The Second Phone

I sat in the hallway, the hardwood floor cold against my legs. Outside, the engine of the surveillance van idled, a low, constant rumble that vibrated through the walls. Every few minutes, a shadow crossed the frosted glass of the front door. They were watching. Waiting.

"They're not leaving," Leo whispered from the top of the stairs. He was still clutching the baseball bat, his knuckles white.

"I know," I said.

"What are we going to do?" Sophie asked. She was sitting on the step below him, hugging her knees.

"We wait," I said. "We wait for morning. They won't try anything while the neighbors are awake."

It was a lie. Asset Protection didn't care about neighbors. They operated in the gray spaces where laws were just suggestions. But I needed my children to sleep.

"Go to bed," I told them. "I'll keep watch."

They hesitated, then retreated to their rooms. I heard the locks click.

I looked at Julian. He was pacing the living room, running his hands through his hair.

"They have the network," he said. "They have the cloud. They have everything."

"Not everything," I said.

I pulled the burner phone from my pocket. It was a cheap, plastic brick I'd bought at the truck stop. No GPS. No apps. Just a sim card and a battery.

"I need to call Sarah," I said. "I need to tell her we're trapped."

I dialed her number.

*Ring.*

*Ring.*

*Ring.*

"Please pick up," I whispered.

*Click.*

"Hello?"

It wasn't Sarah.

It was a man's voice. Heavy. calm.

"Who is this?" I asked, my heart skipping a beat.

"This is Detective Miller," the voice said. "Who is this?"

Miller. The real detective. The one who arrested Arthur.

"It's Elena," I said. "Elena Hawthorne."

"Mrs. Hawthorne," Miller said. "We've been looking for you. Where are you?"

"I'm at home," I said. "But I can't leave. Arthur's men are outside."

"We know," Miller said. "We have units en route. Sit tight."

"What about Sarah?" I asked. "Sarah Jenkins. Is she okay?"

There was a pause. A long, heavy silence.

"Mrs. Hawthorne," Miller said. "Sarah Jenkins is dead. Her body was found in the stairwell of the Sunnyvale facility."

The phone slipped from my hand. It hit the floor with a clatter.

Sarah. Dead.

She hadn't just set the timer. She had died for it.

"El?" Julian asked. "What happened?"

"She's dead," I whispered. "Sarah is dead."

I picked up the phone. The screen was cracked.

"Detective?" I said.

Silence.

"Detective Miller?"

Nothing.

I looked at the screen.

*No Signal.*

I walked to the window. The van outside had moved closer. A small dish on the roof was rotating slowly.

A jammer.

They were blocking the signal.

We were cut off.

I looked at Julian.

"They killed her," I said. "They killed Sarah. And now they're going to kill us."

Julian looked at the door. He looked at the bat in the hallway.

"Not if I kill them first," he said.

He walked to the closet. He pulled out the shotgun Arthur had given him for his twenty-first birthday. A beautiful, engraved Beretta he had never fired.

He broke the breach. He loaded two shells.

"Julian," I said.

"Get the kids," he said. "Get them into the basement."

"Julian, no."

"Get them into the basement!" he screamed.

I ran upstairs.

I grabbed Leo and Sophie. We ran down to the basement, locking the heavy oak door behind us.

I heard the front door crash open.

I heard boots on the hardwood.

And then I heard the shotgun blast.