Chapter 5 - The First Crack in Ethan’s Confidence
Ethan found the strip of medical tape near the neighbor’s gate.
Tom’s security camera captured him picking it up.
Megan did not know that yet.
She only saw Ethan return through the garage with snow across his shoulders.
He held the tape between two fingers.
“What is this?”
Megan looked at the numbers.
Her stomach tightened.
“Inventory code.”
“For what?”
“My medication.”
“You put it under Rex’s collar?”
“I didn’t.”
Ethan stepped closer.
“Then who did?”
Lorraine watched from the kitchen.
Megan let confusion cross her face.
“You’re asking the injured woman why the dog has tape?”
Ethan studied her.
He wanted fear.
She gave him irritation.
That unsettled him more.
He threw the tape into the fireplace.
The flames curled around the coordinates.
“Get dressed,” he said.
“I am dressed.”
“For the cabin.”
Megan glanced at the storm.
“I’m not going.”
Silence filled the room.
Lorraine placed down her coffee.
Ethan smiled again.
“You need rest.”
“I can rest here.”
“The heat system is being repaired.”
“It works.”
“Not safely.”
Megan looked toward the thermostat.
Seventy-two degrees.
Ethan stepped close enough that only she could hear him.
“You are coming with us.”
Rex growled.
Lorraine opened the black duffel bag.
Inside were ropes, a folding shovel, emergency blankets, and the bright orange utility strap.
The strap looked new.
Too clean.
Megan’s hand moved toward her phone.
Ethan caught her wrist.
His grip pressed directly over bruised tissue.
She winced despite herself.
“There she is,” he whispered. “The brave soldier.”
Megan twisted her arm using a controlled release.
Under normal conditions, Ethan would have hit the floor.
Her injured shoulder failed halfway through the movement.
Ethan forced her against the counter.
Rex lunged.
“Down!” Megan ordered.
The dog dropped but continued growling.
Lorraine took Megan’s phone.
Ethan searched her pockets.
He found the encrypted drive.
“What did you copy?”
Megan said nothing.
Ethan’s confidence returned.
He believed the drive was the only evidence.
He did not know the files had already been uploaded to a secure military legal account the moment Rex crossed the neighbor’s Wi-Fi range.
Lorraine held up Megan’s winter jacket.
“Put this on her.”
Megan looked at the orange strap.
Then at the shovel.
May you like
The plan was no longer hidden.
👉 Ethan believed he had erased Megan’s evidence—but her files were already moving toward the one officer he feared most.
