Page 41 of Shadow

She found the website. Aspen Ridge Estates. Highway 40. Ten miles outside Renegade proper.

Gated entrance with security booth. Winding roads inside the complex. Multiple buildings. Community center. Pool. Activities schedule.

Perfect.

Destiny could pose as an elderly woman retiring to Colorado. Moving into an active adult community. Security provided by the complex itself. No federal oversight. No compromised safe houses. Roger was her son, needing a place to stay during convalescence. Asher and Daphne, her married son and his wife.

Hide in plain sight.

She pulled up GPS.

The route took her past the cemetery. She drew in a breath. No problem.

She wasn’t planning to stop. Except her car turned into the entrance.

Renegade Cemetery, with its wrought iron gates and stone markers visible in the midmorning light.

She drove slowly, gravel crunching under her tires.

Her father’s grave was there. Section C. Third row. Under the oak tree.

She could see it from here.

Simple headstone. Gray granite. Officer Daniel Cross, 1968–2009, Beloved husband and father.

Fifteen years.

Her hands gripped the steering wheel until her knuckles went white.

Just get out. Walk over there. Say something.

She couldn’t move.

Just sat there with the engine running and watched the sun climb higher over the mountains.

She wasn’t afraid of armed robberies or corrupt agents or criminal syndicates.

But she couldn’t walk two hundred yards to her father’s grave.

Whatever.

Her phone buzzed.

Caroline

Any updates?

Daphne

Potential safe house location identified. Aspen Ridge Estates. 55+ community. Gated. Security. On my way now.

Caroline

Good work. Get some rest.

Rest. Right.

She put the car in Reverse and backed out.