“Copy,” said the voice on the radio. “No sign of Fred or Ethel, but Holly does appear to be inhabited: paths to the doorway, that kind of thing. Whoever’s there has been there for a while.”

“Copy, Timmy. Let me know if anything changes.” Haru set down the radio and rubbed his eyes. “We’d better see something soon. I really don’t want to sleep in this apartment.”

Kira opened the cupboards, looking for canned food. She’d worked enough salvage runs that the habit was ingrained. “Jimmy and Timmy, huh? You guys have the manliest call signs ever.”

“That’s nothing,” said Haru. “The other one is Kimmy.”

As if on cue, the radio crackled softly. Kira pulled a trio of canned vegetables down from a cupboard over the fridge, and Haru picked up the phone.

“Kimmy calling Jimmy.”

“This is Jimmy. Sitrep.”

“The report from Timmy was false, repeat false. Fred is at Holly, I have them in my sights right now. Timmy is compromised.”

“Radio silence,” said Haru immediately, and set down the radio. “Bloody hell.”

Jayden turned from the window, his brow furrowed in sudden worry. “That’s not good.”

Haru hit the table. “We do not have time for this!” He hit the table again.

Kira frowned. “They got… Timmy? Which one is he?”

“Steve,” said Yoon.

“Skinny or Scruffy?”

Yoon hesitated a moment. “Skinny.”

Kira swore. “You think he’s dead?”

“We don’t know that it’s him,” said Jayden. “The second call might have been a warning that the first was fake, but it’s just as likely that the second was fake, trying to confuse us.”

“If the second was fake,” said Kira, “wouldn’t the first have called us back to let us know?”

“I turned it off,” said Haru. “If one of the scouts is compromised, they’ve already got the drop on us. The only reason to give up that info is to figure out where we are. They might have already traced the signal—I don’t know what kind of tech they have.”

“But both messages knew our code words,” said Kira. “There’s got to be some way that both scouts are still safe. Maybe they just didn’t see the same thing—maybe they were looking at two different buildings.”

“No.” Haru shook his head. “They’ve worked together too long—they wouldn’t accuse each other that plainly if they weren’t completely sure. If the first call was real, the second can’t be, and if the second call was real, obviously we have to believe that the first was lying.”

“They couldn’t have tortured anyone that fast,” said Jayden, standing slowly. “There’s no way they could have gotten the code words unless…” He paused. “What about… It couldn’t be, that’s insane.”

“What are you talking about?” asked Haru.

“It’s nothing,” said Jayden. “I’m just being paranoid.”