Chapter 30 #2
The air was crisp up at the remote cabin tucked deep in the forest, the tires crunching over fallen pine needles. The drive had been long and silent, anxiety lingering between them.
The cabin looked as though it hadn’t been used in years. Moss crept up the sides of the faded wooden panels. The shutters hung slightly crooked.
They stared at each other before climbing out of the car, both taking in the cabin before them. It was creepy. There was no question about it—isolated, weathered, and surrounded by enough trees to make Kara wonder if anyone would hear them if they screamed.
The padlock on the front door looked ancient and completely rusted over.
Elias opened the lock, revealing a modern keypad beneath the weathered exterior.
Without even looking at it, he recited the numbers aloud as he pressed them one by one.
Kara filed the code away in her mind, knowing it was meant for them, but hoping with everything in her that she would never need to use it again.
Inside, it felt like they could finally breathe. The fear that had been wound tight inside Kara began to loosen as she took in the cabin around them.
It was surprisingly nice. Homely wooden furnishings gave the place a comfortable, rustic feel, with a neat coffee station, cupboards lining the walls, and a double bed tucked into one corner. Kara's eyes settled on the fireplace, and she shuddered.
"It’s fake," Elias grunted, pointing toward a circular control on the wall. "Heating's there. Why don't you crank it up?"
Colin had been silent the entire time, and Kara couldn't help but feel for him. The recent weeks had been more than enough for anyone to handle, but being shot at and nearly killed was an entirely different kind of terrifying.
She gently touched his back, her voice soft. “Is everything okay?”
"We get shot at for trying to do the right thing." Colin gave a tired shake of his head. "Then I find out you've got friends in very high places." He turned to her, studying her face. "Who are you?"
Kara managed the faintest shrug.
Elias sat in the kitchen, nursing his shoulder.
He seemed remarkably fine for a man who had been practically dead only a few weeks ago, but up close, the damage was harder to miss.
Bruises mottled his skin, some fresh and dark while others had faded to sickly shades of yellow and green, evidence of injuries that hadn't fully healed.
Kara still wasn't entirely sure why he'd saved them—or where the hell he'd come from in the first place.
And as if reading her mind.
"Three men tried to kill you. I got them all,” he said matter-of-factly.
"Thank you, Elias," Kara said quietly.
He gave the smallest nod, but said nothing else.
"The other two," Colin asked carefully. "Where are they?"
The man ignored him and looked at Kara.
"Dead."
This was what Elias was good at. He was a bloodhound on a hunt, relentless once he had a trail. He found and eliminated threats for Reece, and he was damn good at it.
Kara glanced at Colin. He was already looking at her, not knowing what to make of it all. Somehow, she was going to have to explain it to him.
“I think I know what’s happening,” she offered.
"No, I don't think you do."
Elias’ voice wasn't cruel, but his tone made her aware of how very little she knew.
“I think you’ve still got yourself convinced this is all about your father. It isn’t. Somebody is spending money. Somebody is moving people around and paying off cops. Somebody is scared.”
“What are you saying?” Kara asked, confusion tightening in her chest.
“I’m saying whatever you found—whatever is happening right now—is bigger than a dead old man.”
She was momentarily stunned, frustrated with herself for not figuring it out sooner.
This was bigger than Pine Ridge—big enough that even Reece couldn’t touch it.
A government official had to be involved; it was the only thing that made sense.
Someone with authority over the police, plenty of money, and enough legitimate businesses that no one would question where it came from.
Mad Max—had been the ghost she’d been chasing for the past decade.
They’d just been shot at. George had been at the center of it all in her mind.
There were so many pieces that didn't fit or had led nowhere, but it was beginning to make sense.
They were nothing more than small players in the larger chain of corruption.
Elias’s phone vibrated on the counter. He glanced at the screen, and whatever he saw had him on his feet immediately.
“Stay put,” he ordered.
Without another word, he slipped out the door and disappeared into the woods, leaving Kara and Colin alone with more questions than answers.
“Are you okay?” Colin asked, gathering her into his warmth.
Kara leaned into him, letting the solid comfort of his arms steady her as the weight of everything that had happened finally began to settle over her.
Kara’s thoughts weren't about herself. They were still back on that stretch of road, on Sergeant Vargas kneeling beside her coworker, and the blood staining her hands.
She hoped Vargas would be okay. More than anything, she hoped the people responsible had finally made a mistake they couldn't hide—a mistake that would finally bring everything they'd done to light.
? ? ?
Colin moved first, checking the doors, then the windows, then the corners of the space with the quiet efficiency of someone who had decided fear was a luxury they couldn’t afford right now. He didn’t look at her while he did it. Neither acknowledged how close to death they’d been on that road.
He had stopped moving now, leaning against the edge of the counter, his head slightly bowed as if the weight of the day had finally begun to press down on him too. His sleeves were rolled up, faint traces of blood still streaking his arms.
He had protected her from the broken glass, she realized. He hadn’t hesitated for even a second. He’d put himself between her and the danger, taking the impact without a second thought.
She paced slowly around the cabin, trying and failing to settle her nerves. Her eyes scanned the space without ever really focusing, taking in the details almost absently.
Someone had used the cabin before them. A few things had been left behind, not with the care of someone putting a place back in order, but with the hurried disregard of someone who hadn't had the time or the intention to clean up.
Kara wondered if this was where Elias lived.
She tended to Colin, her eyes welling as she carefully cleaned the cuts on his skin. He thanked her when she was finished, but her mind was already elsewhere, replaying what had happened.
Colin didn’t ask what she needed. He just watched her begin.
She started with what they knew. Kara laid it out. The names they knew, the events that took place. George. His ledger. Uncle Richard. Givens, father and son. The corrupt policeman on the road. The other men that were after her.
Colin added what he remembered from the file. Kara found herself circling back to the same point again and again without meaning to.
George.
Every thread eventually seemed to lead back to him. They had tried to piece together what was missing, but without George or a team of people who understood code, they had no way of cracking the ledger. And until they did, Kara couldn’t know how far the threads actually went.
Then there was the timing of the attack. The way it had escalated too quickly to not be coordinated, they made themselves targets as soon as they set foot in the station.
When Kara’s thoughts slowed, her body was finally starting to demand rest. Outside, the cabin remained hidden in its pocket of trees, untouched by whatever chaos still existed beyond them.
“Come on,” Colin said, slipping an arm around her. “Let’s get you to bed.”
The bedroom door clicked shut behind them, sealing out the chaos beyond it.
He pulled her closer, letting her feel the warmth of his body against hers. Wrapped in his arms, she finally felt safe enough to let her guard down. Kara's eyes grew heavy, and before long, his steady breathing lulled her to sleep.