Chapter 15 - Flight Risk
The transition at the abandoned barn was swift and terrifying. I parked my gleaming new SUV inside the drafty structure, wiping down the steering wheel out of pure paranoia.
I ushered Emma and Noah into Marcus's ancient, rattling sedan. It smelled faintly of stale coffee and old paper, but the heater worked, and it was virtually invisible on the road. I found the duffel bag exactly where Marcus promised. The stacks of cash felt heavy, a stark reminder of my new reality as a fugitive.
Before we hit the highway heading north, I stopped at a giant, glaringly bright 24-hour electronics superstore. I pulled a baseball cap low over my face, instructing the kids to stay crouched on the floorboards under a blanket.
Inside, I used the untraceable cash to purchase a high-powered gaming laptop, external hard drives, a tangled assortment of data cables, and a specialized forensic software program I had read about during my corporate banking days. If David's men had tampered with the camera or deleted files, I needed the right tools to rip the truth out of the device's hardware.
I practically ran back to the car, my heart leaping into my throat every time a pair of headlights swept across the parking lot.
The drive into the Adirondacks was grueling. The snow began to fall heavily, turning the winding mountain roads into treacherous ribbons of ice. Noah finally fell asleep, his head resting in Emma's lap. Emma stared out the window into the endless dark woods, her small face pale and completely silent.
By the time the GPS coordinates indicated we had arrived, it was nearly four in the morning. The cabin was a small, rugged wooden structure hidden behind a dense wall of ancient pine trees.
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I unlocked the heavy deadbolt with the key I found under the porch mat. Inside, it was freezing and smelled of dust, but there was a wood-burning stove and a stack of dry logs.
We were completely alone, entirely cut off from the world. It was time to see exactly what David was trying to hide.
