The news reported them as bodies, but the coroner would find they were alive barely. They were in critical condition from smoke inhalation and blunt force trauma to the throat. Victor, Felix, Grant, Ian, and Kyle were in the wind. They had fled before the police arrived. Good. If they were in custody, they would get lawyers.
They would get plea deals. They would get three meals a day. If they were running, they were in my world. I knew where they would go. When a wolf is wounded, it doesn’t go to the city. It goes to the wild. Victor had a doomsday cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains. He talked about it all the time. If the world ends, we go to the ridge.
It was a fortified bunker disguised as a log cabin. Solar panels, satellite comms, food for years. It was where they would go to regroup, to hide, to plan their counterattack. They thought it was a sanctuary. I knew it was a trap. I packed my gear. I kissed Leo on the forehead. I have to go finish this, Leo, I said.
