They pulled up to the safe house right at the edge of the city like it was daring anyone to notice it. From the outside it gave exactly nothing. Overgrown bushes and these half-dead trees had basically swallowed the roof, branches sagging low like they were trying to keep the place a secret even from the sky. The building hunched there behind a rusted gate that probably hadn't moved since the nineties, dust thick on the bars like gray fur. No lights. No shadows moving behind the windows. Nothing.
Good. Exactly what they needed.
Vera killed the engine. For a second nobody said shit. The silence in the truck sat heavier than the gun smoke they'd left back at the bakery.
Pepper was wide awake in the back, perched on Alex's lap like she owned the damn seat. Pacifier still in her mouth, eyes scanning the overgrown yard through the glass like she was filing it away for later. Her little fingers twisted in Alex's shirt, calm. Too calm for a kid who'd just lived through hell.
