“Good.” He grabbed one of the rolling stools and sat down in front of me. “I’m making the call. I’m starting the process of getting you out of here, however your people see fit. I just… I can’t sit by and watch you die. The more I’ve thought about it, the more I realized I should’ve called already. I made a mistake—”

“No.” He couldn’t think that. I wouldn’t let him. “No, you didn’t. We didn’t know how bad this job was going to go. And for a few days, nothing happened out there.”

“But it was bad this time. You…You dying means war. Us calling means war, but you live. It’s a no-brainer at this point.”

I swallowed down the failure that I felt. Going out there day after day wasn’t helping anyone. It wasn’t my failure. I wasn’t quitting. I was just leaving a losing game.

“Okay.”

“I can only send words—no images or video. That would be too easy to intercept. Is there anything you can think of—any saying or something your dad told you or anything that only you would know about your dad—that could help prove that you’re really here and that I’m not trying to trick them.”

I thought hard but came up with nothing. I couldn’t remember my father. “No. There’s nothing.”

“That’s okay. It was a stretch with you being so young when…” His gaze moved over my body as if to check to make sure I was okay.

I was alive. That was as okay I was going to get right then.

“It might take a day for them to get my message through these channels,” Ahiga said. “For it to be authenticated, maybe another day. Hopefully, you’re out of here in five. Not as fast as Declan would get it done, but it’s better than waiting for him to wake up from cryo.”

God. I hated that it came to this.

“When will you know?” Audrey asked. “I’d rather not have any more torture sessions.”

“I don’t know.” There was a twinge of helplessness in his voice, and it killed me to see someone so strong feel that way. It reminded me too much of how I felt.

“Have you found out about the weapon?”

Matthew had come around to our side, but he didn’t want to compromise his position. He liked being in-the-know on the base and talking to Ahiga was dangerous for him.