to come for you tonight. Tomorrow, you need to call your boss and find out where they’re at with deciphering your computer program. Maybe he needs to start calling in those favors you mentioned. You need to get out of here.”
Webster had no doubt that Linc was already pulling every string he had, but things like this took time. Hell, they didn’t even know what Webster’s program had uncovered or how anybody involved had known about it in the first place. “I’m sure he’s working on it.”
Webster closed his eyes, listening to the rapid thudding of Cy’s heart beneath his ear. “If the guards do come for me, you need to let them take me. I know you won’t want to, but you can’t stop them. All that will happen is you’ll end up sacrificing more of your life for me. We both know they want you in here for good. Don’t let them have that. I can’t be the one who does that to you twice.”
“Let’s just hope it doesn’t come to that,” Cy said.
Webster pushed up onto one elbow, staring down into Cy’s chocolate brown eyes framed by those ridiculously long lashes. “No. Promise me. Promise if they come for me, you’ll do nothing.”
Cy was shaking his head before Webster had even finished talking. “No. I’m not promising that. I won’t. It’s not fair of you to even ask that of me.”
Webster wanted to fight him, wanted to force it out of him in any way possible so he could at least have some solace knowing that whatever happened to him, Cy would be a free man next year. But he just didn’t want to fight. He was scared, and he was tired, and if he was going to die at any minute, he didn’t want to waste time fighting with Cy. Whatever their connection, no matter how confusing or peculiar, it would forever soothe Webster. Being near Cy filled in some hole in his heart, made him feel more stable. It had when he was little, and it probably always would. Webster didn’t feel like dissecting anything else. He just couldn’t. He’d rather just be.
Webster settled back into Cy’s arms. “Thank you for always looking out for me.”
“Thank you for trying to find a way to get me out of here.”
Linc answered on the second ring. “How are you holding up?”
Webster wanted to say something witty or sarcastic to make Linc feel better, but there was no humor left in him. “Things are escalating here quickly. Where are we at with…things?”
Webster had to go on the assumption that his calls were being monitored. He was hoping to find a way to use that to his advantage, but being behind bars, without access to a computer, had crippled him.
“I sent your stuff to a friend of mine who used to work with the NSA. I figure he’s high enough up on the food chain that people wouldn’t be able to fuck with him. What’s happening there?”
“Chao’s visit last night kept me from getting jumped in the showers. I don’t think I was supposed to walk away from it. She says something is fishy about this whole thing. She keeps hitting a brick wall. It’s like I’m invisible to the outside world.”
“Yeah, we’re trying to get you out of there but, like she said, something isn’t right. We’re trying to get an emergency hearing to get you placed in protective custody, but Chao’s worried that, even if we somehow manage to get somebody to acknowledge you exist, we might inadvertently end up putting you in front of one of the judges who put the target on your back in the first place. I had to go higher up the food chain. It would be awesome if we could just get you the fuck out of there so you could tell us what the hell we’re looking at and how the fuck they managed to make you look like a terrorist.”
Webster sighed. “Believe me, this is hardly my choice.”
“Just hang in there, Nicky. Jackson and I are working as fast as we can.”
Part of Webster wished Linc had just yelled at him the whole phone call. Whenever he called him ‘Nicky,’ shit was real bad. “I’m trying,” he whispered, voice thick. “I need a favor, though.”
“Anything.”
“If something happens to me—”
“Don’t say that,” Linc snapped, cutting him off.
Webster shook his head, even though he couldn’t see it. “Just listen. If I don’t make it out of this…please, don’t stop trying to