n lights of Los Angeles. The Porsche tore down a de

esert and dry scrub brush. There were no other

rutted dirt road. She pulled up to a rusted chain-l

as waiting by the gate. He handed Julia a heavy brass k

fifty-acre orchard backed up against a stee

open the creaking wooden gate and waded through the

rmhouse, hidden under a pile o

ndle of the bunker hatch. She heaved it open. A blast of col

e's flashlight and des

ve-over three thousand square feet of reinforced concrete. Dust

the thick, cold wall. T

ker, and bought the entire property, outright, for eight h

, roadside motel. She couldn't go back t

She locked the deadbolt, pulled the heavy curtai

adsheet and began

generators, commercial-grade solar pane

en-thousand-gallon water tanks, gas masks, and military-grad

freeze-dried vegetables, military MREs, vacuu

rs directly. To avoid triggering FBI red flags, she routed the purchases through a dozen

. California gun laws were too st

ee-hundred-thousand-dollar purchase order to an arms dealer known as 'Blacksmit

M. Her eyes burned, but the adrenaline pumping

splashed cold water on her face. She lo

rifying thoug

ro

ginal plot, this specific beating caused a massive infection. The fev

of the sink. The water

pse even started, the world line would collapse.

d awakened, he

he wall, chewing on her thumbnail. The fear of t

otel room, jumped into the Porsche, and sped back toward Los Angel