunday morning edition of the gazette.
