They were an hour from Ridgepoint when the first detour hit.
The map had shown a clean route—back roads through farmland and forgotten towns—but the landscape had changed. A flash flood had collapsed a bridge near the river pass, sending them careening off-plan.
"Detour?" Elena asked, hands tight on the wheel now while Liam scanned the tablet in his lap.
"There's an alternate road. Takes us through Calder Hollow."
She frowned. "That town's practically a ghost."
"Exactly. Which makes it harder to follow us."
They turned onto a narrow gravel path lined with brittle trees and faded road signs. Calder Hollow wasn't on most GPS maps anymore. It had once been a mining town until the company pulled out and left silence in its wake.
By midday, they rolled into the remnants of the hollow. Wooden storefronts sagged under age and weather. The only signs of life were the rustling crows overhead and a faded American flag barely clinging to its post.
Liam leaned forward, squinting.
"What?" Elena asked.
He nodded toward a lone building at the end of the main street. "I've been here before."
She looked at him, startled. "When?"
"Black Reef. One of our fallback sites."
"You think Sloan's people could be using it too?"
"Maybe. Or maybe it's already burned."
They parked the car behind a crumbling church. Liam pulled his jacket tighter as they walked, the wind sharp and dry. The silence was oppressive.
Inside the old bar, dust blanketed every surface. But someone had been here recently.
Footprints.
Elena knelt beside one. "Hours old."
"Let's not stay long."
They found a staircase hidden behind a false wall. Beneath it—a small room lined with equipment racks and papers, long since cleared out. Only one thing remained: a sealed envelope, addressed in blocky handwriting:
TO LIAM BLACKWELL — SHOULD YOU RETURN.
He froze. Elena stood close beside him as he tore it open.
Inside was a single photo and a note.
The photo: a woman with pale eyes and Liam's jawline—maybe a sister? A mother?
Elena watched his face change.
The note was scrawled in haste:
"They took her. They used her. She died for the silence you bought. Ridgepoint won't give you peace. Only truth or blood."
He stared at the paper, hands curling tightly around it.
"Liam…" Elena said quietly.
"I thought I was done with ghosts."
She placed a hand on his chest. "Maybe you're not supposed to be. Not yet."
He looked at her then, and something shifted in his expression—pain, anger, and something deeper: resolve.
"Let's finish this."
Back in the car, the sun dipped low on the horizon, casting long shadows across the empty streets. As they drove away from Calder Hollow, a drone lifted silently from a rooftop behind them, its lens adjusting with a quiet click.
Watching.
Waiting.
Reporting.