“There’s no cell service up on that ridge when the wind kicks up.”

“I know,” I said. “That is why I chose it.”

“Take a radio,” Calvin said, reaching into a drawer and pulling out a heavy, black walkie-talkie.

“It links directly to our repeater at the depot. If things go bad, you press the orange button.”

I took the heavy radio and slipped it into my coat pocket.

“Thanks, Calvin,” I said.

“Don’t thank me,” he said. “Just come back and sign the payroll sheets.”

I left the warehouse and headed west toward the mountains.

The highway began to climb, the city lights fading into a dull glow in my rearview mirror.

Snow began to fall, tiny white needles striking the windshield.

I turned off the highway onto the narrow, winding dirt road that led up the canyon.

The tires of my truck crunched through the fresh powder.

Tall pines leaned over the road, heavy with snow.

Elliot’s cabin sat on a high ridge overlooking the valley.

It was a simple structure of dark logs and a tin roof, built by my uncle thirty years ago.