Sam gave Ashton a one-minute head start, then began to follow along the same trail she had disappeared down. He moved steady and quiet, being careful where he placed each step. He did not want to alert her to the fact that she was being followed, by stepping on a fallen twig or by rustling the dead needles laying in wind blown piles on the ground. Sam caught glimpses of her as she passed from shadow to sunlight and from between trees growing on either side of the forest path. He kept his eyes moving from side to side, making sure there was no one else spying from the trees. It wouldn’t be wise to be caught unaware, as any mistake in his line of work could be fatal.
Sam was good, anyone who knew him would say he was the best, which was evident as stealthy he followed his target. He was patient and stayed far enough away from her to keep her in sight, but not be detected. He saw Ashton wrap her arms around herself for warmth and had to smirk to himself. If this was the best they had to send after him, then he didn’t have too much to worry about. It was obvious that she had not done her homework very well when it came to Colorado weather, as she shivered in the chill of the mountain air. A good tracker would have come prepared for the elements.
When Ashton reached the edge of the woods that surrounded the cabin, she didn’t hesitate or look around, but went straight to the stairs and entered the back door, closing it immediately behind her. He imagined the lock falling into place on the other side of the cabin door.
Sam waited for a few minutes, taking his time to look over the area with a practiced eye. As he looked, Sam noticed there was no car in the drive behind the house. Keeping to the trees, he made a complete circle around the house and found no car, anywhere. How had she gotten to this place without a car? No cabs were going to drive all the way from Denver to drop her off at her doorstep. Keeping low, Sam exited the tree line and made an inspection of the short, curvy driveway. No tire tracks there either, which added to the mystery of how she had gotten here.
Sam made a mental note of where each window was, and the vantage points he would use if it were him inside watching. After his reconnaissance of the area, Sam crept to a window on the side of the house closest to the trees, and slowly raised himself until he could just see over the windowsill. Even though the glass hadn’t been scrubbed in a long time, he had a clear view of the living room and into the kitchen. He decided to settle in and watch from this vantage point for as long as it took him to find out if she was alone or if she posed any danger to him.
It did not take long before Ashton came into view. She knelt in front of the fireplace settled in between the two rooms, and appeared to be trying to start a fire. Sam had to admire this mystery woman, who got the wood crackling on the first try. Maybe she wasn’t as fragile as she appeared.
Sam still had not seen signs of anyone else in the house, and began to relax just a little as his sense of danger was beginning to abate. Things seemed to be as they appeared, except for the question of how had she gotten here. It was as if she had dropped out of the sky and landed on the porch of this cabin high in the mountains.
Sam was just about ready to back away and return to his house when he noticed Ashton stiffen as she knelt before the fire. Making a sweep of the room Sam saw nothing out of the ordinary, but just the same he reached behind his back and retrieved the pistol hidden there. He watched as Ashton leapt to her feet and backed toward the wall until her back was against it. Then, seemingly without cause, her eyes rolled up and she slid unconscious to the floor.
Sam’s eyes darted back and forth but he could see nothing. Something was evidently wrong, but he couldn’t ferret out the source of her fear. What had spooked her and frightened her until she passed out?
Then slowly Sam rose to his full height, as his eyes focused on someone or something inside the house. He was afraid to look away, or even to blink, because what he was seeing could not be real. During his life, Sam had figured he had seen just about everything there was to see, and some things he had even seen twice. But this, this was not possible.
The hand that held the gun now hung down at his side, and was all but forgotten with the new turn of events. Sam swallowed hard but could find no spit in his throat to relieve the dryness that had overtaken his mouth.
Slowly, with his eyes on the house, he backed away and kept going until he was once again hidden in the trees. When he could no long see the cabin, Sam turned and walked hastily to his cabin. He hurried up the weathered steps until he was secured inside. He pulled out a chair from his kitchen table, laid his gun down, and finally let his legs give out.
This was not possible, he thought. Turning what he had witnessed over and over in his mind until he was almost numb, Sam finally had to admit to himself that maybe he was not crazy. Maybe what he had seen had really happened. But who would believe him? Shit, he still could not believe it, and he had been an eyewitness. It was burned into his brain.
As he had crouched outside the window, Sam had seen Ashton rise up off the floor and lay down on the couch. Only she had not gotten up and walked. She had floated.