Chapter 6 - Blood and Snow
They plunged down the steep, snow-covered hill toward the frozen lake, sliding and stumbling through the knee-deep drifts.
Behind them, the three security snowmobiles roared down the slope, their engines screaming as they kicked up clouds of white powder.
TRRRR-AT-AT-AT!
A burst of automatic gunfire shattered the quiet air, tearing through the branches of the pine trees above their heads! Snow rained down from the canopy.
“Get down!” Daniel yelled, shoving Mara behind a massive granite boulder near the shoreline while shielding Jamie with his own body.
Bulleted chipped fragments off the granite rock with loud, metallic cracks.
“Daniel, they’re going to kill us before we reach the boat!” Mara sobbed in terror, holding her hands over Jamie’s ears.
Daniel looked around frantically. They were fifty yards from his snowmobile at the dock, but the open expanse of snow offered zero cover. The three armed men were closing in fast, forming a semicircle to cut off their escape.
Daniel reached into his suit jacket.
Before he had left the study, he had grabbed his father’s old snub-nosed revolver from the hidden desk drawer. It only had five rounds, but it was all he had.
“Stay behind the rock,” Daniel told Mara, his voice calm, steady, and utterly lethal.
“Daniel, no!” she begged.
Daniel didn't listen. He stepped out from behind the boulder, raised the heavy revolver with both hands, took a deep breath, and fired!
BANG!
The lead snowmobile’s driver took a bullet directly to the shoulder! He lost control of the vehicle, the heavy machine flipping violently over the snowbank and throwing the driver forty feet into the icy brush!
The remaining two snowmobiles veered sharply to avoid the wreckage, their gunfire momentarily faltering.
“Run, Mara! To the boat dock! Now!” Daniel roared.
Mara didn't hesitate this time. She grabbed Jamie’s hand and sprinted across the final fifty yards of open ice toward the wooden dock where the snowmobile was moored under a canvas cover.
Daniel fired two more shots, keeping the remaining two shooters suppressed behind a line of pine trees.
BANG! BANG!
A bullet grazed Daniel’s left arm, tearing through his suit jacket and drawing a bright line of red blood across his skin. He barely felt the pain through the surging adrenaline in his veins.
He reached the dock just as Mara pulled the heavy canvas cover off the high-powered red snowmobile.
“Get on!” Daniel yelled, vaulting onto the leather seat.
Mara scrambled onto the back, holding little Jamie tightly between her and Daniel’s back. “I’ve got him!”
Daniel pulled the starter cord. The powerful twin-cylinder engine roared to life with a deafening rumble, blue exhaust smoke curling into the freezing air.
Before Daniel could slam the throttle, a heavy SUV burst through the treeline near the top of the bluff.
The driver’s side door opened, and Arthur Whitmore stepped out, holding a high-powered hunting rifle.
His face was twisted into a grotesque mask of murderous rage.
“Daniel!” Arthur’s voice echoed across the frozen bay through a loudspeaker system mounted on his vehicle. “You leave me no choice! You’re dying on this ice just like your useless brother!”
Arthur raised the rifle, aiming directly at the snowmobile.
BANG!
The bullet shattered the wooden dock post inches from Daniel’s head!
Daniel didn't give him a second shot. He slammed his thumb onto the throttle!
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The heavy snowmobile surged forward with terrifying acceleration, its spiked rubber tracks tearing up the ice as it launched onto the wide, frozen expanse of Pine Crest Lake!
Behind them, the two remaining security snowmobiles gave chase, tearing across the white lake surface like black predators pursuing their prey.
