Chapter 13 - THE SHOWDOWN ON THE CLIFF
Elena didn't answer.
She turned around and leaped out through the broken patio window into the torrential rain.
"Shoot her!" Victoria screamed from inside the house.
"DON'T LET HER LEAVE THIS MOUNTAIN!"
BANG! BANG!
Gunshots shattered the night air as bullets hit the wooden deck frame around Elena.
She sprinted into the freezing mud, holding Lily against her chest with every ounce of strength she had left.
The heavy footsteps of the corrupt officers pounded behind her in the dark woods.
"Spread out!" Sheriff Miller’s voice echoed through the trees.
"She’s injured! She can't go far!"
Elena ran blindly through the pitch-black forest, branches tearing at her clothes and skin.
Her foot caught on a slippery tree root, and she tumbled hard onto the wet earth.
She wrapped her body around Lily, shielding the child from the impact.
They rolled down a muddy slope, coming to a stop at the very edge of a sheer cliff face.
Below them, three hundred feet down, the roaring waters of the mountain river crashed against sharp rocks.
There was nowhere left to run.
The beam of a high-powered flashlight cut through the darkness above the slope.
Sheriff Miller slid down the muddy incline, holding his pistol with both hands.
Two other officers followed right behind him, surrounding Elena at the edge of the abyss.
"End of the line, Elena," Sheriff Miller sneered, stepping closer.
"Give me the girl."
Elena pulled herself up onto her knees, holding Lily right at the brink of the cliff.
"If you take one more step," Elena screamed over the roar of the river below, "I will jump with her!"
"You won't do that," Miller laughed coldly.
"You're too weak."
"Try me!" Elena yelled, tears mixing with the rain on her face.
"I would rather give her soul back to God than let her be raised by a monster like Victoria Vance!"
Sheriff Miller’s smile faded.
He raised his gun, aligning the sights with Elena’s forehead.
"Have it your way," Miller said coldly.
"Accidents happen in the mountains all the time."
His finger began to tighten around the trigger.
BOOM!
A blinding flash of light exploded from the trees behind Sheriff Miller.
A massive black police SWAT van smashed through the dense thicket, violently slamming into Sheriff Miller’s patrol cruiser.
Sirens roared like thunder.
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A loudspeaker boomed across the cliffside:
"STATE POLICE! DROP YOUR WEAPONS IMMEDIATELY!"
