Page 209 of Black Reign

People flow around me.

Someone swears when he nearly walks into my back.

I don't care.

I read it again.

I need you.

Years.

Thousands of messages.

Every fight.

Every joke.

Every night one of us stayed online because the other couldn't sleep.

She has never written those three words.

Not once.

My chest constricts so hard it hurts.

Then:

VESPER: LOCATION OPEN. COME NOW. BRING YOUR PEOPLE.

The channel changes.

Access blooms across NULL.

For the first time since I met her, Vesper opens the door.

Not a breadcrumb.

Not London Bridge.

Not an image stripped clean of metadata.

Her.

A live emergency location.

My hands go cold.

She isn't teasing me.

She isn't making me chase.

Someone has my girl.

The thought hits so naturally I don't notice it at first.

Then I do.

My girl.