“I am.”
“Then come home when you can.”
She was trying to be brave for him.
He hated when she did that.
“I love you.”
“Love you too.”
“Let Mrs. Alvarez put you to bed.”
“I'm not tired.”
“You're nine.”
“Exactly. Basically an adult.”
“Bed.”
“Fine.”
“Give Mrs. Alvarez the phone.”
A moment later his neighbor's voice appeared.
“You better be alive.”
“Unfortunately.”
“That child has been walking circles around my living room.”
“I know.”
“What are you doing?”
Elias looked at the black SUVs.
“Helping someone.”
“Of course you are.”
The disappointment in those words was affectionate but real.
“Elías.”
“I know.”
“You can't save everybody.”
“I know.”
“You say that like a man currently trying to save somebody.”
“I'll be home.”
“You better.”
He ended the call.
Victoria had heard enough to understand.
“You should go.”
Elias looked at the disabled SUV.
Marcus objected.
“Victoria.”
“No. He's done enough.”
Elias almost agreed.
Then an agent approached.
“Marcus. Police response delayed. Multi-car collision seven miles south. They're diverting units.”
Marcus looked down the highway.
“How long?”
“Unknown.”
Another agent added, “Recovery truck refuses to move the vehicle after seeing the damage without a full mechanical clearance.”
Marcus cursed quietly.
Victoria looked at Elias.
He could leave.
Nobody would blame him.
He had already done more than any stranger owed another.
But the old part of his brain had fully awakened.
Something still bothered him.
“What's south?” he asked.
Marcus looked at him.
“What?”
“Your original route.”
Marcus showed him the map.
“Highway stays straight for four miles, then long downhill curve near the reservoir.”
Elias studied it.
“Where exactly did the tire fail?”
Marcus pointed.
“Here.”
“How fast was she going?”
“Sixty-eight.”
Elias calculated silently.
Victoria watched.
“What?”
“If the first failure happened here and the second problem developed later…”
He looked at the map.
“The curve.”
Marcus saw it too.
“Half a mile.”
Victoria's voice dropped.
“Someone expected the car to lose control there.”
Elias nodded.
The security chief's phone rang.
He answered.
Listened.
Then looked toward Elias.
“What?”
Marcus held up one finger.
The call continued.
When he ended it, his expression was grim.
“Traffic unit reporting liquid across part of the roadway near that same curve.”
Victoria stared.
“Fuel?”
“They don't know.”
Elias exhaled.
“There's your second layer.”
Marcus swore.
Victoria's face went pale.
The first trap had not existed alone.
Something had been prepared farther down the route.
The damaged vehicle losing stability.
Reduced traction near the curve.
A crash that could be blamed on weather, speed, or mechanical failure.
Marcus looked at Elias differently now.
Not as a mechanic.
Not even as an engineer.
As someone who understood the architecture of what they were facing.
“You said people who plan like this don't improvise.”
Elias nodded.
“So they planned the road, too.”
“Looks that way.”
Marcus spoke into his radio.
“Original route compromised. Nobody goes south. Repeat, nobody enters the reservoir curve.”
Acknowledgments followed.
Victoria stepped closer to Elias.
“What did you used to do exactly?”
He looked tired.