“Hey.” Rubi frowned and covered my hand with his. “What’s the matter?”
“Nothing. Just tired, mate.”
“Sure about that? You look kinda devastated. Has something happened no one’s telling me about?”
“Nah.” I took a breath, trying to calm the anxiety rising in me the longer I ignored Alexei’s call. “Nothing’s happened since you were here. We’re waiting for Sambini to move on us.”
“Why, though?”
“What do you mean?”
“Why are we waiting on them? Shouldn’t we move first?”
“How? We don’t have a fucking clue who they really are right now, let alone where to find them, and I can’t risk a run out of the compound, not when I can’t be sure who’s at my back.”
Comprehension dawned in Rubi’s weary gaze. “We got a rat?”
“At least one. And no prizes for your first six guesses.”
“What are you going to do about it?”
My phone rang again. That Alexei was calling me twice sent my pulse into overdrive.
Still clutching Rubi’s shoulder, I fished my phone from my pocket and answered the call. “Gimme a sec.”
I lowered the phone before Alexei spoke, forcing myself to focus on Rubi. “Look, none of it matters for you right now. I need you to rest.”
Maybe he heard the desperation in my voice. Saw it in my eyes. Whatever it was, it gifted me a rare moment that Rubi didn’t argue with me. He nodded and rose to his feet, taking the vintage map book from its place on the bookshelf. “Maybe I’ll plan some runs then, get back to basics.”
Despite the heaviness weighing me down, I found a smile from the pit of my soul. “We need that. It’s who we are.”
“’Bout time we remembered it then, eh?”
Rubi gave me a fraternal kiss on the cheek and left.
I pressed the phone to my ear. “Lexi?” Static greeted me. The line was bad. “Are you there?”
More white noise blasted my eardrums and I couldn’t tell if it was in my head. I stood and drifted to the window. Saint was in the yard, turning a slow circle as he looked for something. Or someone. We had a lot of wives and kids on the compound, hunkering down with their old men while the lockdown held. I wondered if he was playing a game with the youngest sprogs. For reasons I’d never understood, toddlers loved Saint, and he didn’t entirely hate them.
“Cam?” Alexei’s voice returned, tinny and distant. Somehow I knew he was far away and it suddenly enraged me that I had no idea where. That he’d crept away from me—from us—without a fucking word and expected me not to give a shit.
“Where the hell are you?” I was a growly motherfucker at the best of times, but despite the fact there was no way Saint could’ve heard me, the viciousness lacing my tone seemed to reach him.
He turned and stared at the window where I stood.
Alexei said nothing. Or maybe he did and I couldn’t hear him over the rage in my blood. “Where are you?” I repeated. “Tell me you’re fucking safe.”
“I’m safe, but you’re not.”
His voice was clear as a bell now. Wherever he’d been before, he’d moved. “I know we’re not safe. That’s why we’re on lockdown and why you should be here with us.”
“I can’t—”
“No!” My shout rang out in the empty chapel and I turned away from Saint. “Stop fucking with me. You know more than you’ve ever admitted, and I’ve never questioned you because, for some fucked-up reason, I trust you. But I’m done with it. I need you to come home and tell me the truth. I need you totell mewho the fuck you are before I lose my damn mind.”
Out of breath, I stopped shouting, half expecting Alexei to be gone—he had form for hanging up on me.
His furious growl caught me off guard. “There is no time,” he spat. “Why won’t you listen to me? They are coming for you and there is no more I can do to stop them.”
