Interloper

Standing before the window in her darkened room, Rachel crossed her arms over her chest and peered into the nighttime murk beyond it. It all seemed still, quiet, exactly like any other remote forest ought to be. Except that every once in a while, she’d catch the brief flash of a tiny lamp—sometimes green, sometimes blue, most often red—and detect movement, and she knew that there were men out there patrolling.

She heaved a deep sigh. Maybe I shouldn’t have agreed to come here.

Reaching out, she fisted the heavy drapes at the sides of the tall, narrow window and jerked them sharply, pulling them closed. She pivoted in the dark, using the dim light through the remaining windows to guide her to the bedside. There, she turned and let herself fall backwards onto the mattress.

Then again, the accommodations are a vast improvement over the cramped little hotel room. She stared up at the Murano glass chandelier in the center of the ceiling, glinting with multi-colore