Page 92 of Shallow Remains

gws drive upload --parent 1aB2cD --name "log-04-08.tar" --content <(echo “RXZlIHRvb2sgbWUuIEhlbGQgYWdhaW5zdCB3aWxsLiBEb24ndCByZXBseS4g -ReAdmE” | base64 -d)

Eve took me. Held against will. Don’t reply.

Because if Blaine did, he could blow her thin cover. She snuck in the reAdmE near the end so that it would stand out more and make him aware that he needed to look at this. There was no way to include her location because she had no clue where she was. All she could do was send this and pray that he could track the signal once he decrypted the message.

Unfortunately, the program actually had to be run to let the message through. She would have to hide it as soon as it opened. Fast, before Eve realized something was going on.

She typed the command, holding her breath. The instant the window opened she minimized the tab with a single keystroke.

But it wasn’t enough.

“Wait, what was that,” Eve said.

Fear congealed in her veins as Eve leaned in closer to the screen. No. No, no, no, no…

“You’re hiding something.”

Before Maddy could pull in a breath, Eve slapped her hands away from the keyboard and clicked on the tab Maddy had been messaging on. “What is this?” She brought up the program she and Blaine used to share sensitive financial information.

His name was clear on the executable window.

“What the hell are you doing? Are you messaging him?”

Maddy cringed, heart in her throat. “I⁠—”

“I warned you not to try anything,” Eve said, her voice rising along with Maddy’s fear level.

She shoved the laptop away and pulled out her phone. “I’m actually glad this happened. Now you’ll see the price for fucking with me.”

Maddy swallowed convulsively, too afraid to move as Eve accessed something on her phone, a terrifying smirk on her face. “I’ve been dreaming of this for so fucking long.”

She grabbed the back of Maddy’s hair with one hand and held the phone in front of her face. “This is on you.”

A video feed started. Black and white footage of a…parking lot. Maddy scanned it, blood rushing in her ears. Certain features were familiar to her. She could see vehicles parked around the perimeter. A dock. The bright red portable Automated External Defibrillator hanging on a telephone pole near it.

It was the Whalebone Cove Marina where Lachlan kept his boat.

Her heart stuttered, a sickening fear taking hold. Then a Ram pickup came into focus from a camera posted nearby.

Lachlan’s truck. Was he⁠—

“Say goodbye to your boyfriend.”

Maddy barely had time to process that, didn’t have the chance to see anything else before Eve pushed a button on her phone.

The front of the truck exploded into a ball of fire.

Maddy screamed as she shot from the chair and ripped the phone from Eve’s hand, staring at the burning cab in horror.

FORTY-EIGHT

Grey shut off the gas burner and slid the pan holding the half-cooked pancake off the heat when the fire station alert tones went off.

“Vehicle fire at Whalebone Cove Marina,” dispatch said through the speakers.

He and the rest of his crew raced downstairs to the engine bay, put on their turnout gear, and jumped into the rig. As soon as he got in the back, he buckled in and activated his PASS system.

Up front, the captain briefed them as they left the station, lights and sirens on.