Chapter 14
The cabin descended into highly orchestrated chaos. Silas and Vance were gearing up, pulling heavy body armor, flashbangs, and assault rifles from hidden compartments in the floorboards. The energy in the room was suffocating. Silas was no longer the man who had held her by the fire; he was a machine programmed for absolute destruction.
"I'm going with you," Harper said, standing her ground in the center of the living room, her arms crossed.
Silas stopped loading a magazine and stared at her as if she had lost her mind. "Absolutely not. You are staying here. The cabin is fortified, and I'm leaving four men to guard you."
"Volkov knows where I am!" Harper argued, her voice rising in panic. "He has Marcus! If you leave, they’ll come for me here!"
"They won't make it past the tree line," Silas stated with terrifying confidence. He walked over, gripping her arms. "Harper, this is a strike mission. I am going into Volkov’s main warehouse. It is going to be a bloodbath. If you are there, I will be distracted. I need to know you are safe to do what needs to be done."
"What if you don't come back?" she whispered, the tears she was fighting finally spilling over.
Silas leaned down, kissing her fiercely, tasting the salt of her tears. "I am coming back for you. I swear it on my life. Keep Bane inside. Do not open the door for anyone but me."
Within ten minutes, the armored SUVs roared to life, disappearing down the dirt road and leaving Harper entirely alone in the massive silence of the redwoods, save for the four guards stationed outside.
Bane paced nervously by the front door, whining low in his throat. He didn't like the separation. Harper sat on the floor with him, wrapping her arms around his thick neck, praying to a God she hadn't spoken to in years.
Night fell, blanketing the forest in pitch black. The silence was deafening.
At 11:00 PM, the silence broke.
It wasn't gunfire. It was a single, muffled thump, followed by a heavy splash in the river.
Bane’s head snapped up. His ears pinned flat against his skull. He let out a deep, rumbling growl that vibrated through the floorboards.
Harper crept to the window, peaking through the heavy wooden shutters. The moonlight illuminated the clearing. The four guards Silas had left behind were gone. Their posts were empty.
A sharp crack of breaking twigs echoed from the porch. Someone was outside.
Harper grabbed a heavy iron fire poker from the hearth, her hands slick with cold sweat. She backed into the hallway, pulling Bane with her.
May you like
"Guardian," she whispered to the dog, her voice shaking.
The front door handle slowly turned.
