Page 68 of Shelter for Shay
Her body trembled so hard her teeth clacked. She bit down to stop the sound, but it wouldn’t still the shaking. It was everywhere now—her hands, her knees, the hollow place in her gut where courage used to live.
She didn’t just feel fear.
Shewasfear.
This wasn’t courtroom tension or nerves before a verdict. This was survival measured in breaths and heartbeats. This was the kind of terror that clung to your bones and haunted your sleep. The kind that didn’t fade when it was over, because part of you never left.
She turned her face toward the wall and whispered, “Please. Please hurry.”
Because if Moose didn’t get there in time?—
If he walked into a trap meant to kill them both?—
Then this wouldn’t just be the end of her story.
It would be the end ofeverything.
And she wasn’t sure she'd make it to morning with that knowledge sitting like poison in her chest.
Moose – Saturday Afternoon | Perimeter Outside the Cabin
The cabin sat like a splinter in the woods—half-rotted porch, warped windows, one crooked chimney curling smoke into the canopy like a beacon for trouble.
Moose crouched behind a fallen pine, eyes locked on the structure. His earpiece buzzed low with updates.
“North side secure,” Sloan whispered.
“South, too,” Lief added.
Jupiter’s voice filtered in next. “No cameras. No motion sensors I can see. But there’s a signal blocker running inside—nothing’s getting in or out clean.”
“Visuals on hostiles?” Moose asked, adjusting the grip on his sidearm.
“One at the rear entrance. Armed, restless. Looks ex-military,” Kawan said. “Another patrolling the perimeter, moving counterclockwise every sixty seconds. They’ve done this before.”
“Still only two visible,” Thor added. “Edmonds just went back inside.”
Moose nodded to himself, jaw clenched. “We do this quietly. Clean. No collateral.”
“Copy that,” his team echoed.
He exhaled, stood slowly, and looked at the structure again—memories of Shay flickering like flashes in a storm. Her laughter. Her stubborn fire. The sound of her voice over the phone when she’d told him she was glad he’d called.
He wasn’t going to lose her.
“Thor, you and Lief take the rear. Sloan, Kawan, take the side window. On my mark, you breach only if I give the signal. Not before.”
Jupiter’s voice came through. “You sure you want to do this part solo?”
Moose slid his rifle onto his back and holstered his sidearm. “If I walk in alone, he doesn’t panic. He doesn’t shoot her. I need his eyes on me.”
“And if he pulls the trigger anyway?” Jupiter asked.
“Then you end it.”
A pause. Then Thor said, “Don’t be a hero, Moose.”
“I’m not. I’m buying time,” Moose said. He crept toward the front porch, boots crunching soft underbrush, one hand lifted. The steps groaned under his weight. No movement inside yet.
