Chapter 2 - The Man Who Had a Key
Ethan killed the monitor lights.
Darkness swallowed the security room.
Downstairs, the front door opened.
He heard boots cross the wooden floor.
Slowly.
No hesitation.
Whoever had entered knew the cabin.
Ethan moved to the stairwell and listened.
One person.
Heavy steps.
Then silence.
"Ethan?"
He recognized the voice.
"Wade?"
"Don't shoot."
Ethan remained hidden.
"What are you doing in my house?"
"I can explain."
"Start with the key."
Silence.
"I worked here before you bought the property."
That wasn't an explanation Ethan liked.
"Walk into the kitchen. Hands visible."
Wade Harlan stepped into view.
He was the fourth man Ethan had seen standing near the sheriff SUV.
Except he wasn't with the others anymore.
He'd somehow slipped away during the confrontation.
Wade removed his gloves.
"I'm not with them."
"You were standing beside them."
"I was following them."
"Why?"
Wade swallowed.
"Because my brother disappeared eleven nights ago."
Ethan said nothing.
Wade reached slowly into his coat.
"Stop."
"It's a photograph."
"Two fingers."
Wade obeyed.
He placed the photograph on the kitchen table.
Ethan approached carefully.
The picture showed two men beside a fishing boat.
Wade was younger in the photo.
The man beside him had the same eyes.
"My brother Luke," Wade said. "He called me eleven nights ago. Said he'd found something on this ranch."
"What?"
"He wouldn't tell me."
Ethan's gaze hardened.
"Why did you have my key?"
"Luke worked maintenance for the previous owner. We both did."
"And you kept copies."
"One."
Ethan didn't believe that was the whole truth.
"What did Luke say?"
"He told me if he didn't call again by morning, I should stay away from the sheriff's office."
That caught Ethan's attention.
"Why?"
"He said somebody there was involved."
Ethan immediately thought of Jack.
Then rejected the conclusion.
Too easy.
Wade saw his expression.
"I don't know who."
"Your brother came here eleven nights ago?"
"Yes."
Ethan returned upstairs.
"Come with me."
He showed Wade the archived footage.
The truck.
Trailer.
Men carrying the wrapped object.
When Wade saw the hand, his face drained.
"That's him."
"You can't know that."
Wade pointed at the wrist.
A dark band was visible beneath the plastic.
"Luke wore my father's watch."
Ethan zoomed closer.
Old steel watch.
Cracked black strap.
Wade covered his mouth.
For several seconds, neither man spoke.
Then Ethan's radio came alive.
Jack.
"Ethan."
He grabbed it.
"I'm here."
"We're okay."
"What happened?"
"The woman ran."
"How?"
"Smoke device. Whiteout. She disappeared into the timber."
"The others?"
"Two in custody."
"Wade's here."
A pause.
Jack sounded genuinely surprised.
"At your cabin?"
"He says he isn't part of their group."
Jack's voice changed.
"Don't trust him."
Wade heard it.
His expression hardened.
"Ask Jack where he was eleven nights ago."
Ethan stared at him.
Wade stepped closer to the radio.
"Ask him."
Ethan pressed the button.
"Jack. Where were you eleven nights ago?"
Silence.
Too long.
"Ethan, this isn't the time."
"It became the time when a woman put a gun to your head and knew my name."
Jack exhaled.
"I was here."
Wade whispered, "I knew it."
"Where?"
"The northern boundary."
"Why?"
Another pause.
"Luke called me."
Wade stepped forward.
"What?"
Jack continued.
"He said he'd discovered an illegal operation. He wanted protection."
"What operation?"
"I never found out. By the time I arrived, he was gone."
Wade grabbed the radio from Ethan.
"You told me you hadn't heard from him!"
"I was trying to keep you alive."
"Where is my brother?"
"I don't know."
Wade nearly threw the radio.
Ethan took it back.
"Jack, bring the prisoners to the cabin."
"Can't."
"Why?"
"State police are taking custody."
"Who ordered that?"
Silence.
Then Jack said, "My captain."
Ethan looked toward Wade.
"Name?"
"Captain Richard Vale."
Wade's face changed.
Ethan noticed.
"You know him."
Wade nodded.
"Luke mentioned Vale."
The radio suddenly crackled.
Jack said something Ethan couldn't understand.
Then a gunshot sounded through the transmission.
"Jack?"
Static.
"Jack!"
Nothing.
Ethan grabbed his coat.
Wade blocked him.
"Could be a trap."
"It probably is."
"Then why go?"
"Because Jack may still be alive."
They took Ethan's utility vehicle.
Snow hammered the windshield.
When they reached the road, the sheriff SUV sat sideways.
Driver door open.
Lights flashing.
No Jack.
No second deputy.
No prisoners.
Blood stained the snow.
Ethan crouched.
Not much.
Someone wounded.
Not necessarily dead.
Tracks disappeared toward the forest.
Then Wade found something beneath the SUV.
A radio.
Jack's.
Attached to it was a folded piece of paper.
Ethan opened it.
Three words.
CHECK CAMERA 317.
He looked at Wade.
"There is no Camera 317."
"Then what does it mean?"
Ethan thought about the scratched bumper.
He suddenly remembered the previous owner's handwritten property map stored in the cabin safe.
Back at the cabin, he opened it.
The old ranch had once been divided into numbered forestry sectors.
Sector 317 was marked near the abandoned mine.
The same area where the men had carried the body.
Ethan traced the route.
"There."
Wade leaned over.
An old service tunnel entered the mountain.
Officially sealed twenty-three years earlier.
They reached it before noon.
The entrance was hidden behind fallen timber.
Fresh tracks surrounded it.
Ethan found the lock.
New.
Recently installed.
Wade whispered, "Luke found this."
Ethan cut the chain.
The tunnel smelled of wet stone.
They moved inside.
Twenty yards.
Forty.
Then Ethan's flashlight caught metal.
A steel door.
Wade approached.
"Wait."
Ethan examined the floor.
Fresh footprints.
Someone had been here within hours.
The steel door carried a small electronic keypad.
Four digits were already glowing.
Wade reached toward it.
Before he touched anything, the keypad beeped.
The steel lock released itself.
May you like
From the other side.
Someone was opening the door.
