Gravel crunched under the wheels as the car turned into a narrow dirt road leading into a dark forest. Jenny peeked nervously out the window, expecting to see the Reaper taking aim at them by the glow of the headlights. She felt safer when the big road was out of sight and there was nothing but the trees. At last, the safe house came into view.
Jenny had never thought about a real safe house. She had only a vague notion of some artificially intelligent, armored location that was a designated safe area safe mostly because it was designated to be so. It never occurred to her that a safe house was just a normal house, and she felt oddly underwhelmed. All the same, the house looked exactly like what she would have chosen for a safe house. It was a small wooden building with a sturdy-looking door and small windows. It was plain and unassuming, even more so since it was in the middle of nowhere in the woods. She wished it was perhaps a little solid-looking, but surely Nick would know more about safe houses than she would. She followed Nick inside the house and he locked the door.
"Are you sure this is a safe house?" Jenny asked as Nick drew the blinds. "No one knows about it or anything?"
"It's a safe house because no one knows about it," Nick said quietly.
"But the Reaper knew where I was. Will he know about this too?" Jenny asked.
"No one knows about this," Nick said. Dust scuffled under his feet as he moved around the room, checking windows and poking around.
Maybe it's safe, then... Jenny thought. "Oh my god. This isn't a real safe house, is it?" she asked.
"It's the safest place for you," Nick said. When he saw Jenny wasn't going to be content with that, he added, "It's an old family hunting lodge. The only other person who knows about it is my father, and the Reaper's gonna have to do six feet of digging to get anything out of him."
"So how long are we going to stay here?" Jenny asked, setting her hand on a musty easy chair. A cloud of dust puffed up from the impact.
"I'll call for backup and they'll be here in a few hours. We'll figure out what to do from there," Nick said. He walked toward an ancient phone mounted on the wall of the tiny kitchen. He picked up the phone and pressed some buttons. Nothing happened.
"Is it broken?" Jenny asked.
Nick slammed the phone back down. "Rusty wires," he said. He'd never thought to get them replaced, since he wasn't the type to make many calls.
"Is there anyone around whose phone we can use?" Jenny asked.
"We'll have to go into town," Nick said. He started for the door, then stopped. "I'll have to go into town."
"What? You're leaving me here? Why?" Jenny asked. She instinctively took a step closer to him, since he was the only thing that seemed safe lately.
"He knew where you were, even before he killed one of my men. There's a mole," Nick said.
"He knows where we are now?" Jenny asked.
"I don't think so. But he knows to look for you. He'll have eyes in town. If anyone sees you, they'll follow us here. You need to stay here," Nick said.
"What if he comes?" Jenny asked.
"He's not going to come," Nick said.
"How long will you be gone?" Jenny asked.
"Not more than half an hour. Just stay away from the windows and don't turn on the lights," Nick said. Jenny knew that was just him being paranoid. They were in the middle of nowhere. If the Reaper was close enough to notice the lights, that wouldn't be enough to save her.
Nick felt around under an end table and tossed something to Jenny, who almost fumbled it.
"Oh my god, is this real?" she asked, holding the hangdun in two flat hands.
"Yes," Nick said, and he tossed her a handful of bullets from his belt.
"Why would you keep a handgun in your hunting lodge?" she asked.
"I keep a lot of things in my hunting lodge."
It was surprising what a random cop could tell you. He sure knew a lot about someone who barely spoke. The Reaper had no idea how his victim had gotten word of Nick's hunting cabin, but he didn't question it. He drove down a deserted country road toward his destination. After tonight, one of two loose ends would be tied up. The boy could come later. Maybe things would even work out without him doing anything. The boy was seriously injured. The human body was a weird thing. Someone could get those kinds of injuries and walk away, or someone could get the same injuries and never wake up. He would do what had to be done depending on how the situation turned out.
A pair of headlights pierced the darkness as the Reaper neared the lodge. A single squad car passed by, going the opposite direction. The headlights weren't on, and the car maintained a normal speed. Neither of the men had any business with each other, so the Reaper didn't even spare the driver a passing glance.