Chapter 14
Before Maren could violently protest, Everett slipped out the back door of the cabin, disappearing silently into the freezing, unforgiving Maine wilderness. The bitter cold hit his face like a sheet of solid ice, instantly numbing his cheeks, but the burning adrenaline pumping through his veins kept him moving with calculated, predatory precision.
He didn't run wildly. He needed Vance's mercenaries to find his trail, but he needed them to follow it away from the ranger station. He deliberately broke thick, frozen branches as he moved, leaving clear, undeniable scuff marks in the frost covering the rocky ground. He headed eastward, moving toward a steep, treacherous ravine he remembered from his childhood hiking trips.
After jogging for about three hundred yards, he stopped behind the massive, imposing trunk of an ancient oak tree. He took a deep, shuddering breath, the freezing air burning his lungs, and waited.
Less than five minutes later, the sweeping beams of the tactical flashlights appeared through the dense tree line. There were two mercenaries tracking him, heavily armed and moving with disciplined, lethal efficiency. They had found his deliberate trail.
"Tracks head east, toward the ravine," a gruff voice echoed through the quiet woods, completely devoid of fear. "The target is on foot, moving fast. No sign of the woman or the child. He might have split up."
"Stay on the primary target," a second voice replied over a crackling radio. It was Richard Vance. His voice sounded strained, likely dealing with the injury Everett had inflicted earlier. "He is the one carrying the hard drive. Take him down, but do not shoot the laptop bag."
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Everett picked up a heavy, jagged rock from the frozen ground. He waited until the two mercenaries were approximately thirty yards away, their flashlights focused entirely on the ground to follow his footprints. With a powerful, sudden motion, Everett hurled the rock deep into the woods to his left. It crashed loudly through the dry, frozen brush.
Instantly, both mercenaries spun toward the noise, raising their suppressed rifles. The distraction was incredibly brief, but it was all Everett needed. He broke from the cover of the oak tree and sprinted silently toward the steep, icy edge of the ravine, leading the hunters entirely away from his family.
