Jasper’s POV
The final checkpoint was barely visible, just an old stone marker half-covered in moss. I killed the headlights and parked behind the treeline.
The rest of the journey would be on foot.
Night had fallen thick and heavy, the pines towering like silent watchers on either side of the narrow path. I carried only a flashlight, a thermal map, and a compact duffel slung over one shoulder.
The cold bit through my jacket, but I didn’t feel it.
I climbed over a rusted gate, ducked beneath a fallen branch, and followed the faintest tire tracks that led deeper into the mountain woods. Most had been weathered out by snow and time, but I knew how to read what others overlooked.
A faint footprint.
A broken twig.
A security camera glinting in the shadows.
She was near.
She was so cl
