The door burst open just as Elias scrambled through the back window, the satchel gripped tightly in his teeth. He hit the dirt hard, rolling into the tall grass as figures swarmed into his workshop, shouting his name. He could hear the smashing of glass as they found his darkroom trays.
“He’s got the bag! Don’t let him get to the main road!” a voice roared, sounding suspiciously like the Mayor’s son. Elias ran toward the woods, his lungs burning and his legs screaming for him to stop. He knew every inch of these trees, every root and every hidden deer trail. He doubled back toward the creek, the very place where the nightmare had begun earlier that morning. The salvage crane still stood like a skeletal giant against the moonlit sky, the rusted car dangling just above the water. It was the only place they wouldn’t expect him to return to.
He climbed into the cab of the crane, his fingers finding the levers by memory rather than sight. If they wanted the car so badly, he would give it back to them, but not in the way they expected. He swung the massive arm over the bank just as the flashlights reached the clearing.
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