He skidded around a final corner and nearly rammed into a Ford Escape—the car he hadn’t recognized—and stood on the brakes, stopping just inches short of the smaller car. Looking up the final feet to the clearing, he spied Sophia—or was it Julia?—aiming down the hillside, ready to pop off another.

Caught in the Explorer’s headlights, she at first trained the gun at his windshield, then, thinking better of it, turned and ran to the tiny house perched in the clearing. “Wait!” he yelled as she frantically unlocked the door before throwing herself inside.

James resisted the urge to spring from the SUV. He called 9-1-1 and, as soon as the operator picked up, yelled, “This is James Cahill. I’m at my property, don’t have an address, but off Johnson Road on Regret Mountain. I’ve heard gunshots. Call Detective Rivers.”

“Sir, if you would state your location—”

“No time.” He jammed the phone in his pocket and thanked God that Rebecca wasn’t involved in this.

CHAPTER 52

CHAPTER 52

The Isolated Cabin
That Same Night

At the cabin/tiny house, Sophia waited. She no longer had a weapon, but she wasn’t finished yet and intended to fight back. She had removed all the light bulbs except one in the small bathroom.

Breathing hard, she went over her plan for the dozenth time:

When her snake of a sister finally arrived for another visit, she would be in for a surprise. Julia would step inside the cabin and hit the switch to turn on the light, but nothing would happen, the room would remain dark. That might worry her, give her pause, but she’d push her concerns aside. After all, she was Julia and, for the most part, fearless. Hopefully, then she would spy the bit of illumination showing from the crack beneath the bathroom door at the opposite end of the small building and be drawn to it. All the while, Sophia would stay quiet, hidden in the little niche to the right of the door. Surely, Julia would look in the direction of the light and, hopefully, believe that Sophia would be hiding in the bathroom or in the loft above. But she would be nervous and probably armed with that horrid stun gun. This time, though, Sophia would be ready!

But, she reminded herself, she would have to play it perfectly, to time her leap from above so that she would be able to knock Julia down, somehow turn the tables on her, steal her damned Taser, grab her keys, and lock her inside this prison.

All in the dark.

“God help me,” she whispered, her palms sweaty at the thought of it.