“Stop it!” Amelia shouted as she swatted at my leg. “I’m serious.”
“I know you are, little fox. You’re analytical. And that’s not a bad thing.”
“Why do you say it like that? Why not just say that’s a good thing?”
“Because it’s okay to acknowledge that not everything is predictable the way cards are. I think that all the things you can’t account for are what make life worth living.”
“Like what?”
I smiled against her temple. “Like you.”
“What’s the reverse of Stockholm syndrome?” she teased. “When the abductor falls for the abductee?”
“Smartass.”
She wasn’t wrong, though. And it had only been eleven days.
After the multitude of lives I’d lived, I wasn’t scared of much. Anything was survivable.
But, for once, I wasn’t sure I could survive her.
Every other scenario had been about getting myself to the next day. But this? I’d sacrifice myself to get her to tomorrow without a second thought.
I reached over, opened the drawer in the bedside table, and pulled out my burner phone.
“What are you doing?”
“Not making promises,” I said as I dialed the number for Cole’s secure line.
I held the phone to my ear and waited until I heard the connecting click.
Cole’s answer was nearly immediate. “You good?”
He probably thought we were on the run again. I shouldn’t have been calling, save for a life-or-death emergency.
“Yeah. How are we doing on that exit package?” I asked.
“Working on it.”
Curiosity danced in Amelia’s eyes as she listened.
“You got the mark nearby?” I asked.
Amelia’s expression changed entirely when she realized who I was talking about.
Cole grunted something unintelligible that roughly translated to, “Yeah, and if he doesn’t stop driving me up the wall, I’m going to use him as target practice.”
Muffled noises floated through the line—doors opening and closing. Something electronic like an elevator. I had only been to the Keller & Associates headquarters once. Much like the safe house I shared here with Cole, the outside told a different story than the inside.
From the outside, it looked like a completely forgettable office complex. But inside? It was a high-tech, state-of-the-art fortress.
Whereas Amelia and I had distance and discretion on our side, Cole and Joel were heavily fortified.
“Make it quick,” Cole clipped before handing over the phone.
“Hello?”
I had heard Joel Hawthorne scream more than talk, but the voice was familiar enough. Amelia snatched the phone out of my hand and pressed it to her ear as a torrent of tears rolled down her face. “Hi,” she whispered.
