Chapter 4 - The Safehouse
Conan picked up the buzzing phone with steady fingers, sliding his thumb across the cracked screen. He pressed it to his ear without saying a word.
""Conan."" A woman’s voice crackled through the cheap speaker, brisk and devoid of warmth. It wasn't Victoria. ""Don't take Route 9. Miller was detained at the precinct five minutes ago. Internal affairs has him in a box. Victoria bought the county sheriff two years ago.""
""Who is this?"" Conan demanded, his voice like grinding stones.
""Someone who warned Gabriel before he got in his car six months ago,"" the voice replied flatly. ""You have thirty minutes before the state troopers lock down the county borders under an Amber Alert. She’s reporting the child abducted.""
The line went dead with a harsh click.
Conan did not hesitate. He threw the car into drive, turning off the mountain pass onto an unpaved logging trail that led deep into the pine forest. The sedan bumped and groaned over tree roots and standing water for twenty minutes until the dense canopy opened into a clearing where an old, rusted timber cabin sat half-buried in creeping ivy.
It had belonged to his grandfather, an off-grid hunting shelter forgotten by property registers and tax maps.
He killed the engine and stepped out into the cold mud, pulling Elena and Leo into his arms. Elena could barely put weight on her left ankle; the crash had twisted it badly. Conan carried both of them inside, kicking the heavy timber door shut and dropping the iron crossbar into place.
The air inside smelled of dry cedar, dust, and old ashes. Conan moved swiftly, pulling the heavy wool curtains across the windows before lighting a single oil lantern on the rough-hewn table.
Elena sank onto the rustic cot, gently peeling back Leo’s blanket to inspect him. Miraculously, the baby had fallen asleep from exhaustion, unharmed except for a small red patch on his wrist. Elena wept silently, the tears washing dirt and sweat from her bruised skin.
Conan fetched a first-aid kit from an old steel locker. He knelt beside her, wetting a clean cloth with antiseptic to tend to the swelling on her forehead. When the cloth touched her skin, she flinched, then leaned into his hand, closing her eyes.
""Why are you doing this, Conan?"" she whispered, her voice cracked and vulnerable. ""You could have stayed out of it. Victoria wouldn't have targeted you if you hadn't pulled me out of that kitchen.""
""Gabriel loved you,"" Conan said softly, his thumb gently smoothing away a tear from her cheek. ""And he loved Leo. Before he died, he sent me a message saying he had found someone pure in a world full of monsters. He told me to protect you both if he ever failed to make it home.""
Elena looked up, her gaze searching his dark, solemn eyes. ""Gabriel knew he was walking into a trap, didn't he?""
""Yes,"" Conan replied, rising and walking over to the table where Julian’s wax-sealed documents lay beside the titanium drive. ""And now, it’s our turn to spring the trap on them.""
He pulled a rugged military-grade laptop from a hidden floor compartment under the hearth, plugged in the titanium drive, and waited for the decryption sequence to run.
When the screen flashed green, an encrypted folder appeared on the desktop. Conan clicked it open. Inside was a single video file dated the night Julian Vance passed away.
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Conan pressed play. The grainy screen lit up with the interior of Julian’s bedroom. But standing beside the dying old man's bed, holding a glass of clear liquid, was not Victoria.
It was Officer Miller.
