Chapter 5 - Voices in the Static
Leo raised a hand, stopping Elena instantly. He pulled her behind the thick trunk of an old-growth hemlock, wrapping his body around her and Mateo. The woods around them were eerily quiet save for the rhythmic, vibrating hum of the phone against stone.
Bzzzt. Bzzzt. Bzzzt.
""Someone knew we’d take this path,"" Elena breathed, terror threading through her voice. ""Leo, this is the only trail off the property that avoids the main road.""
""Stay here,"" Leo whispered. ""Do not move until I tell you.""
Keeping low to the damp earth, Leo crept toward the boulder. He scanned the surrounding pine boughs, checking the branches for snipers or hidden watchers. Nothing moved except the pale yellow leaves drifting down through the cold morning mist.
He reached out a calloused hand and picked up the phone. It was a cheap, prepaid flip phone, untraceable and generic. The screen flashed with an incoming caller ID consisting entirely of zeroes: 000-000-0000.
Leo pressed the green button and brought the receiver to his ear. He said nothing, waiting for the caller to speak.
A static-heavy hiss filled the line, followed by the breathing of someone using an artificial respirator.
""You have six minutes before Julian realizes you aren't hiding in the attic rafters, Santos,"" a voice rasped. It was thin, reedy, but carried the undeniable cadence of absolute authority.
""Who is this?"" Leo demanded quietly.
""A dead man with very little time left,"" the voice replied. Elena’s father.
Leo felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. ""Elena said you died three days ago in Switzerland.""
""Julian reported me dead so the probate court would begin the seventy-two-hour liquidation clock,"" the old man wheezed. ""If I were truly dead, my assets would automatically lock into an irrevocable trust for Mateo. Julian needs the boy's signature—or rather, a forged waiver signed in the boy's presence—to release the offshore accounts to his shell company. Once he has the boy, none of you will ever be seen again.""
""Where are you?"" Leo asked, his eyes darting toward the distant sound of an engine revving near his house.
""I am three miles south at the abandoned logging mill on Blackwood Creek,"" the old man said, his breathing hitching on a painful cough. ""Bring my daughter. Bring my grandson. If Julian intercepts you before you reach me, the company's private security team will eradicate everything you own. Look under the phone's battery cover. There is a key.""
Leo pulled the plastic back off the burner phone. Taped against the lithium battery was a small brass key stamped with the number 414.
""What is this for?"" Leo asked.
May you like
""The station wagon parked by the old trestle bridge,"" Elena's father answered. ""Hurry, Leo. Julian just deployed tracking dogs.""
Across the woods, faint but unmistakable, the deep, baying howl of a bloodhound shattered the morning silence.
