The piece of paper Jon Carlo had given her contained a phone number she didn’t recognize. No instructions.

Has to be Roland calling with an update, Ellie thought. And it was probably about the carrier she’d helped abduct the other night, Mackenzie. Roland, she was guessing, had tracked down his location, maybe even found a blood farm. Please, God, let that be the case.

The bathroom had a stall and a urinal. She grabbed a wad of paper towels from the dispenser, got into the stall, and after she locked the door she removed the lid of the toilet tank and placed it on the seat. Resting at the bottom of the tank was a phone wrapped in a clear waterproof utility pouch.

Out came the pouch, and after she dried it and her hands she removed the phone. She flushed the toilet to mask the sound of what she was doing: placing inside the pouch the phone Anton had given her, sealing it, and dropping the phone into the tank. Now she could talk freely without the threat of Anton eavesdropping.

Ellie dialed the number, her brain and heart racing with anticipation.

The phone on the other end was picked up immediately. “Hey.”

It took her a moment to find her voice. “Cody?”

“Yeah, it’s me. LAPD arranged the phone call.”

Ellie was surprised by the effect hearing his voice had on her. The two of them had talked long and hard about what the undercover gig entailed, and what she was asking him to do, which was essentially putting his life on hold for her; and on their final night together, the stark reality of what was about to happen hitting them both, she saw the pained, hopeless look in his eyes and told him he didn’t have to put his life on hold. If he wanted to see other women, she completely understood. It took something out of her, telling him that, and when he didn’t respond it reminded her just how fragile every relationship was, that the slightest curveball could kill it or send it on a path where it would slowly decay and then die. Cody rolled over onto his side, and his eyes narrowed in thought, maybe even anger, when he said, “I’m in this with you. The job, life, whatever comes our way—I’m not going anywhere until you tell me you don’t want me around. Do you still want me around?”

She said she did, thinking about the ring she’d found in his pocket and wondering if he was going to pop the question, a part of her glad he didn’t. She couldn’t worry about him and their life together and do her job effectively. Yet another part was sad, maybe even a bit alarmed, Ellie wondering if he had changed his mind.

Hearing his voice now, she felt overwhelmed by a sense of gratitude so powerful, it almost made her believe in that whole Prince Charming thing she’d been sold when she was a kid. It was fantasy bullshit, but she would live happily because she had found someone who not only understood her but also—and this was the most important part—treated her as an equal and would have her back. A man who could be taken at his word.