Chapter 16 - The Ambush at Cedar Creek
We left the mill at midnight, descending the mountain under a blackout sky. The blizzard had worsened, thick wet flakes plastering against the windshield faster than the wipers could sweep them away.
As we approached the narrow wooden bridge crossing Cedar Creek—the only road connecting the mill ridge to the main valley highway—I tapped the brakes.
In the middle of the bridge, parked perpendicular to the wooden planks, was a heavy four-wheel-drive pickup truck with its high beams blazing directly into our eyes.
"David, stop!" Kevin yelled, bracing his hands against the dashboard.
I slammed on the brakes, the truck sliding sideways across the ice before coming to a halt fifteen yards from the bridge abutment.
Two men stepped out from behind the high beams. They weren't wearing suits like Pendelton. They wore heavy work jackets, tactical boots, and dark balaclavas. One of them held an aluminum baseball bat; the other had his right hand buried deep inside his coat pocket, the distinct bulge of a firearm unmistakable beneath the canvas.
"Get out of the truck, Mr. Vance," a voice boomed across the engine roar. "Leave the lockbox on the hood, take your brother, and start walking toward town. The mountain is closed tonight."
"Julian's fixers," Kevin whispered, his voice trembling violently. "They followed us from your house."
"They didn't follow us," I said, looking into my side mirror. A second pair of headlights appeared behind us, blocking the logging road. We were boxed in. "Pendelton put an air tag on my truck while he was talking to me on the porch."
"What do we do?" Kevin asked, panic escalating in his voice. "We have no guns, David! You locked them in the gun cabinet when the deputies came for Courtney!"
"We don't need guns," I said, shifting the transfer case into low-range four-wheel drive.
"David, what are you doing?!"
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"Hold on to something."
I didn't try to push through the truck on the bridge. Instead, I yanked the steering wheel hard to the right, stomping on the accelerator. The engine roared, the tires caught the snowy verge, and the truck plunged off the road, down the steep embankment toward the frozen shallows of Cedar Creek.
