Was Eve gone?
Then, as suddenly as it had stopped, it started again. A flurry of pings sounded and a series of messages scrolled in fast.
Change of plans.
Pocket the phone.
Keep it on you at ALL TIMES.
One word about this to anyone and Eve dies.
If we lose track of you, Eve dies.
Do not test us.
Do not forget these instructions.
We’ll be in touch.
I blinked several times, frozen in my spot. What in God’s name was that supposed to mean? They’d be in touch? When?
What do you mean? I wrote back, just before I heard my name.
“Angela!”
I turned 180 and saw Keats. He’d just jumped out of a cruiser, parked diagonally in the intersection behind me, lights flashing. I hadn’t even heard the car coming. Now Billy was sprinting toward me with one hand on the gun at his hip.
I didn’t know what to do. My options were extremely limited, in any case, and I slipped the phone into my pocket as surreptitiously as I could. This was insane, but I couldn’t stop now. I had to protect Eve. And to do that, I had to keep the phone a secret, at least for the time being.
“I’m okay, I’m okay!” I said, just as Billy got to me.
“What the hell are you doing out here?” he shouted. “Have you lost your mind?”
It was a struggle to synthesize everything into one response. Anything I said to Billy might be overheard through that Android. And any mention I made of the phone itself would almost certainly get Eve killed.
“I thought I saw them taking her!” I said. The lie burst out of me in a panic. “I didn’t know what to do … and I just … ran after the car. I’m sorry! I shouldn’t have done that. I was wrong. It wasn’t even them!”
“Okay, okay,” Keats said, his voice easing. He put an arm around my shoulder and shepherded me toward the cruiser as it pulled up the block. “It’s done now. But Jesus, Angela, you scared the crap out of me.”
I could barely look him in the eye. I felt terrible for lying, but the alternative was worse. The bulge in my pocket felt conspicuous as hell, even if nobody else seemed to notice. What I needed was a few minutes alone to think this through and not make any rash decisions. For once.
In the meantime, all I could do was stick to the story, take it one thing at a time, and pray that this sick little game hadn’t just come to an abrupt end.
CHAPTER 68
WHEN WE GOT back to the street outside Eve’s house, an unmarked black van was waiting to take me wherever I was headed next. I assumed that meant some kind of safe house. What little I knew about these kinds of things told me I’d be unreachable for the foreseeable future. But that was just a guess.
“Can I at least call my parents?” I asked Billy. “I can’t just disappear on them.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Billy said. “Of course. But just one call, and it’s going to have to be quick.”
It felt like I was getting arrested as much as going into protective custody.
“Hello?” Mom answered. It was nearly 1:00 a.m. I could hear the confusion mixed with concern in her voice.
“It’s me, Mom,” I said. “I’m on Agent Keats’s phone.”
“What is it, sweetheart? What’s wrong?” she asked.
I took a deep breath and my chest shuddered. Everything that had just happened was too much to think about at once.
“We’ve had a situation at work,” I said, trying to sound as level as possible. “All I can really tell you is that I’m okay. They’re taking me somewhere safe.”
“What?” Mom said, her voice rising. I’d given her too much, too fast, I could tell. “Who’s putting you up? For how long? What happened?”
“I’m so sorry,” I told her. “I can’t say any more than that, and I don’t have time to talk. But I promise you I’m safe. That’s all you need to know for now. I’ll be in touch just as soon as I can, I swear.”
“At least tell me where they’re taking you,” Mom demanded.
“I don’t know,” I said. “And it’s actually better if you don’t know, either.”
Keats was motioning at me to wrap it up. I could tell he hated having to hurry me, but this transfer wasn’t a whenever kind of thing. We had to go. And meanwhile, I’d just stoked every fear Mom had ever had about me and this job.
“Angela …” She was crying now