The road narrowed as they climbed. Asphalt gave way to gravel, then to hard-packed dirt that rattled beneath the Jeep’s tires and sent dust curling into the headlights. Trees pressed closer on both sides; pines and scrub oak, their branches...

For a few seconds after the broadcast cut back to the studio, no one moved. The television glowed above the bar, the anchor pale and strained, clinging to a professional cadence that no longer fit the moment. Her words blurred, “trying...

Morning came quietly. The sun sat low on the horizon, a pale disc pressing gently against the sky, its light stretched thin across the pavement. Tony drove. Michael rode shotgun. Hutch sat in the back with a cooler pressed against one...

Tony’s Jeep idled at the curb in the grey wash before sunrise, engine rumbling low. The Wrangler was older, black paint dulled by the desert sun and highway grit, but Tony trusted it the way he trusted his rifle. The...