Tom looked up from his laptop, analytical eyes taking in her beer-soaked clothes and exhausted expression. Piper stopped mid-sentence, teenage face anxious. Reagan set down her coffee with careful control, reading the tension in Cara's posture.
Wade leaned against the back wall, silent guardian watching everyone and everything.
"Whew. You smell like a brewery." Reagan’s eyes narrowed as she leaned in toward Cara, staring into her eyes. "Are you okay?"
"Long story. I'm fine." Cara's voice came out steadier than she felt.
"She's sober," Wade confirmed. "The beer's all external." He jutted his chin at the others. “I filled them in.”
Gabe acknowledged Wade with a tilt of the head and set his phone on the table, turned it so everyone could see.
The photo loaded—David, alive, today's newspaper beside him.
Piper's hand flew to her mouth. Tom leaned forward, shock and analysis warring across his features.
Reagan's face had gone pale. "They threatened Cara specifically."
Cara forced herself to keep breathing. "Apparently I'm leverage."
"This is—" Piper's voice broke. "This is real. They're really going to kill him."
"Not if we find him first," Wade said, tone carrying the absolute certainty of someone who'd dealt with worse situations and survived.
Tom was already typing, fingers flying across the keyboard. "Can I see the phone? I need to analyze the metadata. Track the number if possible."
Gabe handed it over without hesitation.
"Concrete walls suggest industrial location," Tom muttered, more to himself than anyone else. "Coastal, probably, based on the water damage pattern?—"
The weight of that timeline settled over the room like a suffocating blanket.
Gabe stood at the head of the table, looking at each person in turn. His brother's photo glowing on the screen. Hands clenched into fists at his sides. Face showing every bit of the desperate fear and determination warring inside him.
"So what do we do?" Piper asked, voice small but steady.
"We find him," Gabe said simply. "And then we get him back."
"Wait." Piper's voice was small but determined. "What ifyou just... do what they want? Leave town. Stop investigating. They said they'd let your brother go."
The question hung in the air. The obvious solution no one had voiced yet.
Gabe's expression went dark. "They're not going to let him go."
"But they said?—"
"They lied, sweetie. Bad guys do that." Wade's tone was flat. "They can't afford to release him. He's seen too much. Knows too much. David walks free, he goes straight to federal authorities with everything he's documented."
Reagan nodded. "The minute you're out of town, David becomes a liability they eliminate."
A cold certainty settled in Cara’s chest. "So do I. That threat wasn't just about making Gabe comply. That was?—"
"Insurance," Gabe finished, voice rough. "You're a witness too. You were at the warehouse. The tavern. They know you're helping me." His hands clenched. "Even if I left, they'd come for both of you eventually."
The weight of that realization settled over everyone.
"So compliance isn't an option," Reagan said, making it a statement rather than a question.
"No." Gabe's voice carried absolute certainty. "The only way David survives this is if we find him first. The only way any of us survive is if we end this."
