Chapter 3 - The Safe House
The man in the suit lunged up the stairs toward us.
Emily didn't hesitate.
She kicked her heavy winter boot directly into the center of his chest.
The man tumbled backward, dropping the syringe as he crashed to the concrete landing below.
"Keep moving, Rachel!" Emily yelled, dragging my broken body down the steps.
Every step sent agonizing shocks up my damaged spine, but the fear of Daniel kept my legs moving.
We pushed past the groaning man and burst out into the freezing night air.
Emily’s car was parked illegally in the ambulance loading zone with the engine already running.
She shoved me into the passenger seat and slammed the gas pedal to the floor.
We sped away from the hospital, the flashing lights of the fire trucks blurring in the rearview mirror.
"Where are we going?" I gasped, clutching my empty, aching stomach.
"I have a friend who owns an off-the-grid cabin near the lake," Emily replied, her hands gripping the steering wheel tightly.
"Daniel cannot find us there."
We drove in silence for two hours, deep into the dense, dark woods outside the city.
The cabin was small, freezing, and completely isolated from the main road.
Emily helped me inside and laid me gently on a dusty old sofa.
She wrapped me in thick blankets and handed me a glass of water.
"You are safe now, Rachel," she promised, brushing my messy hair out of my face.
I finally allowed myself to cry for the son I had lost in that terrible basement.
The grief was heavier than any physical pain Daniel had ever inflicted on me.
Emily sat beside me, crying quietly as she held my trembling hand.
We fell asleep like that, exhausted and broken, believing the worst was temporarily over.
I woke up a few hours later to the sound of crunching gravel outside the cabin window.
I sat up slowly, my spine screaming in protest.
I peeked through the dirty curtains and saw a massive black SUV parked in the driveway.
There were no headlights on, and the engine was completely silent.
"Emily, wake up," I whispered frantically, shaking her shoulder.
Emily bolted upright, immediately sensing the terror in my voice.
"How did they find us?" Emily gasped, looking out the window.
I looked down at the plastic hospital bracelet still tightly wrapped around my wrist.
It had a thick plastic casing that I had never noticed before.
I smashed the bracelet against the edge of the wooden coffee table until it cracked open.
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A tiny, blinking GPS tracker fell out onto the floor.
Suddenly, the front door of the cabin violently exploded inward.
