Chapter 5 - HIS WIFE WHISPERED ONE SENTENCE THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING
“Sarah, listen to me.”
“I’m in the bedroom closet.”
“Did you call 911?”
“My phone says no service.”
That made no sense.
Our home was four hundred miles away.
“Can you get to the back window?”
“I think so.”
A floorboard creaked through the phone.
Sarah stopped breathing.
I could hear it too.
Someone walking down our hallway.
Slowly.
Not searching.
Knowing.
“Jack…”
“Go now.”
The closet door opened on her end.
Fabric rustled.
Then a crash.
Sarah gasped.
“Run!” I shouted.
The line went dead.
I called back.
Nothing.
Again.
Nothing.
I turned to Cole.
“I need a vehicle.”
“You need to stay alive long enough to use one.”
“That was my wife.”
“I heard.”
“Then give me the keys.”
Cole didn’t move.
For one dangerous second I thought I was going to have to take them.
Then his radio crackled.
“Sheriff, we got a disturbance at the Rusty Spur.”
Cole stared at the speaker.
“What kind?”
“Fire.”
A pause.
Then: “And one body.”
Mia.
My stomach turned.
“Who?” Cole demanded.
“Earl Jensen. Owner.”
Cole closed his eyes.
I remembered the nervous waitress. The note. The warning.
“They’re cleaning up,” I said.
Cole looked at me.
“You still think this is about a bar fight?”
“I stopped thinking that ten minutes ago.”
My phone buzzed.
Text from Sarah.
I opened it.
No words.
Just a photo.
Our bedroom floor.
An old green military footlocker sat open.
I had not touched it in nine years.
Inside were medals, letters, maps, and one sealed envelope Sarah had promised never to open unless I died.
The envelope was gone.
Another text arrived.
I’M OUT. NEIGHBOR’S HOUSE. POLICE COMING.
I exhaled for the first time in a minute.
Then a third message appeared.
THEY ONLY TOOK ONE THING.
A photo followed.
My old team after a mission in Afghanistan.
Six men standing beside a helicopter.
Eli had his arm around my shoulders.
Someone had circled his face in red ink.
Beneath it were three words.
HE NEVER DIED.
I stared at the screen.
“That’s impossible.”
Cole’s voice was barely audible.
“What?”
Before I could answer, Rex growled toward the road.
A black pickup had stopped fifty yards away.
The passenger window lowered.
Mia leaned out.
“Jack!”
She looked terrified.
“Get in!”
I started toward her.
Then I saw the man sitting behind her.
A pistol pressed against the side of her neck.
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