Chapter 35 - The Extraction
"Move to the river!" Cole ordered, dragging me through the pitch-black shadows as the contractors began firing blindly into the darkness.
"What about Frank and the truck?" I gasped, slipping on the slick riverstones.
"Frank knows the mountain better than they do! He’s taking Jason and Evelyn through the old train tunnel—they'll be in the sheriff’s custody in ten minutes!" Cole answered, his hand locked tightly around mine. "The syndicate wants this card! If we stay near the truck, they'll massacre Jason and his mother to get to us!"
Behind us, shouts and the beam of high-intensity flashlights swept the timber racks.
"They're heading for the gorge! Flank them!"
We scrambled down the steep, brush-covered embankment into the freezing spray of the roaring river. The water was waist-deep in the shallows, swirling with chunks of sharp river ice. The cold was a physical blow, knocking the breath from my lungs as we waded through the current, clinging to the mossy roots of ancient hemlocks.
"Hold on to me!" Cole yelled over the thunder of the water.
A flashlight beam danced across the water, catching the bright red reflection of my rain jacket.
"There they are!"
Gunfire erupted, kicking up violently spraying geysers of water around us. Cole returned fire with his sidearm, hitting the flashlight holder on the bank, who tumbled into the dark water with a muffled cry.
We hauled ourselves out onto the far bank, disappearing into the dense, black expanse of the national forest preserve where no vehicle could follow. We ran until our lungs burned like raw fire, the freezing sleet blinding us, until the sounds of the sawmill faded into the distant roar of the wind.
Finally, we collapsed into the hollow of an ancient, uprooted spruce tree, shivering violently, our clothes frozen stiff against our skin.
Cole wrapped his arms around me, pulling me against his chest to share what little body heat remained. "You're freezing, Rebecca. Keep moving your fingers."
"I have... the card," I managed to whisper through violently chattering teeth, tapping my chest where the plastic sat secure against my ribs. "We still have the card."
Cole looked at me in the darkness, his breath ghosting against my cheek, his eyes filled with a fierce, unbreakable devotion. "You bought a ruined lodge to build a life of peace, Rebecca. And I brought a war to your doorstep."
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"We bought it together," I whispered, reaching up to touch his cold, stubbled jaw. "And we are going to finish this."
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