CHAPTER 9 — The Guardian Of The Trail
Snow covered the Blue Ridge Mountains.
The cabin disappeared beneath white silence.
Every evening...
The white flower still appeared.
Despite the frozen ground.
Despite temperatures far below freezing.
Impossible.
Rebecca finally decided to wait.
Alone.
Hidden behind the trees.
Sunset arrived.
Nothing.
Then...
Soft footsteps.
Not from the trail.
From above.
She looked toward the rocky ridge.
A hooded figure slowly climbed down using an old climbing rope hidden between the cliffs.
The stranger placed another white flower onto the bench.
Then turned to leave.
Rebecca stepped forward.
"FBI!"
"Don't move!"
The figure didn't run.
Instead...
They slowly raised both hands.
Rebecca approached carefully.
Removed the hood.
And gasped.
It was an elderly woman.
Nearly seventy.
Thin.
Weathered by years in the mountains.
Tears streamed down her face.
"My name is Margaret."
"I was Olivia's first witness."
Years earlier...
Margaret had escaped the Ghost Circle after they murdered her daughter.
Olivia had hidden her deep in the mountains under a new identity.
For seven years...
Margaret had secretly watched over the cabin.
Watched over the twins.
And after Olivia's death...
She continued keeping her promise.
"The flowers weren't for Olivia," Margaret whispered.
"They were for the girls."
"So they'd know..."
"...they were never alone."
Rebecca asked the question everyone feared.
"Who leads the Ghost Circle now?"
Margaret looked toward the distant mountains.
"The Founder is dying."
"They've already chosen a successor."
Ethan stepped forward.
"Who?"
Margaret slowly handed him a faded photograph she had protected for decades.
His hands began shaking before he even turned it over.
Because he recognized the handwriting on the back.
It belonged to Olivia.
Three words.
Trust no one.
Ethan flipped the photograph.
Every person around him stopped breathing.
Standing beside the Founder...
Smiling directly at the camera...
Was someone they had trusted from the very beginning.
Special Agent Rebecca Hayes.
Rebecca's face turned white.
"I've... never seen this photograph before."
But before anyone could react...
A gunshot echoed across the valley.
The photograph slipped from Ethan's hands.
Rebecca collapsed into the snow.
May you like
And somewhere high above the mountains...
A sniper quietly disappeared into the fading light.
