Page 39 of Keeper of Talon Mountain
"Not exactly. But it feels right. Like muscle memory." I close my eyes, reaching for the fragments. "One location close. One far. One... insurance."
"The package," Sarah says slowly. "Two weeks ago. No return address, generic packaging. Inside was a safety deposit box key."
"Anchorage," the word comes unbidden. "First National Bank. That's the second cache."
"And the first?" Mara asks.
I tap the faint coordinates on the photograph. "Grotto Falls. Primary cache. I buried something there."
"Which leaves the third location," Colton says. "The insurance."
The memory surfaces slowly, like something rising from deep water. "A dead drop. Old school tradecraft. Somewhere public enough that it wouldn't draw attention, permanent enough that it would last months."
"Where?" Sarah presses.
I shake my head, frustrated. "I don't know. I can feel that I set it up, but not where."
"Did you mail something to yourself?" Alex suggests. "Post office box?"
"No. Too easy to intercept." The fragments are there, just out of reach. "Somewhere that required a key, but not my name. Somewhere..."
"A locker," Rhett says. "Bus station, train station, airport."
That feels right. "Seattle. The Greyhound station. I used a fake ID to rent a long-term locker."
Sarah's face goes pale. "Crane knows about Seattle. He mentioned it once—said you'd been tracked there two months before you disappeared."
"Then he might already have it," Mara says quietly.
"But he doesn't have the other two," Rhett says. "We can still beat him to them."
"Not to the bank." Colton shakes his head. "Box requires ID and a key. The moment Gabe shows his face in Anchorage, Crane will know. He's probably monitoring financial institutions."
"Then we fake him out," Mara says. Everyone turns to look at her. "Give Crane what he thinks he wants. Make him believe Gabe's handing over the evidence at the falls. Meanwhile, someone else hits the bank."
Sarah considers this. "It's risky. If Crane smells the deception...”
"He won't," I interrupt. "Because I'll sell it. I'll bring the evidence from the falls. Make the handover look legitimate. By the time he realizes what's happening, you'll have already leaked the documents from the bank cache."
"You're talking about walking into a trap," Sarah says flatly.
"I'm talking about ending this." I meet her eyes. "One way or another, this ends at Grotto Falls."
The room falls silent. Outside, wind rattles the windows. The clock above the mantle ticks steadily, marking the passage of hours we can't afford to lose.
Finally, Sarah nods. "Okay. We do this smart. Rhett and Colton hit Anchorage at dawn—that gives them time to access the box before business hours end. Alex stays here, provides overwatch and coordinates communications. You and I go to the falls."
"I'm coming," Mara says firmly when I open my mouth to object.
"Mara...”
"We've been over this, Gabe. I'm not sitting this out."
Sarah studies her for a long moment, then nods. "Okay. But you follow orders. This goes sideways, you get out. Understood?"
"Understood."
We spend the next two hours planning. Routes. Contingencies. Fallback positions. Sarah's team moves with practiced efficiency, the kind that comes from years of operating in hostile territory.
