He sent it, then muttered under his breath, “I hope.”
Avery caught the edge in his voice and looked at him. “Where are you taking us? Back to your cabin?”
“No,” he said flatly. “If there was a tracker on your clothes, then the Brotherhood knows that location. We can’t go back.”
She frowned. “Then why didn’t they come there? Why didn’t they strike when they had the chance?”
Jackson’s gaze stayed on the road, his jaw tightening. “Maybe they thought they wouldn’t be able to take us there. I had too many security measures in place for them to risk a frontal attack.”
He hesitated, his voice dropping lower. “But there are always ways for someone to get through.”
Avery’s stomach clenched at that. The thought of what could have happened if Charlotte and Darian had tried harder sent a chill through her.
Jackson didn’t look at her, but his grip on the wheel said enough. He was already thinking about their next move, already running every possible angle to keep them alive.
And Avery knew he wouldn’t stop until he did.
They had a lot of questions to work out and very few answers. Everything pointed to the Brotherhood being involved in the attack, in finding her, but it could be more than that. Right now, they had a lot of info, a lot of pieces, and she wasn’t sure how they all fit.
“Did you see Darian slap Charlotte?” she asked when the image of that flashed in her mind.
“I did,” he confirmed, a muscle flexing in his jaw. “Could have been for show. An act. Could have been the real deal, some kind of power play going on between them.” He paused. “I would try to speak to Haver if I thought we’d get the truth, but there’s no way he’d tell us anything that could incriminate his wife or the Brotherhood.”
Avery made a quick sound of agreement. Besides, it would be dangerous for either of them to make a trip to the prison since they could be attacked again along the way.
Jackson kept driving, his eyes constantly shifting between the road ahead and the mirrors. Every few minutes he checked behind them. Avery did, too. So far, there was nothing. No movement. No sign of pursuit.
Still, he didn’t relax.
He made turn after turn, not easily. He had to fight the blown tire, but he stuck to the backroads that cut through the open countryside. The rain had eased to a light drizzle, and the gray daylight stretched across the rolling hills and wet pastures. The sky looked heavy, still threatening more rain. Avery had lost track of where they were miles ago.
Jackson grabbed his phone again and used the hands-free control. “Text Garrett McCall. Message: Code Green.”
The phone beeped in confirmation.
Avery glanced at him. “What does that mean?”
“It means we’ll be using the safe house Garrett set up,” Jackson said, his tone focused but calm. “He’s got one about forty miles from here. Off-grid, secure, stocked for emergencies.”
A moment later, the phone chimed again. Jackson glanced at the screen long enough to see Garrett’s reply: a thumbs-up emoji followed by a string of numbers.
“The entry code,” Jackson said, giving a quick nod as he turned onto another winding road. “We’ll be there soon.”
Avery looked out the window. Sunlight broke through the clouds in thin streaks, glinting off the wet fields. For the first time in hours, she could see the land clearly.
Still, the tension in her chest didn’t ease.
They were alive, yes, but far from safe.
The rain had thinned to a mist, and the sky had lightened enough to show the shimmer of the creek behind the property. The water curved gently along the tree line, quiet and steady, and a small aluminum boat bobbed at the edge of the dock.
The cabin sat back from the road, tucked into a cluster of live oaks. It looked simple enough. Wood siding, metal roof, screened porch. But Jackson’s attention went to the small glints of metal half-hidden in the trees.
“Motion sensors,” he said, pointing them out. “They’ll alert us if anyone gets close.”
Avery nodded, her gaze following his hand. It didn’t look like much from the outside, but she could tell this place was fortified.
Jackson drove up to the garage, pulled out his phone, and keyed in the code Garrett had sent. The door rolled open with a smooth hum. Inside, the space was neat, stocked with tools, a generator, and shelves of supplies. Jackson parked and shut off the engine.
