Chapter 8
452 Words
Team’s POV Devil’s Hollow – Perimeter Ridge – 2:19 AM
The forest swallowed sounds like a secret.
Nadyia adjusted her night-vision goggles and signaled two fingers forward. Liam moved beside her, steps silent across pine needles. Behind them, Noah flanked wide, his rifle angled low but ready.
They were ghosts now. The three of them cloaked in black, pulse-hushed and wordless, as the dense woodland of Devil’s Hollow pressed in tighter with every step.
“Two minutes to perimeter breach,” Liam whispered, barely audible over the comms.
Nadyia checked her handheld. “Thermals still show two heat signatures inside the cabin. One adult on the move. One smaller stationary. Likely Ethan.”
Noah’s voice crackled softly. “Detective Sandoval’s team is staged a mile out. No sirens. No headlights. We get confirmation that Ethan's secure, then we move.”
Liam nodded. “They don’t know their leak is plugged. We keep it that way.”
Above them, the moon barely broke through the clouds. A low fog had crept in from the valley, blanketing the trees with a ghostly sheen. It was a perfect cover and a perfect trap.
Nadyia crouched beside the final tree line and swept her scope across the cabin below. A single glow flickered from the window lantern light. No modern tech. No sound.
Just like Evelyn taught him.
“One back door. One front. Smoke vent out the chimney still warm. They haven’t left,” she confirmed.
Liam touched her shoulder. “We breach on my mark. You go high, cover the rear. Noah and I take the front.”
“We stick to the plan,” she said, locking eyes. “No hero plays.”
“No mistakes,” Noah added grimly.
Liam raised a hand. “Three. Two…”
They moved as one.
Noah peeled off left, Liam crept straight toward the cabin’s blind spot, and Nadyia ascended the slope behind the structure, taking cover behind a pile of cut firewood.
Her scope found the window again Evelyn stepped briefly into frame, loading a canvas bag.
Then, another figure Michael emerged from the back room, a baby bundled tight against his chest.
Ethan.
“Target confirmed,” she whispered, barely breathing. “Ethan’s alive.”
Noah’s voice cut in, sharp and low. “God, he looks so small…”
“Hold positions,” Liam ordered. “We wait for Evelyn to move to the outer perimeter. Once she splits, we breach.”
But something shifted.
Evelyn paused, head tilting like she’d felt the change in air pressure.
“She knows,” Nadyia whispered.
Evelyn turned to Michael and pointed sharply toward the door.
“Move now!” Liam barked.
They surged from the trees.
- Writer
