Chapter 12 - THE CABIN FLOOR
Nolan Price stepped from the trees carrying a rifle.
My father stood behind him.
Mom was nowhere in sight.
Avery dragged Noah inside.
I followed because nothing else mattered.
Walter and Nolan came in behind us.
The cabin suddenly held every part of the nightmare.
My father.
My commanding officer.
The man who had hunted us through the hospital.
My son.
And somewhere beneath our feet, evidence worth killing for.
Walter locked the door.
Avery pointed a handgun at him.
“This wasn’t the arrangement.”
Dad laughed.
“You lost the right to discuss arrangements when you took my grandson.”
“You left him in the desert.”
“Different problem.”
They were turning on each other.
Good.
Let them.
Noah ran to me.
This time Avery let him.
I wrapped both arms around my son.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“Anywhere?”
He shook his head.
I kissed his hair.
“Stay behind me.”
Walter noticed the USB in my hand.
“Give me that.”
Avery said, “No.”
Nolan shifted his rifle between them.
“Enough.”
Dad looked at him.
“You work for me.”
Nolan’s expression barely changed.
“I work for whoever pays.”
Avery smiled.
Walter didn’t.
Perfect.
The alliance was dead.
I looked at the floor.
Old pine boards.
Fireplace.
Rug.
My mother had said under the floor.
Where?
Then I noticed scratches near the wood stove.
Recent.
Parallel.
Like something heavy had been moved repeatedly.
Walter saw my eyes.
Too late.
I kicked the rug aside.
A small metal ring was set into one floorboard.
Dad raised his weapon.
“Don’t.”
Avery swung toward him.
Nolan swung toward Avery.
Three armed men.
None trusted the others.
I pulled the floorboard anyway.
A narrow compartment sat beneath it.
Inside was a blue notebook.
Walter’s face changed.
For the first time all night, my father looked frightened.
Avery whispered, “Give it to me.”
Dad said, “Claire.”
I picked up the ledger.
Noah clung to my coat.
The notebook was heavier than it looked.
Names.
Dates.
Amounts.
Initials.
Federal contract numbers.
Then I saw it.
J. Avery.
Payments going back eight years.
$40,000.
$65,000.
$110,000.
My stomach twisted.
Avery saw my face.
“You don’t understand.”
“You sold information.”
“It wasn’t like that.”
“What was it like?”
“Your father had contacts. We moved surplus equipment.”
“Stolen equipment.”
“No one was getting hurt.”
I laughed.
“My six-year-old was abandoned on a freezing highway twelve hours ago.”
“That wasn’t my decision.”
Walter snapped, “Stop talking.”
Avery turned.
“You’re finished, Walter.”
“So are you.”
Nolan smiled.
“Actually, all of you are.”
He raised the rifle.
Then the back window shattered.
A chair came through it.
Everyone turned.
My mother climbed through the broken opening.
Her face was bleeding.
One shoe missing.
And she had my father’s second handgun in her hand.
“Get away from my daughter.”
Walter stared at her.
“Diane?”
She pointed the gun straight at him.
For one second, I almost believed she had come to save us.
Then she looked at the ledger in my hand.
“Claire.”
Her voice shook.
“Give that to me.”
And I understood.
May you like
She hadn’t come for me.
She had come for the book.
