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She fumbles with her purse and grabbing the cabin key, opens the door. Once inside I help her back to her feet and reach for the light switch. Nothing happens. “Lights are out.”
I glance through the window and notice the lights are on in the cabin through the trees. “Sam,” I whisper. “Try the kitchen lights.” I sense her moving toward the kitchen while my eyes adjust to the darkness. I don’t see anyone other than Sam moving around, and then I hear the light switch as she flicks it back and forth.
“Nothing.”
This isn’t right. “Sam?”
“I’m with you.” She withdraws her gun from her purse, as I remove mine from my ankle holster.
Sam stays in place while I check the front room, and move toward her in the kitchen. When we’re together, we both check out the bathroom and bedroom. “Anything different?” I ask, happy that no one else is inside the cabin.
“Nothing looks out of place.” She shrugs. “Maybe the fuse has blown.”
“Maybe.” Unease sits in my belly as I slowly follow her into the main part of the cabin.
“I’ll go and check it out.” She grabs a flash light out of a drawer.
“We’ll both check it out.”
She sighs and gets another flashlight from the drawer. “Here. Maybe we can flash the light up in the direction of the camera. Alert the others that something may be wrong.”
“Okay. Let’s find the fuse box. We’ll make it appear as though we’re glancing around the area before we check the fuse out.”
It’s cold now when we step out of the cabin and everything is still. The silence feels off to me. We’re in the middle of a forest and usually there are sounds of birds chirping high in the trees.
“What is it?” Samantha asks from the corner of the cabin.
“It’s too quiet,” I whisper under my breath moving closer. “Briefly shine your torch at the camera a couple of times as we slowly move around back.” I move behind Samantha and guide her toward the back of the cabin and the wooden box attached to the cabin.
My ears strain for any sound as I open the box and check inside. The fuse in question is half hanging out of its slot, which has me worried. Samantha glances inside and says, “That hasn’t happened without help.”
“My thoughts exactly.” I push the fuse all the way into the slot and the cabin lights come on. I should sigh in relief but my hackles are raised. Something really isn’t right. “We need to stay alert. I have a bad feeling.”
“Let’s check inside the cabin again.”
“Yes.” I glance around. “I want to wedge the door to the fuse box closed so if someone does try to open it, we’ll hear them.”
“I’m not sure how you’re going to do that?”
She’s right. The box is wooden with a bolt and I don’t see anyway that I can wedge it closed, although I can make it difficult.
“Hold your flashlight on the box,” I ask of Samantha.
Using the base of my flashlight, I bash it hard against the small lever not the bolt, and after a few minutes, it’s wedged in the wood of the door. “That isn’t perfect, but the best I can do for now.”
“It won’t be easy to get inside it without some sort of tool, and sound.” She smiles before turning toward the front of the cabin.
We slowly make our way to the front porch, keeping our backs to the frame. It doesn’t take us long to check through the small cabin again, along with the windows to make sure they’re securely locked. Closing and locking the front door, we both relax slightly.
My thoughts immediately go to Mallory.
39
Mallory
Although I’m a trained agent it feels different being alone in this cabin with Paul. I miss the presence of Joshua and because of that my concentration isn’t the best. In fact it’s completely off and I feel jittery, and then my stomach lets out a loud growl. I knew I should have eaten a full meal before tonight instead of picking at the sandwich Joshua had made for me.
“I’m hungry and I know you are,” Paul says smiling.
