Chapter 10 - Surrounded in the Woods-10
The green indicator light on the security monitor instantly shifted to a flashing crimson ring.
Motion detected at Sector Three: North Ridge Trail.
Leah froze, her breath catching in her throat. She looked down at the baby sleeping peacefully in the laundry basket, then snapped her gaze back to Simone.
"They found us," Leah whispered, the panic threatening to paralyze her limbs.
"Impossible," Simone muttered, her fingers flying across the keyboard to pull up the external infrared cameras. "This cabin is encrypted against satellite tracking. Unless..." Her face paled. "Unless they tracked the burner phone we used to call the emergency relay."
On the primary monitor, the infrared camera feed flickered to life. Through the grainy, heat-signature lens, three distinct figures could be seen moving silently through the dense pine trees, clad in tactical gear and carrying suppressed rifles. Leading them, identifiable by his stiff, unmistakable posture and the pale shape of his face, was Nathan.
He hadn't just sent security guards this time. He had come himself.
"We need to move. Now," Simone commanded, grabbing the master flash drive from the USB port and slipping it into her pocket. She reached under the desk and pulled out a heavy tactical vest and a Glock handgun, tossing them toward Leah. "Can you handle a firearm?"
Leah caught the vest instinctively, her hands steadying. The fear that had paralyzed her earlier was entirely gone, replaced by a cold, lethal resolve. She had survived childbirth, psychiatric traps, and a midnight escape; she would be damned if she let Nathan take her son back into that nightmare.
"I grew up on a farm in rural Ohio," Leah said quietly, sliding the pistol holster onto her belt. "I know how to shoot."
"Good," Simone nodded, grabbing a go-bag packed with baby formula and emergency supplies. "There’s a fortified storm cellar beneath the floorboards of the back pantry. It has a hidden drainage tunnel that empties into the creek fifty yards down the ridge. I’m going to create a diversion at the front porch using the automated security tripwires."
"No," Leah said, stopping Simone by the arm. "We go together. If we split up, they’ll hunt us down one by one."
Before Simone could answer, a heavy, metallic crash echoed from the front porch.
SMASH!
The reinforced iron security grate over the front window buckled under the force of a crowbar, and the glass shattered inward in a shower of glittering shards.
"Leah! Open the door!" Nathan’s voice rang out from the porch, muffled but frantic. "I know you're in there! Don't make this any harder than it has to be! Mom has the whole perimeter locked down by federal marshals on her payroll! You can't escape!"
Federal marshals on her payroll. It was a bluff, but a terrifyingly plausible one given the scale of Doreen’s corruption.
"Nathan, you bastard!" Leah shouted back, stepping out of the hallway into the living room with the Glock raised and aimed directly at the shattered front window. "You traded your own son like a stock option! You're nothing more than a parasite!"
Through the broken glass, Nathan’s face appeared in the frame, his eyes wide and unhinged. "You don't understand, Leah! It’s the only way! Mom says we can have another child—a proper one! Just give me the baby!"
May you like
"Over my dead body," Leah whispered.
At that exact second, Simone triggered the master console bypass switch, activating the cabin’s automated defensive strobe lights and a deafening siren that filled the forest with ear-splitting noise. In the confusion, Leah scooped her baby basket up, and together, she and Simone dropped through the trapdoor into the dark, damp storm cellar just as the front door of the cabin was blown completely off its hinges.
