Chapter 6 - The Hunt Begins
"Get down!" Ethan yelled, grabbing Claire’s arm and dragging her beneath the heavy oak table just as the cabin's front windows exploded inward in a shower of shattered glass and flying wood chips.
THWACK! THWACK! THWACK!
Silenced gunfire peppered the cabin walls, punching holes through the log structure.
Vivian’s private security team had tracked the Ford pickup’s GPS signal.
"The back door!" Ethan shouted over the roar of the wind and rain rushing through the broken windows. He grabbed his grandfather's double-barreled hunting shotgun from the wall rack, loaded two heavy buckshot shells, and kicked open the rear kitchen exit.
They bolted into the freezing blackness of the pine forest, the mud slick beneath their feet.
Behind them, three men in tactical gear with night-vision goggles moved through the trees like shadows, their suppressed rifles clicking as they swept the perimeter.
"Separated!" a harsh voice yelled from the cabin grounds. "Check the ridge! Vivian wants the girl alive, kill the guy!"
Ethan grabbed Claire’s hand, pulling her through a narrow ravine packed with sharp blackberry bushes. "Can you run?!"
"I've been pacing a twelve-foot room for twenty years, Ethan!" Claire hissed, her eyes sharp in the dark, her adrenaline surging like liquid fire. "I can run all night!"
They reached the edge of the riverbank, where Ethan had hidden a small motorized aluminum fishing boat under a blue tarp.
Ethan yanked the tarp away, shoving Claire into the bow while he yanked the starter cord on the outboard motor.
VRRRRR-RUMMMM!
The engine sputtered to life, blue exhaust fumes filling the night air.
Just as the boat surged into the churning river current, a tactical flashlight beam locked onto them from the bank. A guard raised his rifle, aiming straight at Ethan’s chest.
Claire didn't hesitate. She grabbed a heavy iron anchor from the boat deck and threw it with all her strength, striking the guard straight in the face mask.
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The guard screamed, slipping into the mud as his rifle discharged harmlessly into the sky.
The current caught the boat, sweeping them away into the black, foggy waters of the river, leaving the hunters far behind in the night.
