Page 51 of Red Hunt

We looked at each other. Bolted out of the truck and back into the bar.

Peaches put his laptop down in front of Carter. “Carter, there’s something you need to see.” And before he even pressed play, I could feel Carter’s body going rigid.

28

MILLI

I shifted in my seat as I tried to get more comfortable in Belinda’s truck parked just off the road leading up the hill to the mill. The off-road trail into the forest was quiet and dark. It was already taking her a lot longer than she had anticipated, and that was making me antsy. We’d pored over maps of the area, looked at aerial pictures online, and researched everything we could find about the old mill. Belinda wanted to wait until sunset, so she timed what she thought would be a half-hour hike to arrive just then. Witnessing her level of planning was amazing. I’d always loved to learn, but that kind of tactical planning I wouldn’t get from a book.

I squeezed the sheet of paper in my left hand where I’d written all the information I needed: Check-in times, telephone numbers. The radio frequency Belinda made us use. I urged myself to loosen the grip on the walkie-talkie in my right hand. It was still working, so that wasn’t the reason she’d missed her last two check-ins with me. That fact, and what she’d told me on the check-ins before, had me on edge. According to the internet, that mill had been abandoned for the past couple decades, so there really shouldn’t have been much up there. But that didn’t seem to be the case. She reported guys and cars and activity.

I urged her to come back and call the cops, but she wanted to stake out just a little bit longer, and then nothing.

No contact, no sign, no answer.

Panic settled in my throat, and the squeezing in my chest increased with every minute she didn’t report back to me.

This was ridiculous. I reached for my phone but just as I sat back up, trucks barreled up the main road. Did Belinda call them?

I remained frozen, unsure of what to do now. Call the cops? Wait, a little more? Were these good guys or bad guys? And how would I know the difference?

God, I was shit at this spy stuff.

I stayed frozen in my seat, my eyes trained on the rearview mirror. What if they saw the truck in passing? What would I do if they came back? I panicked and locked all doors, then waited again. Shallow breaths, ears perked.

Just then, my walkie-talkie crackled, and I jumped in my seat.

“I’m ten minutes out. Do you copy?”

Belinda’s voice was muffled but sounded like music to my ears. I slumped back against the back of the seat, suddenly aware of the release of tension from my body. I just wanted to go home. “Copy.”

Ten minutes. Until all of this was finally over.

Ten minutes that felt like an hour until she finally knocked on the window. I unlocked the doors, and she jumped in and immediately started the motor.

She drove us backward out of the dirt road, but instead of facing down the hill, we were going up.

“What did you find?”

“The mill is some kind of secret hiding place. There’s definitely something fishy going on.” She exhaled and opened her window. “I didn’t find the woman from the video. They must’ve moved her, but there was another victim, and I managed to free her.”

My eyes widened, and my mouth dried up. She did what? For God’s sake.

I looked outside and blinked a couple of times. Why were we going up? “Where are we going and why?”

“Up to the compound.”

“I get that, but why?” Was she losing her mind? Hadn’t she just been up there?

“I saw Richard driving up there. Didn’t you call them?”

I looked at her as if she was growing two heads. “No.”

“You didn’t? Oh…I guess. I thought because I missed my check-in. Never mind. But I have to make sure they find Edith.”

“Edith?”

Her finger drummed against the wheel. “The woman I helped escape. Edith. Remember, she’s working at the shelter. You met her at that self-defense class a while back. I lost her in the woods. Now I need to make sure she’s safe and sound.”

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