Two. Refreshed again.
Her defiance started cracking around the edges.
No response.
Three minutes.
Clare’s fingers drummed the trackpad. “Come on. Answer. Please just...”
Nothing.
Four minutes.
“Shit.” She bit her lip. Hard enough to leave marks.
Five minutes.
“Shit.” She refreshed. Still nothing. “Shit shit shit.”
Six minutes.
The silence felt heavy. Final.
“I fucked up.” Quiet now. “I... I threatened the one person trying to help us and...”
She dropped her head into her hands.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, I panicked, I wasn’t thinking.”
I touched her shoulder. Squeezed.
Not your fault. We wrote together on the pad, my hand guiding hers. Not your fault.
“It is. I was scared and stupid and...”
Her phone rang.
The sound shattered the quiet.
We both jumped, stared at the device vibrating on the floor.
Unknown number.
Clare’s hand hovered over it, frozen.
“They found us.” Her voice flat. “They traced the email and...”
I grabbed the phone, hesitated one second, then put it on speaker.
Silence on the other end. Just breathing.
Steady. Controlled. Male.
Then a voice. Dry as bone and sharp as glass. American probably.
“Okay, nurse. Let’s talk.”
Clare’s face went white again.
