Chapter Twenty-Two
The sun was setting. Night was coming. Elena shivered and hugged herself, gripping her arms like that would make her warm and take away the situation she was in.
This had to pertain to the case with Ref.
What else could it be? She had thought about it as she hiked all day, lips parched.
She’d run out of the water she’d taken from the house.
Her feet seemed to become heavier and heavier with each step.
She knew Amber had been in trouble when she was here in January, but the call to Josh was about the case.
Ref had warned her, and Elena hadn’t listened.
Now she knew why he had been so hesitant.
Someone was desperate enough to pursue her in the mountains to keep her quiet.
Keeping an inmate quiet was much simpler.
All they had to do was hire the right person on the inside and Ref would be a goner whether he was stabbed or beaten or who knows what. It happened all the time.
The thoughts were what kept her going. She was angry.
The system had failed, but she wasn’t going to.
The other thing keeping her going was that not too far ahead were some recreation cabins.
She could break into one—her new career move, apparently.
She never thought as a prosecutor that she’d resort to breaking and entering, but here she was.
Right now, Elena didn’t care. She wanted water and rest. Hopefully these cabins would have running water.
Coming to a stream, she searched for a good place to cross.
Her feet were already moist from the snow she’d gone through.
She didn’t need to make them soaking wet.
Hopefully she could dry out her shoes and socks at the cabin when she arrived.
Would the cabins have heat? Making a fire if there was a fireplace wasn’t an option.
That would only send up smoke like a flag waving to say she was here.
Elena had learned from the previous house not to turn on lights or anything electronic as well. She wouldn’t make that mistake again.
Lesson learned.
She came across an area of the stream that had some rocks that she thought she could step on.
The water was running fast under spots that were still iced over.
The rocks seemed dry. If they were wet, they would be slick.
Tired, she took a deep breath and concentrated.
She had to focus on this task because if she slipped off a rock and fell in the water, then she’d have to worry about more than her feet getting wet.
The light was difficult as the sun continued to set, but she managed to step on one rock at a time and make it over the stream.
Stepping onto the bank on the other side, Elena breathed a sigh of relief.
Based on the map, she needed to backtrack up the stream and then hike about another quarter mile to the cabins.
The map had topographical marks and she was certain that she didn’t have too hard of a walk into the cabin area.
The sound of something crossing the creek behind her made Elena startle.
She moved behind a tree and waited, holding her breath.
A large mule deer buck trotted by, barely turning his head to acknowledge her.
Had something startled him? Were the men pursuing her still on her tail?
She’d been certain that she’d lost them, but now Elena’s heart pounded and her hands shook.
Waiting for about five minutes, there were no other disturbances, animal or human. Stepping out from her hiding spot, Elena continued her trek, daylight almost completely gone. Her eyes were adjusting, but still, nighttime in the mountains scared her and she wanted to be inside a building.
Just as she was certain she’d gone the wrong direction and was completely lost, some structures appeared in the distance.
Tears of joy cascaded down her face. She had found shelter.
She could rest, warm up, and drink water.
Her stomach rumbled, but she didn’t care.
She could go without food for now, but her lips were cracked and bleeding. She needed water.
Almost jogging, even though each step took enormous effort, Elena came to the first cabin.
She peered around, making sure no one else was there.
If someone had rented the cabin, they might be able to help.
But the men pursuing her might think to check areas like this too.
They had driven around the neighborhood where she’d gone, although that was a little more obvious from her starting location.
Sneaking up to a cabin, she pressed herself against one of the log sides, the rough wood scraping her back.
She listened first, but there were no noises.
The silence was eerie. Elena was used to the sounds of a city, like cars honking, buses driving by, people laughing or whistling for a taxi.
The clank of the El as the trains traveled down the tracks.
Out here, there was literally nothing except the wind, which made a creepy whooshing noise through the trees when it gusted up.
She peered around the corner and evaluated each cabin.
No lights on. No vehicles parked anywhere.
No smoke coming from the chimneys. Gaining confidence, she stepped out from her hiding spot and walked toward the other cabins.
There were only four total and a road coming into the area that formed a circle drive with little offshoots to each structure.
When she was in the middle of the circle drive, Elena noticed a gate across the access road.
Probably meant the cabins were seasonal or something. That helped her out.
Elena went to each log house and jiggled the front doors. They were locked. Probably some forest ranger opened them when the time came. Or maybe people were given a key when they rented the place. Who knew. She certainly didn’t.
“Back to breaking and entering,” she muttered to herself.
She went with her earlier MO and found a good-size rock that she could pick up and toss through a window.
Her next paycheck was going to go toward window replacements, but she didn’t mind.
If she lived long enough to worry about paying for new windows, that was a good sign.
Carefully putting her arm through the broken glass, she had to stand on her tippy-toes to reach down to the lock.
What she wouldn’t give to be taller at times.
Most of the time, she didn’t mind her size.
It meant she could be nimble and fast. But other times, like now, trying to reach the handle below her, it would be nice to have longer arms and be a bit taller.
Her fingers found the lock and managed to turn it.
Breathing a sigh of relief, she stepped inside the rustic one-room cabin with only the basics.
There was a queen-size bed in the corner, a couch on the other side creating a break into a small kitchen.
She heard a mouse or other critter scurrying around.
That would normally freak her out, but right now, the bed looked wonderful and she didn’t care.
Much to her relief, there was a small furnace that needed its pilot light lit. Elena found a multipurpose lighter with a long handle that worked perfectly. Once the flame was ignited, she turned up the heat.
This time, there was no plastic bag or duct tape to fix the hole in the window.
Cold air drafted in, but she found an extra-small pillow and smushed it into the area where she’d broken the glass.
Kicking off her shoes and peeling off her socks, she saw blisters starting to form.
Not good, but she’d had blisters before when she was running competitively.
She could brave it until she figured her way out of this situation.
Placing her shoes by the furnace and hanging her socks, she went into the kitchen.
There was no food, but there were glasses and running water.
She took a long drink, the water almost stinging her lips, and then grabbed the empty plastic water bottle from her backpack, filling it up.
She wished she had a bigger water bottle, but this would do for now.
Her stomach growled now that she’d had some water.
Even though there was no food, the cabin apparently came equipped with some utensils, including a small, sharp chef’s knife. Elena grabbed that. She wouldn’t mind having something for protection.
Ignoring the churning in her stomach from being hungry and scared, Elena grasped the knife and went over to the bed.
She found extra blankets and curled into the fetal position under the covers.
The heat was kicking in, and for the first time in a while, she allowed her eyes to close and her body to rest. But she continued to clutch the knife.