Page 34 of Keeper of Talon Mountain
"Can you trust him?" Zeke asks.
"With my life." Nate's voice is certain. "Guy named Tommy. He owes me."
Zeke pockets the USB drive. "I'll make some calls. But Gabe, you need to understand—if we start running facial recognition and trying to crack encrypted drives, we're going to draw attention. People who work in those systems, they notice searches like this."
"Crane already knows I'm looking for answers. He's counting on it." Gabe moves to the window, staying back from the glass out of habit now. "The question is whether we can find them before time runs out."
"Sixty-two hours," I say, checking my phone. "Give or take."
Silence.
"There's one more thing." Zara speaks up from where she's been quietly observing. "If Gabe set up a failsafe person—someone who'd know what to do if his memory failed—wouldn't he have also set up a way for that person to find him?"
We all turn to look at her.
"Think about it," she continues. "You're smart enough to build psychological tripwires and hide evidence and create failsafes. You're not going to leave the most important part—actually connecting with your failsafe—to chance."
"You're saying I left breadcrumbs," Gabe says slowly.
"I'm saying you left a way for her to find you if you couldn't find her." Zara's voice is certain. "Something that would make sense to her but not to anyone else. Something personal."
Nate nods slowly. "She's right. That's exactly what I'd do in your position. Leave markers that only the failsafe person would recognize."
"But what?" Gabe's hands clench. "I don't remember setting up anything like that."
"The photograph. The back of the photograph. What exactly did it say?"
Gabe pulls it out again, reads the inscription.If you've forgotten, she remembers. Trust her.
"That's it? Nothing else?"
"Nothing else." He starts to put it back, then pauses. "Wait. There's something else. Not writing, just... a mark. Like a symbol."
He shows us. In the corner of the photograph, barely visible, is a small mark. Not quite a letter, not quite a number. Like someone drew it carefully with a fine-tip pen.
"That's a trail marker," Nate says immediately. "The kind hikers use. Means 'turn right' or 'this way' depending on context."
"So she's following it?" The words come out before I can stop them. "The trail to here?"
"If she found the marker, yeah. Could be leading her to Alaska. To Glacier Hollow specifically." Nate studies the mark. "You left this as a clue to your location. Question is whether she's figured it out yet."
"A clue to what?"
"To where you are. Or where she should look." Zeke takes the photograph back, examining the mark under better light. "This is good. This is something we can work with. Combined with facial recognition, we might be able to narrow down her location."
"Assuming she's looking," Gabe says.
"If you set her up as your failsafe, she's looking." Zeke's voice is certain. "Question is whether she's found the breadcrumbs yet."
My phone buzzes. Unknown number. My hand tightens on it as I answer, putting it on speaker so everyone can hear.
"Good morning, Ms. Bennett." Crane's voice is pleasant, conversational. "I trust you all slept well?"
"What do you want?"
"Just checking in. Seeing how Gabriel's memory recovery is progressing." A pause. "Any breakthroughs yet?"
Gabe takes the phone from me. "I'm working on it."
