Chapter 14
Safe House
Marcus Chen · 4.6K words · ~19 min read
Chapter 14: "Safe House"
The Texas hill country looked like God had crumpled up a green tablecloth and forgotten to smooth it back out. Rolling limestone hills covered in live oak and cedar, dissected by creek beds that may or may not have contained water depending on when it last rained. The roads wound through it all with the lazy confidence of paths that had existed for a century and would exist for a century more regardless of what happened on them.
Lin's contact lived outside a town called Wimberley. Population three thousand and change, an hour southwest of Austin. The kind of town that existed primarily as a weekend destination for Austin residents who needed to pretend they lived somewhere rural. Art galleries, a single-screen movie theater, a creek with swimming holes that filled with families every summer weekend. Safe. Boring. Invisible.