Chapter 7
The cabin door creaked open, and Mayor Henderson stepped out onto the rotting wooden porch, pulling a silver cigarette case from his breast pocket. He flickered a heavy brass lighter, the bright flame illuminating his cold, calculating eyes in the dark. David pressed himself flat against the shadowed corner of the wall, holding his breath as the acrid smell of tobacco drifted past his face.
"Sweep the perimeter again, boys," Henderson muttered over his shoulder without looking back. "Miller is a journalist; he's smart enough to follow coordinates, but he's too cowardly to attack us directly."
From inside the cabin, the heavy footsteps of one of the armed guards echoed on the floorboards as he moved toward the exit.
David knew he had seconds to act before he was cornered against the wall. As the guard pushed the door open wider, David lunged forward from the darkness, slamming his shoulder directly into the man’s chest. The guard let out a surprised grunt as they both crashed hard onto the dirt path outside the porch.
The shotgun flew from the man’s grip, clattering away into the dark underbrush.
Mayor Henderson spun around, dropping his cigarette into the mud. "What the—Miller!" he shouted, stumbling backward as David pinned the groaning guard to the ground with a knee to his chest, throwing a heavy right hook that knocked the man unconscious.
David scrambled to his feet, his eyes locked on the mayor. Henderson’s face drained of color as he realized he was unarmed and exposed. He scrambled backward toward the cabin door, but David was already moving, closing the distance between them with furious momentum.
Before David could grab the mayor, the cabin's second guard appeared in the doorway, leveling the barrel of his shotgun straight at David's chest.
"Stop right there, Miller, or I'll blow your head clean off," the guard snarled, his finger tightening visibly on the double triggers.
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David froze, his hands raised in the air. The cold metal barrel looked impossibly large in the dim porch light.
From inside the cabin, a sudden, shattering crash rang out, followed by Clara’s terrified scream as the window glass splintered into a thousand pieces.
