Page 33 of Keeper of Talon Mountain
"Then we find her." My phone shows 6:47 AM. "Zeke and Nate will be here at eight. They'll know how to run facial recognition, check military databases."
"If she's military."
"If she's not, we'll figure something else out." The photograph demands my attention. There's something fierce in the woman's expression, determined. "She looks like someone who doesn't give up easily."
"Like you," Gabe says quietly.
"Like us." I hand back the photograph. "Come on. I'll make coffee. Real coffee, not that pod stuff."
The kitchen feels normal in a way that's almost surreal. Measuring grounds, filling the French press, waiting for water to boil. Ordinary tasks while a deadline counts down and somewhere out there, people are watching our every move.
Zara appears as the coffee finishes brewing, looking like she hasn't slept much either. "Anything?"
"Not yet." Three mugs get filled. "Zeke and Nate are coming at eight."
"Good." She takes her coffee black, wrapping both hands around the mug. "Because I've been thinking. If they're watching us with thermal imaging, they know we're awake. They know we're moving around. But they don't know what we're saying or doing specifically."
Gabe looks at her with new interest. "So we use that."
"We use that." Zara sets down her mug. "We act normal. Make it look like we're just trying to survive the seventy-two hours. Let them think you're still struggling to remember."
"I am still struggling to remember."
"But we have a lead now. The photograph. The USB drive." She taps the table for emphasis. "They don't know that. We keep it that way until we have answers."
She's right. The photograph hidden in the backpack gives us an advantage—if Crane's people don't know we found it. "We need to be careful about who we show it to. If word gets out...”
"It won't." Gabe's voice is certain. "Zeke and Nate know how to keep things quiet. And if this woman is who I think she might be, they'll understand why we need to find her fast."
The next hour passes in tense preparation. We eat breakfast. None of us taste it. Review what we know, which isn't much. Plan contingencies for contingencies. By the time headlights sweep across the front windows at exactly 8:00 AM, we're as ready as we're going to be.
Zeke comes in first, Nate right behind him. Both men move carefully. Controlled. They know they're being watched. They don't speak until they're inside with the door closed and secured.
"You look like hell," Zeke tells Gabe.
"Feel like it too." Gabe pulls out the photograph. "But we found something. Hidden in my gear."
Nate takes the photograph, his expression sharpening immediately. "Tell me you have more than this."
"Just a note on the back. Says if I've forgotten, she remembers. That I should trust her."
"Sister?" Zeke asks, echoing my own guess from earlier.
"Don't know. Can't remember." Gabe's hands tighten on the photograph. "But the eyes—they're too similar to be coincidence."
Zeke studies the photograph, then pulls out his phone. "I can run this through some databases. Military personnel, federal databases, social media. If she exists, we'll find her."
"How long?"
"Depends. If she's military or law enforcement, maybe a few hours. If she's civilian with no digital footprint..." He doesn't finish the sentence. We all know what that means. Days we don't have. "I've also got some people off the books I can reach out to. Old contacts who owe me favors."
"There's also this." Gabe produces the USB drive. "Encrypted. Military-grade. I need a password to access it."
Nate takes it, turning it over in his hands. "This could have everything. Mission files, evidence, locations. Or it could be a decoy."
"Only one way to find out."
"We'd need someone who can crack military encryption without tripping any alarms." Nate looks thoughtful. "I might know someone. Tech specialist I worked with on a case last year. Discreet, fast, knows his way around military systems."
