Chapter 9 - THE FINAL STAND IN THE PINESEli clutched the leather journal and the gold ring to his chest, kicked open the shattered windshield frame of the helicopter, and tumbled out into the blinding white snow.
The freezing air hit his lungs like shards of glass. He didn't look back. He scrambled on hands and knees up the steep snowbank, ducking deep into the thick, protective cover of a dense pine forest.
Behind him, through the trees, he heard the hiss of silenced submachine guns chewing up the wreckage of the chopper.
"Clear!" a cold, mechanical voice echoed across the ridge. "Target is dead, but the boy is missing. Search the perimeter!"
Eli ran, his boots sinking deep into the powdery drifts, his breath coming in ragged, painful gasps. Every muscle in his body screamed for him to stop, but the memory of his father’s eyes drove him forward.
Two miles north.
After what felt like a lifetime of stumbling through the freezing dark, dodging searchlight beams cutting through the canopy above, Eli broke through the tree line and saw it: a small, weather-beaten wooden cabin half-buried in snow.
He lunged toward the porch, threw open the heavy oak door, and slammed it shut behind him, throwing the deadbolt just as heavy footsteps crunched on the front porch steps.
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Eli backed into the center of the dark, dusty cabin, raising a heavy iron poker from the hearth with both shaking hands, his heart hammering against his ribs like a trapped bird.
The front door handle turned. Slowly.
