Download Img: 20220108 011005 284 Rar

Elias’s heart hammered against his ribs. The timestamp was current. It had been sent mere seconds after the photo was supposedly taken.

As the file finally opened, Elias held his breath. The image was grainy, bathed in the harsh, artificial white of a high-powered flashlight. It showed a limestone cave wall, but it wasn't the geology that mattered. Scrawled in fresh, dark charcoal was a symbol they had invented as children—a jagged "X" with a circle around the top. Download IMG 20220108 011005 284 rar

Elias grabbed his coat, the weight of the car keys in his pocket feeling like a lifeline. The mystery of how Leo survived was for later; the only thing that mattered was that the file wasn't just a photo—it was a digital breadcrumb leading him into the heart of the storm. Elias’s heart hammered against his ribs