Chapter 12 - The Shadow in the Trees
Two days after the vault discovery, the atmosphere at the mountain lake house grew tense and watchful.
Viktor had spent the morning walking the perimeter fence, checking the trip-wires and solar cameras he had concealed among the pine trunks.
At four in the afternoon, while Clara was drafting on the porch, Viktor suddenly raised his hand for silence.
"Inside," Viktor commanded quietly, his voice dropping into its operational tone. "Now."
Clara and Sophie moved immediately into the reinforced cabin, locking the heavy deadbolts behind them.
Viktor stood by the narrow side window, looking through a pair of high-powered military binoculars toward the tree line across the road.
"We have a visitor," Viktor muttered, his jaw hardening.
"Is it Julian?" Sophie asked, reaching for the emergency satellite phone on the desk.
"No," Viktor replied. "Julian is still in the county block. That’s a private security scout—ex-military by the way he’s trying to mask his silhouette against the ridge."
A dark green off-road vehicle was parked half-hidden behind a boulder, its long-range telephoto lens pointed directly toward the cabin window.
Viktor didn't wait for the scout to take a photo.
He unlatched the front door, walked out onto the open deck, and fired two deafening rounds from his flare gun directly into the sky above the boulder.
The bright red magnesium flare burst overhead, showering the dark tree line with intense, crackling light and white smoke.
"You are trespassing on a posted federal veteran reserve!" Viktor’s voice echoed across the valley like a cannon shot.
"The next round goes through your engine block!"
The engine of the green vehicle roared to life instantly, tires spinning frantically on the pine needles as the scout backed away and sped down the mountain.
Viktor returned to the cabin, his face calm as he reloaded the orange flare tube.
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"Julian is running out of legal options," Viktor said to his daughters.
"When men like him realize their money can't buy the law, they try to buy fear. We don't sell it."
