I landed in D.C. sometime in the early morning.I was as jetlagged as I could be, especially given that Kashmir was around five and a half hours ahead of the east coast.Hailing a taxi, I gave the driver the address and he was off. Ignoring the monuments that whirled past the cab window, I looked down at the number on the sheet of crinkled paper for the thousandth time.I had long since memorized it.The driver knocked me out of my daze, informing me that we had arrived.I looked out the window to see the familiar ranch-style home and leaned forward to pay him for the drive.The cab was gone as soon as I stepped out with my luggage, leaving me standing on the sidewalk of a dark street.I walked up to the porch, my suitcase trialing behind me. I lifted up the vinyl cap on top of the porch railing where Zak left his spare key, exactly the same spot it had been hidden in our childhood home.I unlocked the front door and walked inside the dark house.A light came on in the kitchen as I sh

Narrative P.O.V.News of the Chinese Beta's death arrived at the cabin with Jai.Although he anticipated Cain would be angry with him for withholding such pertinent information, Jai refrained from telling him until he got back from the airport.He knew Cain would use the exigency of the circumstances to delay sending Ella away. Jai knew this because it was exactly what Cain had done after the death of the Indian Beta.As much as Jai believed Cain was doing the wrong thing by sending Ella away, he wasn't going to manipulate their decisions with strategically revealed information just so the two of them could continue to pretend they didn't know right from wrong.Besides, the investigations of the deaths of two high-ranking officials weren't exactly conducive to the type of environment that mended and fostered healthy relationships.He wasn't going to play puppeteer, Cain would realize his mistake sooner or later.They left Kashmir in a rush, as Jai had expected them to.The plane ride

Narrative P.O.V.An elbow to the ribcage startled Daniel and he sat up straight in the car seat."No time to doze off," Priya said.He rubbed his eyes and groaned."Easy for you to say. You had the whole flight over here to sleep. I had to stay up and get a false warrant made so we could get surveillance footage from the airport."The phone in his backpack started to ring and he bent down to pick it up."Hello?""How are things?"He cleared his throat hearing Cain's voice."Things are good," he said."We found the cab that she took and we're in it now, heading to the house."Any leads at the airport?""No," Daniel breathed out."The only times we saw her in the surveillance videos were when she was arriving in D.C. There's no evidence that she left.""There are a million ways out of that city," Cain said."It just means that she didn't leave from that airport."Thanks, chief. That's comforting, Daniel thought."How are things there?" He asked.Cain was silent for a few moments."I hav

Ella's P.O.V.When Zak said we would leave at first light, he meant it. He woke me sometime in the very early morning and gave me little time to change into the clothes he brought me.A distasteful pair of black pants and a baggy black sweatshirt were all I had to layer under my new heavy winter coat. The combat boots paired with the wool camping socks he brought would keep me warm, and that was all I cared about.I was glad I had found my jacket when I did the night before because I was certain that I would never see it again. I could only hope that no one noticed the phone missing from its pockets.I put my cellphone in between the cups of my bra, tucked securely under the band. I figured this was the best place to hide it where I would still be able sit down and stand up without hinderance, something I couldn't do if it was in my waistband. I had considered putting it in one of my boots, but those weren't guaranteed to stay on my feet.The early morning sky was transitioning from i

Four Months Later..."Mom, I'm home!"Pulling my purse from my shoulder, I slung it into the barstool. I tossed my keys into the bag and walked over to the refrigerator."How did the interview go?" I heard her ask, her voice echoing out from the laundry room."I think it went well, but we'll see."I pulled out the lemonade and poured a glass before sitting down on the countertop. My first real-world job interview since graduating from collegenearly a week ago hadn't gone nearly as bad as I expected it to. They didn't seem distracted by the fact that I'd been fired from my counseling internship when I never showed up after taking a week off for my grandfather's funeral.They were also interested in hiring me despite the fact that I had only been allowed to graduate after drawing up a contract with my university promising that I would make up the classes that I had withdrawn from while in Germany.While I had retaken most of them during the spring semester, I still had two left to comp