The Reckoning

The story breaks on a Tuesday. By Friday, Vermillion Mining has withdrawn its bid, their stock tumbling alongside the headlines you helped write. Cedar Hollow's ridges stand untouched—saved, the journalists say, by an anonymous source deep in the backcountry.

You're restocking gear at the ranger station when the envelope arrives. No return address, but you'd know that careful handwriting anywhere. Sasha. Inside, a single folded page waits like another map, asking you to chart a route you weren't sure existed anymore.