Page 29 of Beyond Redemption

“Arizona?” Olive asked.

“You remember Travis taking those friends of friends to Arizona from Colorado?”

“The,” she trailed off, thinking, “the militia compound?”

I nodded.

A dozen emotions scrolled across Bodhi’s face. “We’re going to stay at a desert militia compound for the foreseeable future?”

I nodded again.

He breathed out a laugh. “That’s kind of cool. I figured we’d be holed up in a windowless, drafty hut in Alaska.”

“Not with my daughter,” Liis said, walking into the kitchen. “We’re all set. We’ll grab Bodhi’s things and then circle back to Dulles Airport.”

My phone began vibrating on the counter. Taylor. I hit decline. Then again, this time Travis. I declined it again. My phone buzzed, over and over.

“Fuck,” I said. “They know.”

“We have to pack,” Liis said, putting away her phone. “HQ is sending a car. We’re on a plane in an hour. We’ll stop by Bodhi’s on the way.” She looked at him. “How will you explain this to your parents?”

“I’ll…” He paused. “Wait. We don’t have to stop by my apartment. I’m already packed for conference. It was going to be tight after I dropped Li—Olive off from dinner, so… I have a bag with five days’ worth of clothes and toiletries in the car.”

Liis and I traded glances.

“Perfect,” Liis said. “Your parents?”

“I’ll tell them I’m escorting Livvy home to her parents in Utah, that I’ll get her settled in and reassess. They’re not going to like it… but they’ll understand. They know what she means to me.”

Olive grinned, her eyes still red-rimmed and wet.

“And the school? Your team? Your scholarship?” Liis asked.

“I’ve already thought of that,” Bodhi said without hesitation. “Family medical emergency. The school is legally limited on what they can ask. It’s believable, boring, coaches hear it all the time. I’ll tell them I intend to return as soon as possible. No documentation required aside from a generic note. As excuses for extended leave go, it’s the gold standard.”

Liis nodded. “Good enough. Olive, get started. Pack light. It’s the desert. Hot during the day, cold at night.” My wife looked tome. “I’ll start in Stella’s room. Sol will make sure there’s a car seat for our ride to Dulles.”

“Understood,” I said, nodding to Olive as she and Bodhi left for her room.

Once the first Maddox call went unanswered, I knew there would be no version of this that stayed contained. Whatever safety we’d built for Olive ended the moment the world recognized her face. Olive’s cover was gone, the fallout was inevitable, and the night was far from finished.

Chapter Five

Liis

Midnight in Tucson felt nothing like midnight anywhere else. The air outside the terminal was cold and stripped bare, sharp enough to bite through fabric and skin. Desert chill carried a mineral tang, clean and unforgiving, and the tarmac lights cast long, brittle shadows across the pavement. Still, nothing softened the darkness.

An SUV waited at the curb, blacked out to the point of anonymity. No markings, Arizona plates, its exhaust puffing into the air to let us know it was warm and ready at a moment’s notice.

Thomas reached it first, his hand already on the rear hatch before the driver even stepped out. The man moved like a veteran agent, confident, relaxed and alert at the same time. He was in his mid-thirties, lean, eyes observant and subtly scanning his surroundings. He didn’t offer a smile.

“Agent Bradley Wimble,” he said, extending a hand.

Thomas shook it, brief and firm. “Thomas Maddox.”

Wimble nodded once, already focusing on the luggage. “I’ve been briefed. I want to get you loaded and on the road in five.”

Stella was asleep and drooling on Thomas’s shoulder, the sleeves of her soft lavender hoodie covering her small fists. She’d fallen asleep on the plane and woken disoriented, cheeks flushed, curls mashed against her head, but Thomas had used his soft dad voice to lull her back to sleep as we made our waythrough the terminal. He passed her off to me to help Wimble load the luggage, and I opened the back door, relieved to see a car seat already properly strapped in, complete with padded strap covers for her head to rest upon.