Chapter 5 - The Ghost from the Past
Jason groggily opened his eyes, wiping sticky blood and mud from his bruised forehead.
He was tied to a wooden chair inside a dilapidated, rotting hunting cabin deep in the woods.
A tall man with a thick beard and hollow eyes was sharpening a hunting knife in the corner of the room.
Jason begged the stranger for help, claiming that dangerous cartel members were hunting him.
The man slowly turned around, stepping into the dim light provided by a single kerosene lantern.
Jason felt his heart completely stop in his chest as he finally recognized the terrifying face.
It was David, the older brother of Jason's first wife, Claire.
Claire had tragically died in a boating accident seven years ago, leaving Jason with a massive life insurance payout.
David had always publicly accused Jason of murdering his sister, but he never had the evidence to prove it.
"Sarah sent me a very interesting email last week," David whispered, testing the sharpness of his blade.
Sarah had hacked into Jason's old hard drives and recovered the deleted GPS coordinates from the night Claire died.
The data proved undeniably that Jason had intentionally driven the boat into a dangerous reef.
David walked closer, his eyes burning with a decade of suppressed grief and violent rage.
Jason frantically tried to negotiate, offering David millions of dollars in non-existent offshore accounts.
David ignored the pathetic lies and pressed the cold, sharp steel of the knife against Jason's throat.
"You took my sister from me, and now I am going to take everything from you," David growled.
A sudden, aggressive knock at the cabin door interrupted the execution.
David instinctively pulled his weapon away and crept toward the foggy window.
Jason used the distraction to violently rock his chair backward until the fragile wood shattered into pieces.
He scrambled to his feet, grabbing a heavy cast-iron fireplace poker from the hearth.
When David turned around, Jason swung the iron bar with all his remaining strength.
The heavy metal struck David squarely in the temple, knocking him completely unconscious on the floor.
Jason frantically searched David's pockets, stealing his wallet, his car keys, and a loaded handgun.
He found David's passport and realized they looked incredibly similar in the poorly lit photograph.
Jason smirked, realizing he finally had a viable way to cross the Canadian border and find Sarah.
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He opened the cabin door to make his grand escape into the stormy night.
He immediately froze as a bright red laser sight settled perfectly on the center of his chest.
