Chapter 10: The Four-Mile Ridge
Marcus slammed the rear door of the Ford Explorer, locking Geller securely inside before turning to face me as I stepped off the concrete apron of the pump house. The red tail-lights of Trooper Higgins's vehicle cut a dull crimson glow through the dense pine smoke rolling off the river.
"You found something else," Marcus stated, seeing the rigid set of my jaw before I even reached the hood of his cruiser. It wasn't a question; he'd known me long enough to recognize the look of a man who had just crossed a line he couldn't walk back across.
I pulled the folded topographical map from my jacket pocket, smoothing it out across the cold metal hood beneath the cabin's amber overhead light. I pointed a scarred finger directly at the red ink circle deep within the ravine. "The hunting lodge. Four miles back behind our own property line. Geller didn't just log escrow accounts; he tracked the transfer schedule. They're moving her at dawn before the state auditors arrive."
Marcus stared down at the map, his face hardening as he traced the handwritten note with his thumb. "The lodge is outside municipal road maintenance. If we take marked cruisers up that timber track, Vance's deputies will see the headlights from the ridge ten minutes before we reach the gate."
"Then we don't use cars," I said, my voice dropping into a flat, steady register that left no room for debate. "I know every foot of that ravine. I used to hike those timber trails with the girls before the world went sideways. We leave the cruisers here, hike the ridge on foot, and take the lodge before dawn."
Marcus looked back toward the dark forest rising steeply into the hills, then down at his service weapon. He reached out, tapping the side of his holster to check the retention strap. "We take two troopers with thermal scopes and portable radios," he said quietly. "No local deputies. No county dispatch. If anyone tries to stop us on that ridge, they're stepping outside the law entirely."
May you like
I nodded once, turning my gaze toward the dark northern horizon where the massive bulk of the mansion sat sleeping under the stars, with Elena and the four girls still waiting behind locked doors, believing the worst was behind them.
"Let's move," I said. "We're going home."
