My phone is in my pocket, but there's no signal in here. The panic room is a Faraday cage, blocking all wireless transmission to prevent tracking. We're completely cut off.
"Is it over?" Lucas whispers.
"I don't know, baby."
More silence. Stretching. Endless.
Then a crackling sound from the intercom panel mounted beside the door. A beep as someone enters the security code.
I tense, every muscle in my body going rigid. My hand finds Lucas's head, pressing him closer. The code could have been compromised. Someone could have forced it from?—
"Rachel." Colton's voice comes through the speaker, rough and tired. "It's me. We're clear."
Relief hits so hard my vision blurs. I sag against the wall, suddenly aware of how tightly I've been holding myself together.
"Mom?" Lucas looks up at me. "Is that Mr. Stryker?"
"Yeah, baby. That's him." I stand on shaking legs and move to the door, hands fumbling with the lock mechanism. "We're coming out."
The lock disengages with a heavy clunk. I push the door open.
Colton stands in the hallway, covered in blood and dust. His tactical vest shows impact marks where bullets hit body armor. Blood runs down his left arm from a wound I can't quite see. His weapon hangs loose in his right hand, pointed at the floor.
But he's alive. He's standing. He's here.
"Are you hurt?" The question comes out steadier than I feel.
"Nothing serious." His eyes scan us both, checking for injuries with the same efficiency he probably used clearing the house. "You're both okay?"
"We're fine." I keep myself between him and Lucas, even though the threat is past. Even though he just fought off an assault team to keep us safe. "What happened?"
"Committee assault team." He gestures back toward the main room. "Multiple operatives down, some retreated when they realized reinforcements were inbound. Kane scrambled a team from Echo Base the moment Tommy detected the thermal signatures. They couldn't wait."
Multiple operatives. He killed people in the time it took me to count my breaths and rock my son.
"How did they find us?"
"Don't know yet. Tommy's running analysis." His jaw tightens. "But we can't stay here. Even with reinforcements, this location is compromised. We need to move again."
Lucas tugs on my shirt. "Mom, I want to go home."
The words gut me. Home. He still thinks we have a home to go back to. Still believes this is temporary. Still trusts that his mother can fix this and return everything to normal.
"Soon, baby." Another lie. "We just need to stay with Mr. Stryker a little bit longer."
"Rachel." Colton's voice drops. "I need you to take Lucas outside. The back yard, away from the house. Kane's team will be here soon. They'll extract us to a different location."
"Why can't we—" I stop. Look past him toward the main room. See the blood splattered across the wall visible through the doorway. "Oh."
"Yeah." His expression is grim. "Back door through the kitchen. I'll go first, make sure the path is clear."
I nod, understanding. Most likely, there are bodies littering this house. Men Colton killed to protect us. A crime scene that will traumatize my son if he sees it.
"Come on, Lucas." I take his hand as Colton leads us away from the main room. "Let's go wait outside for Mr. Stryker's friends."
Colton moves ahead of us, checking each room before gesturing us forward. The kitchen is untouched—no signs of the violence that erupted elsewhere. He opens the back door and scans the yard before stepping aside.
We emerge into afternoon sunlight that feels surreal after the claustrophobic confinement of the panic room. The desert landscape stretches out behind the house—scrubby brush, distant mountains, endless sky. Like the world didn't just explode in violence a few feet away.
