Chapter 2 - Eyes in the ShadowsBy midnight, the forest was crawling with black SUV convoys and low-flying stealth helicopters. Searchlights swept across the snow, turning the dark pines into blinding white skeletons.
Ethan stood inside his darkened cabin, peering through the blinds with a shotgun resting against his thigh. Official protocol dictated that he report to the local sheriff immediately if unauthorized personnel entered the state park. But the men stepping out of those armored vehicles were not park authorities. They wore unmarked tactical gear, night-vision goggles, and carried silenced assault rifles.
They were hunting.
A soft scratching sound came from his back door.
Ethan spun around, raising his weapon, his pulse hammering in his ears. He crept toward the rear kitchen door, his boots making no sound on the hardwood floor. He unlocked the deadbolt and slowly pulled the door open an inch.
Standing on the back porch, panting heavily, was the pregnant she-wolf.
She was shivering violently, her grey coat matted with frozen blood and ice. But she wasn't alone. Crouched in the shadow of her belly was something wrapped in a thermal military blanket.
Ethan dropped to his knees, his mind fracturing at the sight.
The wolf stepped aside, gently nudging the bundle forward with her snout. Ethan reached out with trembling hands and pulled back the corner of the stiff, frost-covered blanket.
Inside was an encrypted black hard drive and a silver locket. Ethan’s fingers shook so violently he could barely open the tiny clasp of the locket. When it snapped open, he gasped for air.
Inside was a photograph of his daughter, Ava, sitting on a hospital bed, holding a tiny, newborn wolf pup—the very same wolf standing before him now, identifiable by the distinctive lightning-shaped scar over her left eye.
The she-wolf let out a low, mournful whine. She pushed her head against Ethan’s chest, leaving a smear of dark blood on his jacket, before turning her head sharply toward the western ridge.
A red laser dot danced across the kitchen floor.
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"FLANK THE CABIN! MOVE IN!" a voice barked through a megaphone outside.
The nightmare had begun.
