The new safehouse was a fire lookout shack that had been turned into an off-grid refuge. It was hidden in the Cascades. It stood guard in the middle of a huge area of pine trees and rocks, tucked into a mountain fold where the trees got thicker and the paths were lost. Not having any roads. Not a single sign. The world had been after them with cold calculation, but they got away.
A stone chimney that had endured decades of mountain winters, windows that overlooked nothing but nature, and rough-hewn planks c*****d with moss and clay made up the cabin's bare essentials. A battery bank hummed silently in the corner, its power drawn from solar panels fastened to the roof, capturing the little light that made it through the canopy. The sole accompaniment was the rustling of pine needles in th
