Chapter 15 - The Final Loose End
Two weeks after Julian’s arrest, I received a cryptic text message on my personal, highly encrypted phone.
It was a single GPS coordinate located deep within the rugged backcountry of Rocky Mountain National Park—the exact ridge where Michael had pushed me.
Against the strict advice of Marcus and Detective Miller, I drove out there alone under the cover of dusk, my licensed firearm holstered securely beneath my heavy trench coat.
The wind howled through the pine trees just as it had months ago. The moon cast long, ghostly shadows across the snow-dusted rocks.
Standing near the precipice of the cliff was a lone figure wrapped in a dark parka.
As my boots crunched against the frozen gravel, the figure turned around slowly.
It wasn't a hitman. It wasn't an assassin.
It was Ashley Vance—out on a technicality of her plea bargain, her face pale, her eyes wide with frantic desperation.
"What are you doing here, Ashley?" I asked, my voice cutting sharply through the wind as I drew my coat back, revealing the firearm at my side. "Did your plea deal fall through?"
Ashley fell to her knees in the snow, trembling violently, tears streaming down her freezing cheeks.
"He's coming for you, Elena," she sobbed, clutching her arms around herself. "Julian wasn't the top of the chain. There's someone else... someone higher up who funded the entire operation from the very beginning."
My heart hammered against my ribs. "Who?" I demanded, stepping closer. "Who financed Michael?"
Before Ashley could form the words, a blinding beam of high-intensity light cut through the darkness from the tree line above us.
Crack.
May you like
A gunshot echoed off the canyon walls.
Ashley gasped, her eyes flying wide, and collapsed backward into the snow as a crimson stain bloomed across her chest.
