house they bu

rld knows

fer him dead-and th

im find the

s waiting

stroy th

shed dinner when the

National Morning S

n three days. No pre-recordings.

board. Mason sat across from her, quieter than usual, eyes fixed

lowly and walked to the window. The city lights bli

sn't just about the tru

bury him once weren't going to

ing. Watching. She pulled the curtain halfway and whispered, It's starting. Mason joined her silently. His face paled f

ld they say? Help, we're being watche

ntact who helped them escape. This time, her voice was sharper. "We

, a letter arrived. No postmark. No return addre

dig, the more gr

couldn'

sted, she searched again through the files he'd brought from the clinic. On

two male children born to Mason's parents-one listed as deceased at age nineteen. But the d

loud, "They nev

. "My older brother. They said he drowned while abroad.

e. "What if he's alive, Maso

taring at the half-fini

ince they left the house

ut showed two boys laughing beside a lake. One was Mason. The other, taller, stronger, had the same sharp jawline and eyes.

th a rare emblem. She zoomed in on the license plate, barely visible. "This could help us

restricted call. She answered. A deep voice whispered, "Stop looking into

sil

photo slowly. His

something neither of

ight not

ht not be

d to meet

ecording devices. "We'll talk like it's 1995," he had said. So they chose an

was already waiting when they arrived-mid-forties, shaved head, sharp eyes. "Call

Beard now, heavier, but undeniably him. "He's been living under aliases," Reed whispered. "Goes off-grid

hy would he disappear i

real question is: what did he know

e kind of face shaped by years of silence. Samantha sat across from him, spreading out the rest of the medical files from the

It says your vitals were declining-but the scan is identical to the one the

You mean... they

ne, Mason. You weren't dying. You were bei

been failing. He'd been fed failure. And if Elaine went

eceived an anonymous tex

found dead. Car crash.

fy Mason's altered scans had just... vanished. Mason not

een. For a long moment

bout hiding me. It's about silencin

last known location. A boarding house outside the city. Cash o

af

lt more like a warni

ght," she said. "If Julian's alive, he's eit

t was th

de themselves

ary. When they reached the address, it was almost dawn. The boarding house looked like it hadn't bee

woman at the front desk barely looked up. "R

the exhaustion from travel catching up wit

a single window facing an alley. But taped to the unde

ke

ed in

s, he's still out there. But be care

ing matched the letter Mason once

brothers had been here

leep. Not aft

d the nearby streets that morning. Then she saw him-sitting alone at a café acro

ath. "That man's been there sin

en him before-he used to guard the house when my father w

Samantha whispered. "She'

er, paid in cash, and left the boarding house through the fire escape. Twenty minutes la

misse

r