Chapter 28 - Fire Over Blackwood Lake
The heavy rain had turned into a thick, swirling mountain fog by four o'clock in the morning.
A state police transport van, escorted by an unmarked sedan, navigated the rutted gravel road winding around the southern shore of Blackwood Lake. Inside the van, Mason was nestled under a thick wool blanket in Daniel’s lap, his eyes heavy with exhaustion, clutching the brown teddy bear with both arms.
Deputy Evans, a burly officer with steady hands and a shotgun resting between his knees, glanced in the rearview mirror. "We’re two minutes out from the safehouse, Mr. Vance. The cabin has solar backup, a reinforced storm shelter, and two armed deputies already on site. Once we get inside, you and the boy can finally sleep."
"Thank you, Evans," Daniel murmured, stroking Mason's hair. "Did Miller check in?"
Evans tapped the radio earpiece in his ear. "Tactical team is moving into position around the ranger outpost across the lake right now. They've got the perimeter sealed. If Julian is inside that cabin, he’s boxed in."
Through the rain-streaked window of the van, Daniel looked across the dark, mirror-like surface of Blackwood Lake. In the far distance, across six miles of black water and dense pine forest, tiny flashes of red light flickered near the tree line.
*SWAT was breaching.*
Daniel waited, his heart pounding a steady rhythm against his ribs.
Suddenly, across the lake, the night sky ruptured.
*BOOM!*
A blinding orange fireball erupted above the northern canopy, lighting up the low clouds like an artificial dawn. A shockwave traveled across the water, rattling the windows of the police van with a low, vibrating rumble that vibrated through Daniel's teeth.
"What was that?!" Daniel shouted, leaning toward the front seat. "Evans, what happened?!"
Deputy Evans slammed his hand against his radio receiver, his face turning pale. "Dispatch! Dispatch, this is Unit Four! We just had a massive explosion across the reservoir! What is the status of the tactical breach?!"
Static hissed through the radio. Then, Miller’s voice broke through the channel—coughing, frantic, screaming over the sound of secondary detonations.
*[IT’S A TRAP!]* Miller yelled, the sound of crackling timber and roaring flames audible in the background. *[THE OUTPOST WAS RIGGED! IT WAS PACKED WITH PROPANE TANKS AND MILITARY EXPLOSIVES! HE WASN'T INSIDE! I REPEAT, JULIAN VANCE WAS NEVER AT THE RANGER STATION!]*
Daniel’s blood turned to liquid nitrogen.
*If Julian wasn't at the outpost... where was he?*
At that exact second, Daniel’s phone—the replacement burner Miller had given him at the precinct—vibrated sharply on the seat beside him.
It was an incoming call from an unknown, encrypted satellite number.
Daniel answered it, his hand trembling so violently he nearly lost his grip. He pressed the speaker to his ear.
"Daniel," Julian’s voice whispered.
The voice was not distant. It wasn't distorted by miles of mountain terrain. It sounded clear, intimate, and chillingly close.
"You really thought my mother’s guard was on your side?" Julian chuckled, a wet, rattling sound. "I gave Higgins that duffel bag specifically so he would run. I gave him the ranger outpost coordinates so your little detective would bring all her friends to the north ridge."
"Where are you, Julian?" Daniel snarled, his voice breaking.
"Look down at your boy’s teddy bear, Daniel."
Daniel froze. His entire body turned to stone.
Slowly, Daniel turned his gaze down to Mason's lap. The boy was staring up at him with wide, frightened eyes, holding Emily’s brown bear against his chest.
"You remember the plastic seam in the bear's ear you felt at the precinct?" Julian whispered through the line. "I slipped that little GPS transponder into the stuffing while you were sleeping in your master bed two nights ago. I've been watching your little blue dot move across my tablet for the last twenty minutes."
May you like
A branch snapped outside in the darkness.
"Welcome to the safehouse, Daniel," Julian said. "I've been waiting on the porch."
