Page 20 of Raven's Mark
"This isn't just an armory." Raven runs her fingers along the edge of an ammunition crate. "This is a last-stand fortress."
"If the cartel finds this place while I'm gone, you've got options." I pull an AR-15 from the rack and check the chamber. It's empty and the magazine well is clear. "This one is zeroed at a hundred yards and fires clean. You know how to use it?"
"ATF, remember?" She takes it from me anyway, checks the weight, and shoulders it. She tests the sight picture. "Where's the ammo?"
I point to the labeled crates. "Take whatever you need. There's a firing port cut into the north wall." I indicate a narrow slit at ground level. "It gives you sight lines to the driveway and the tree line. Anyone coming at the cabin has to cross open ground."
She lowers the rifle. "You planned for siege conditions."
"I spent the better part of a year on this place between building, digging the tunnel, and setting up fallback positions." I take the AR-15 back and return it to the rack. "You can defend yourself from down here, or you can use the emergency exit." I point to a narrow tunnel entrance behind the ammunition storage. "It runs through to the cedar break west of the cabin. From there you can make it to a backup vehicle I've got stashed well beyond the tree line."
"You really don't do anything halfway."
"Not when it comes to staying alive." I head for the steps. "I'll be back within the hour."
"And if you're not?"
"Then you use what's down there to get out. One way or another."
The clean truck is parked behind the cabin under a canvas tarp, a plain gray Chevy registered to the same shell companyas the property with no connection to the Hollister name or the black Ford the cartel saw during the chase. I pull the tarp off and toss it aside. The burned truck stays hidden in the equipment lean-to until I can deal with it, but this vehicle is the one I use for anything that requires moving without being recognized.
The drive to the rendezvous point gives me time to think through what I'm about to do. Telling Knox and Beckett about why Raven is back means exposing secrets I've carried for a decade. But it's more than that.
Bringing them to the cabin means giving up my last bolt-hole. The one place nobody knows about becomes a known location the moment I lead them through those trees.
I grip the wheel tighter. Every operator instinct I have screams against it. You don't reveal your safe house. You don't give up tactical advantage. You don't trust anyone with your fallback position.
But those rules assume you're operating alone.
The cartel knows my truck. They know I pulled Raven out of that safe house. And Carmichael is playing games with all our lives. If things go sideways, and they will, my brothers need to know where to regroup. They need a fallback position that isn't Devil's Acre, isn't any place the cartel can connect to the Hollister name.
They need the cabin. And I need to trust them with it.
My phone buzzes. Maria's name flashes across the screen, and I answer on speaker.
"Jesse." Maria sounds tight and careful. "Sheriff Harlan was just here. He was asking about a redhead who'd been poking around the ranches. Someone fed him details."
"What did you tell him?"
"That she ordered a beer, asked some questions, and left. Nothing specific." There is a pause before she continues. "ButJesse, something felt off. He was too friendly and too casual about it, like he was fishing but didn't want me to know."
"Understood. Thanks, Maria."
"Be careful." She hangs up.
I stare at the empty road ahead. Harlan is already moving, and that changes the timeline.
Knox is waiting when I arrive, his truck pulled off to the side of the access road. I scan the area and check for tails. The road is clear.
My middle brother climbs out of the driver's side with every movement deliberate. Knox doesn't just evaluate tactical positions. He owns them. He is built like a brawler with fists that have ended more fights than they've started, and he surveys the tree line with the kind of focus that makes weaker men step back.
"Where are we going?" Knox doesn't waste words.
"Follow me. Stay close."
I lead them deeper into the hills. When the cabin comes into view, Knox parks behind me, kills the engine and gets out.
"This is yours?" Knox's tone carries an edge that could cut.
