The thuds go on, and she stops making noises. But I keep my eyes squeezed shut.
I am a good girl.
“This is your daddy’s fault,” the man says as his footsteps thump closer.
My father shouts from the other end of the line, making threats I can’t understand, with my heart hammering in my ears.
“I’m going to give you one more chance,” Silvana says into the phone. “If I don’t hear from you by midnight withthe coordinates of your closest ship, you know what we’ll do to her, Hernán.” Silvana hangs the phone up and slides it into her pocket.
My father’s furious shouting echoes in my head as she picks up her bottle and leaves me shaking on the ground, in the ruins of the delusion I’ve been living my whole life.
13.5 HOURS EARLIER
MADDIE
Another burst of static comes from the radio. “Hey, Shawn, can I get confirmation—”
I grab Luke’s hand as more audio fuzz swallows the rest. “That’s Julian.” Chills run up my spine. I’llneverforget his voice. “The man who shot Ryan.”
Luke’s hand goes stiff, and I swallow my disappointment. He still doesn’t trust me. But then his fingers intertwine with mine, and I give his palm a grateful squeeze.
The minute I really need him, there he is.
“Um, just a sec ...” Shawn’s voice fades into more static while Luke and I stare at the radio. “... grab the list.” The radio goes silent for a minute, then the static comes back. “Okay, I ... Angeles, Chicago, DC, Memphis ... York, and Miami. Did you get all those?”
“Sí,” Julian says. “And Langley, Virginia.”
“No, man, Sebastián said the boss scratched Langley from the list last week.”
“Silvana ...veryclear,” Julian insists, his accent thickand harsh with anger. “No Langley, no deal. You donot... anger Moreno.”
“Okay ... talk to Sebastián ... get back to you,” Shawn says, and the static ends.
I squeeze Luke’s hand again, then let it go. “We are inwayover our heads.”
Luke nods. “Yeah, that’s about the only part I understood.”
“It sounds like Silvana works for the Moreno cartel. What’s left of it, anyway.” The Morenos were big news during a rash of drug raids a couple of years ago. “And whoever Sebastián’s boss is, he isn’t afraid to piss the cartel off.”
“The cartel? So is this about cocaine?” Luke frowns. “The cities—are they some kind of distribution network?”
“But Langley?” My heart thuds in my ear while I try to figure out what’s going on.
“Maybe CIA agents like to party hard.”
“I don’t know,” I tell him. The only thing I’m sure of is that this is much bigger than what’s happened to Genesis, Ryan, and me.
11 HOURS EARLIER
GENESIS
“He hasn’t called.” My foot won’t stop bouncing. I grab Indiana’s wrist and glance at his watch. “It’s been three hours. He’s not going to call.” I’m not sure what I want my father to say, but I’m sure I want to hear from him.
Indiana scoots closer on the log and takes my hand. “He’s going to call.”
On the other side of our fire pit Penelope is running her fingers through Holden’s blond waves while he naps with his head in her lap. Domenica and Rog are immersed in a game of chess on a set that’s missing two pawns.
They have no idea what Silvana told my father. Or that the call I’m waiting on could get them killed.
