Chapter 14 - The Leap into the Dark
"Change of plan," Elena whispered, her heart pounding so loudly she feared the men upstairs could hear it. "We’re taking the hayloft ladder from the old barn."
The barn sat fifty yards behind the farmhouse, connected to the main structure by a raised wooden boardwalk that was partially obscured by overgrown blackberry bushes. It was a perilous route, exposed to the open yard, but the heavy mist rolling off the nearby river offered a thin veil of concealment.
Elena pushed open the heavy wooden door of the mudroom—the very door the intruders had just breached—and peered out into the damp, gray night. The black SUV was idling quietly by the mailbox, its exhaust puffing white clouds into the crisp air. The driver was still inside, silhouetted against the dashboard glow of a communications console.
"On my mark," Elena murmured, pressing Hailey against her side. "Run fast, don't look back, and hit the dirt if you hear a whistle."
She counted down with her fingers. *Three... two... one... Go.*
They burst from the doorway like sprinters off the blocks, darting across the damp lawn toward the skeletal shadow of the old barn. The wet grass soaked through their boots instantly, but adrenaline kept their feet moving.
Halfway across the yard, a harsh voice rang out from the back porch of the farmhouse.
"Hey! Movement by the barn! Light 'em up!"
A blinding beam of a tactical flashlight cut through the mist, sweeping across the yard like a searchlight. The beam missed them by mere yards, illuminating the swaying blackberry bushes instead.
"Faster, Hailey! Run!" Elena urged, grabbing her daughter’s hand tighter and pulling her toward the sliding wooden side door of the barn.
They slammed through the door into the cavernous, pitch-black interior of the structure. The air smelled of old hay, rusted iron, and horse manure. Elena slid the heavy iron latch shut behind them just as heavy boots began pounding across the lawn toward the barn exterior.
"Up the ladder, now!" Elena hissed, pointing upward toward the shadowy silhouette of the hayloft opening twenty feet above.
Hailey didn’t hesitate. She grabbed the rungs of the wooden ladder, her small hands scrambling upward with surprising agility. Elena followed right behind her, keeping one hand on the butt of the Glock in her waistband, her ears straining to catch every sound below.
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A heavy blow struck the barn door from the outside, the wood groaning in protest as the latch rattled violently in its iron housing.
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