Page 147 of Spies Don’t Fall for Their Best Friend

“Reese.”

When the woman ends the call with 911, I ask if I can use her phone, and she hands it to me. Charlie’s number is one of the few I have memorized, so I dial it, and she answers on the first ring. “Hello?”

“It’s me.”

She’s silent for a small moment, then says, “Reese?” Her voice cracks on my name.

“I’m okay,” I say, and then I am crying. Apparently, my body decided to wait until I was safe to let me.

“Where are you?”

“I don’t know. In the house of some very nice people.”

A sound comes out of Charlie that is half laugh, half sob. “Stay inside. Lock every door. I’m getting your location from the phone right now.”

Of course she is. I close my eyes. “Charlie?”

“Yeah?”

“Tell Miles I’m okay.”

There’s a beat of silence, then very carefully, she says, “He’s dark right now.”

My stomach tightens. The meeting. He’s being Maxwell. “Tell him the second you can.”

“I will.”

I look down at myself. I’ve got scratches on my arms and hands, a twig in my hair and another caught in the waistband of my pants, and a tear in my shirt. I start laughing. The kind you cannot control.

The couple both look very concerned, and Charlie asks, “Are you laughing?”

“I escaped an abduction wearing only one shoe.”

Charlie chuckles softly. “Somehow, that feels on-brand.”

And for the first time since the parking garage, I think I might actually be okay.

CHAPTER 27

THE CONNECTION HE MISSED

MILES

Julian Rooke looks exactly like a man who has spent decades making sure nothing happens unless he intends for it to. Silver hair. Immaculate charcoal suit. No tie. One hand resting casually against the edge of the table beside the black case.

His gaze moves over me. It’s not quick or obvious, but I know what he’s doing because I’m doing the same thing to him.

“Mr. Shaw,” he says.

I give him Maxwell’s smile. “Mr. Rooke.”

The man who searched me closes the door behind us.

Nothing on me transmits. Nothing receives. Rooke can sweep me for electronics until sunrise and find exactly what Maxwell Shaw is supposed to have. Somewhere outside this house, though, Nora’s team is listening.

I just can’t hear them. Which means Charlie could know where Reese is right now. Ledger could have found her. Or... I shut the thought down. The team has no way of letting me know one way or the other.

Rooke gestures toward a chair. “Please.”