Chapter 26
The dawn over the Achterhoek didn't arrive with the fanfare of trumpets; it arrived with the low, ominous thrum of a high-performance engine echoing against the valley walls. Inside the farmhouse, the embers in the hearth were grey, but the room was warm with the shared heat of two people who had finally stopped fighting the inevitable. Casper was the first to wake. The sound of tires on gravel was a sound he knew didn't belong to a neighbor’s tractor or a milk truck. This was the sound of the Hague. He sat up, the wool blanket falling to his waist. Beside him, Elisa stirred, her dark hair fanned out across the rug. For a heartbeat, she looked soft, her rebellion smoothed away by sleep. Then, the first car door slammed outside, and her eyes snapped open. "Casper?" she whispered, sit
- Writer
