Either way—
The network wins.
10
Wren
Sleep doesn’t come easily tonight.
Not after what we learned at the church.
The cabin is quiet now. Most of the team turned in hours ago, but the soft glow of my laptop screen still lights the kitchen table.
Outside, the Montana forest moves in the wind.
Branches whisper.
The kind of quiet that makes every sound feel important.
I scroll through the list again.
Twenty-three names.
Volunteer recruits from the church meeting.
Search and rescue.
Medical.
Former military.
Volunteer firefighters.
On the surface it’s exactly what it claims to be.
But the patterns are wrong.
Too precise.
Too intentional.
I highlight another name and cross-reference it with a federal database.
The system thinks for a moment.
Then returns a result.
Former Army Ranger.
Discharged eight years ago.
Now listed as a wilderness guide.
“Convenient,” I murmur.
I move to the next name.
Another military background.
