Chapter 7 - Safehouse Betrayal
Smoke rose thick and black into the night air as flames consumed the roof of the cabin. Heat radiated through the floorboards, threatening to suffocating everyone inside.
Mark kicked open the rear kitchen door, unleashing a hail of gunfire into the dark tree line to force the remaining mercenaries back into cover. "Elena! Up, now!" he yelled, lifting the trapdoor hatch.
Elena pulled Maya and Lily out into the smoke-filled kitchen, coughing violently. Mark ushered them toward the back exit, shielding their bodies with his own as bullets whistled through the night air, striking the wooden frame beside them.
They sprinted into the freezing woods, the blinding glare of the burning cabin behind them illuminating their escape path. Bullets clipped the pine branches above their heads, sending shower of wood chips and snow down upon them.
Mark turned, firing his remaining rounds toward the muzzle flashes in the darkness until his slide locked back empty. "Keep running!" he shouted to Elena.
They reached a rocky ravine half a mile away, tumbling down the muddy incline and taking cover beneath an overhang of heavy slate rocks. Above them, heavy footsteps crashed through the brush, accompanied by the static crackle of tactical radios.
"Target lost in the ravine," a voice rasped above them. "Search the perimeter!"
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Mark held his breath, his arm wrapped tight around Elena while she muffled Lily’s tiny cries against her chest. Minutes stretched into absolute agony as the search boots hovered directly above their hiding spot before slowly fading into the distance.
They were alive, but their car was destroyed, their supplies were gone, and they were trapped in the freezing wilderness with a team of ruthless killers hunting them down.
