Chapter Twenty-Three
The sound of voices outside woke Elena up with a start.
Where was she? For a moment she was disoriented.
Then everything came rushing back to her.
The vision of Amber falling after being shot.
Running down a hill, hiding in a small spot on a rock edge, breaking into the house, and now being warm and resting in this cabin.
But there’d been no one else around earlier.
She heard the voices again. Shit. The knife was still clutched in her hand and she tightened her grip as she slithered out of bed, staying low so that she’d be harder to see through a window.
She had to put on her socks and shoes. Running without shoes out in the wilderness would be crazy and give the men pursuing her another advantage.
She managed to crawl along the floor to the furnace, where she turned off the heat. There had to be a vent, and like a fire, the furnace noise or vent might expose which cabin she was in. She hadn’t thought about that until now.
Quickly getting her socks and shoes back on, she also found her jacket and backpack so that she was prepared to go again.
The rest was helpful, and even though it had probably only been a couple hours since it was still pitch-dark outside, she felt better.
The water helped too. Although her stomach grumbled a bit, she was able to ignore it.
She’d eat when there weren’t killers coming after her.
Peering out the front door, she saw the men who had been pursuing her on foot going around each cabin.
They didn’t know which one she was in and she was able to get a better look at them.
They carried themselves like cops, with their backs against the wall of the structure and confidence in how they were clearing each small building.
Elena remembered one cop she knew talking about how their heads were on a swivel taking in the surroundings.
The men were doing just that, keeping an eye out for anyone ready to ambush them while they hunted her.
How had they found her? The way they looked in each window made her think that maybe they were guessing as to her whereabouts, knowing she would need shelter and wouldn’t want to stay out in the wilderness.
She took a deep breath and gave herself a pep talk. Think. You can escape. You can outsmart these guys. And you can certainly outrun them. They might be cops, but you’re in better shape.
The hard part about the cabins was that they were one room and there wasn’t a good spot to hide. There was a tiny bathroom, but no window to escape. There was a front door and back door. The cabin was truly simple, which didn’t work in her favor right now.
Elena crawled to the back door. If she timed it right, she could maybe sneak out and flee before they saw her. And before they went to the front and saw the broken window with the pillow shoved in it. That was a dead giveaway.
She carefully undid the lock on the back door and waited, her backpack on and knife grasped in her hand, ready.
Before her dad had lost his job and things went downhill with her parents, he had taught her some knife skills, including using her whole hand in what he’d called a power grip.
That way she could use all her strength.
And when you were tiny, you needed all the advantages you could get.
Shadows walked by the front window and around to the door with the broken glass. The moon was out enough to silhouette the men’s figures and she saw one point to the broken glass and door. They were using signals and staying quiet. This was her chance.
She kept the strong grip on her knife and quietly opened the back door, slipping out into the night. Elena tiptoed until she thought she was clear and then she made a dash for the tree line.
But another person was waiting by the back door.
A hand grabbed her backpack and pulled her off-balance.
She fell backward, landing on the person and could hear him grunt.
Scrambling to her feet, Elena clung to her backpack, which the man was trying to steal.
She had to keep it. Inside was everything she had on this case.
It might be the only bargaining chip she had.
The man caught her again and pulled her to the ground. She rolled over and landed a kick to his groin. Seeing him double over in pain, she took her chance to run, but he managed to lunge and snatch her again. She had to get away from him, because once the other men joined in, she was doomed.
Elena gripped the knife and reared back, bringing the blade down hard on the man’s hand.
He screamed in pain but kept ahold of her.
She took the knife and this time managed to plunge it into his neck.
She pulled it out. Blood started spurting and she could hear the other people running toward her as the man grabbed his neck.
Breathing hard and quick, she scrambled back to her feet and sprinted.
As fast as she could, not caring if branches hit her face.
She tripped over rocks and got back up. She ran until she couldn’t run anymore and then stopped.
Where was she now? Damn it, in her terror she hadn’t even paid attention to which direction she’d fled.
Doubling over and breathing hard, tears started to fall. Everything she’d been holding in came out as she sobbed, although she tried to stay quiet. Standing up and taking deep breaths, Elena worked to calm herself down. Her hands shook, but her right hand still held the knife, blood all over it.
She listened. Nothing. Had she lost them again?
She had to keep going. And she was going to forget about finding shelter.
They’d found her there. How, she wasn’t sure, but they had.
The only thing she heard was the sound of running water.
The creek. If she could find it, she could get her bearings again.
Hiking toward the sound of flowing water, she arrived at a small waterfall feeding into a stream.
Maybe the same one she’d crossed earlier.
Taking the bloody knife, Elena cleaned it off in the ice-cold water, her hands still shaking from the fear and adrenaline.
The water flowed away from her. If she followed it, maybe she could find her way to Pinecone Junction or even the town they’d stopped in with the bank. That seemed like a million years ago.
Her survival instincts kicked in. Her feet were dry.
For now. She had water and would ration it.
Pulling out the map, she found what she thought was the stream where she currently was.
This creek flowed into a bigger river and that river would lead her farther down the highway and away from Pinecone Junction, and eventually to the other town they’d stopped at called Bobcat Springs.
She would go there and find someone who would help her. Hopefully, there wouldn’t be someone waiting to kill her there.