Chapter 28 - THE AMBUSH IN THE RAVINE
*Click.*
The brass lock gave way.
Daniel shoved the heavy iron hatch upward. Cool, rain-drenched air rushed into the suffocating cellar trench. Outside, the storm was at its violent peak, thunder shaking the earth with concussive force.
"Go!" Daniel whispered, boosting Claire up through the opening into the dripping laurel bushes behind the woodshed.
Claire scrambled out into the mud, hauling Lily up after her. The rain hit them instantly, drenching their clothes in seconds, washing the grime from Lily’s terrified face. Behind them, Daniel climbed out, followed by Julian, who clutched the rusted lockbox to his chest like a newborn child.
"The car is at the bottom of the lane," Claire hissed, staying low against the tree line. "We cut through the ravine. They won't see us in the brush."
They moved as fast as the slick mud allowed, sliding down the steep incline into the ravine where the runoff creek was rapidly swelling into a brown, churning torrent. The darkness was absolute, illuminated only by the erratic flashes of lightning overhead.
Suddenly, a flashlight beam sliced through the trees from the ridge above them.
"Down!" Daniel hissed, pulling Claire into the shadow of an overturned hemlock.
A man was standing on the rim of the ravine, silhouetted against the stormy sky. He wore a heavy waterproof tactical jacket and carried a short-barreled shotgun across his chest. He swept the beam slowly across the churning creek water, pausing on a strip of yellow fabric caught on a briar branch—a scrap from Lily’s raincoat.
The man raised a two-way radio to his mouth. "Found their trail. Heading toward the culvert. Bring the truck around to the lower fire road."
Before the man could finish speaking, a dark shape launched itself from the brush behind him.
Julian.
Moving with the silent, terrifying speed of an animal that had lived thirty years in isolation, Julian slammed his heavy crowbar across the man’s knee. The man let out a short, choked yell and tumbled down the muddy embankment, crashing into the swollen creek bed just yards from where Claire and Lily hid.
The shotgun flew from his hands, splashing into the brown water.
Daniel didn't hesitate. He lunged forward, pinning the man’s shoulders into the mud, his hands locking around the stranger's jacket collar. "Who sent you? Was it Margaret? Who are you?!"
The man coughed up muddy water, a bloody smile spreading across his split lips in the lightning glow.
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"Check the box, Danny boy," the man wheezed, his eyes rolling back in pain. "Your mother didn't send us to get the ledger. She sent us to make sure Julian didn't open it."
***
