Chapter 18 Old Shadows, New Bonds

• Twilight settled over the mountain bunker like a heavy cloak, the last golden rays of sunlight bleeding into violet shadows. Scarlett stood on the narrow wooden balcony, her fingers gripping the rough-hewn railing as the chill mountain air braced her senses. Below, the forest stretched in silent waves, no lights, no signals, no signs of human life. Just wilderness. A sanctuary at last.
• Inside, Olivia moved with quiet precision, checking the perimeter alarms, motion sensors disguised as tree knots, trip wires woven through the underbrush, and pressure plates buried beneath the soil. Simple. Reliable. Unhackable. In the main room, Theo and Isla practiced swift escapes through the bunker's hidden passageways, their small hands tracing the grooves in the stone walls as Olivia's voice guided them.
• "No screens, no drones," Olivia reminded them, tossing them each a compass and a deck of worn playing cards. "Just these. And your instincts."