At the observatory, Five men and women sat in leather chairs around a wide circular glass table under dim lamps. Twelve guards in gray suits stood along the stone walls, their gloved hands resting on their guns.Outside the tall glass windows, clouds drifted across the midnight sky, hiding the stars

Black smoke poured from the high brick walls into the cold, rainy sky. The narrow service alley behind the archive building was covered in rainwater.The iron door groaned as Ethan Sanders kicked it open from inside. He stumbled out into the pouring rain, holding the metal box tightly against his ri

Tina Macy pushed a mop across the wet floor, her shoulders aching from exhaustion. She wore a faded orange prison jumpsuit that hung loosely around her thin body.Her soft hands, once covered in expensive lotions and diamond rings, were now red and rough. She wiped the hair from her pale forehead an

"Pick up the phone, Miller!" Rupert Caldwell shouted as he paced across the airplane hangar. He looked at his gold watch as the hands reached midnight. The silence inside the building made his chest tighten with panic.He held the black telephone against his ear, listening to the hollow buzzing on t

"Turn down this dirt path, Chloe," Ethan said softly from the back of the van, holding the metal wall to steady himself. "The house is just past the tall pine trees."Chloe turned the wheel with both hands, guiding the van between the trees toward the quiet lake. "We are safe here, Ethan. The state