Chapter 5 - Shadows on the Perimeter
It was early February when the silence of Willow Ridge was broken.
Evelyn had gone to the local hardware store three miles down the mountain to buy extra kerosene and supply batteries. When she drove her rusty pickup back up the winding dirt trail, she noticed tire tracks in the fresh snow near the lower turnoff—tracks that didn't belong to her truck.
Her pulse spiked instantly. She parked half a mile back, hiding her truck under a thick cover of hemlock branches, and walked the rest of the way on foot, gripping a heavy iron crowbar.
When she reached the crest of the hill, she saw a sleek black SUV idling near the shoulder of the main road. Two men in thick tactical coats were standing near the brush, holding handheld scanner devices.
"What are you doing here?" Evelyn yelled, her voice crisp and sharp as ice as she marched into view.
The two men snapped their heads toward her. One of them, a burly man with a scar running through his right eyebrow, immediately put his hands into his jacket pockets.
"Private property, ma'am," the scarred man said with a smooth, practiced corporate voice. "We’re conducting a private search for an overdue charter aircraft that lost transponder signal a few weeks back."
"This is state forestry land, and my property line begins right at that oak tree," Evelyn lied smoothly, stepping directly between them and the path to her cabin. "The forest service already cleared this quadrant two weeks ago. There's nothing here."
"Are you sure?" the second man asked, his eyes narrowing as he scanned her snowy boots and the crowbar in her grip. "A small plane makes a lot of noise when it hits the trees."
"The wind makes a lot of noise out here every single night," Evelyn replied coldly. "If you don't turn that vehicle around right now, I'll have Sheriff Miller up here with a trespassing warrant in ten minutes. He doesn't like city boys snooping in his timber."
The scarred man stared at her for five agonizing seconds before giving a tight, fake smile. "Just doing our job, ma'am. Have a good day."
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They climbed back into the SUV and backed down the narrow trail. Evelyn waited until the sound of their engine completely faded before running as fast as she could back to the cabin.
"Daniel!" she burst through the door, locking it behind her. "They're here. Mercer’s men are searching the ridge."
