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They Trashed the Woman's Harley in the Lot — Then She Quietly Made One Phone Call

Chapter 6

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Daniel.Tears welled up in Mara’s eyes, spilling down her cold cheeks. She pressed the letter to her chest, her breathing ragged, her body trembling under the crushing weight of five years of stolen grief.He was alive. He had been protecting her all along.Suddenly, a loud, sharp sound echoed through the old train depot.The heavy front door banged shut, followed by the sound of boots marching across the rotted floorboards.Mara froze, her heart instantly dropping into her stomach.She quickly jammed the encrypted USB drive, the ID badge, and the letter inside her jacket pocket, sliding the wooden box back under the floorboard and dropping the plank into place."Search the office!" a harsh voice shouted from the main lobby.It was the tall man with the baseball cap.Mara scrambled to her feet, pressing her back against the cold, plastered wall of the stationmaster's room. She looked around frantically for an exit. The only window in the room was narrow, nailed shut with heavy wooden boards, and far too small for her to squeeze through quickly.The heavy footsteps drew closer, crunching over shattered glass and dried plaster."Check every room," the tall man's voice barked. "She left her truck at the house, but her tracks led right into the woods. She's in this building somewhere!"Mara reached down to her belt and unsheathed the hunting knife Daniel had given her. The cold steel blade glinted faintly in the gloom.A shadow fell across the doorway of the office.One of the younger men from the tavern—the broad-shouldered one in the dark canvas jacket—stepped into the room. He was holding a heavy black pistol in his right hand, his flashlight beam sweeping across the room.The light hit Mara straight in the face, blinding her momentarily."Over here!" the man yelled, raising his pistol. "I found her!"Before he could pull the trigger or step closer, Mara lunged forward with everything she had.She kicked out with her heavy riding boot, striking the man squarely in the right knee. The joint buckled with a loud crack, and the man let out a sharp cry of pain, dropping his flashlight onto the wooden floorboards.Mara didn't hesitate. She drove her shoulder into his chest, slamming him back against the wooden doorframe. The pistol clattered out of his hand, tumbling across the floor into the shadows.Mara bolted past him into the main lobby."Stop her!" the tall man roared from across the room.He lunged at her from the darkness, his heavy arms reaching out to grab her leather jacket. Mara ducked under his swing, driving the handle of her hunting knife into his ribs with all her strength.The tall man grunted in shock, stumbling sideways against an overturned bench.Mara sprinted toward the front doors of the depot, threw her weight against them, and burst out onto the rotting wooden platform into the foggy morning air."Shoot her!" a voice screamed from inside the building.A sharp crack echoed through the misty air, followed by the sound of wood splintering near her ear as a bullet slammed into the doorframe.Mara didn't look back. She leaped off the edge of the platform, hit the wet ground in a rolling fall, threw herself up, and sprinted into the dense brush bordering the railroad tracks.Bullets clipped the branches above her head, but the thick morning fog swallowed her instantly, veiling her escape as she plunged deep into the wilderness.Mara ran until her lungs burned like fire and her legs felt like lead. She didn't stick to the open railroad tracks; instead, she cut deep into the dense, thick timber of the western ridge, using the rugged terrain and the blinding fog to throw her pursuers off her track.She knew these mountains far better than any city hired guns ever could. She knew where the ravines dropped off into dangerous stone quarries, where the mud bogs were deep enough to trap a vehicle, and where the old logging trails crisscrossed the ridge toward the main highway.After forty minutes of relentless running, she collapsed against the trunk of a massive oak tree, gasping for air, her heart pounding violently in her throat.She pulled out her phone. The screen was cracked from her fall off the platform, but the display still worked.There was no cell signal in the deep woods of the ridge.She pulled the encrypted USB drive out of her pocket, staring at the small piece of metal. This tiny drive held the power to destroy the men who had threatened her, ruined her husband's life, and turned her world into a nightmare. But it was completely useless if she couldn't get it to Claire.Mara took a deep breath, forcing her racing mind to slow down and analyze the situation logically.
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