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Yet the thought of him leaving again hurts more than the silence ever did.

“Will you leave me again?” I ask my hand resting on his chest.

“I won’t be here in the morning, but my phone is open again. I’m not leaving you again.” I feel his finger under my chin, and he makes me look up at him. “I’m all yours baby, all yours. Go to sleep Sadie.”

I smile, and close my eyes, happy to know I have someone I can talk to again.

Twenty-Three

Miles

It took almost two weeks for my body to feel like it was me again. Some of the bruises on my face are still there, but I’m feeling like I can move again.

Last night with Sadie was something I needed, I think it was something she needed.

I can’t give her Miles, but I can give her the Ghost and at the moment that’s the best I can do. She felt amazing, she always does and I plan on having more fun with her.

I walk into Cain’s office at eleven in the morning. I think this is the first time he has called me to the office at this time of the day. He normally calls us at night.

He's already at the desk when I walk in. Lincoln’s here too. I thought maybe Hayden would be here too, but no it’s just the three of us here to talk.

I sit down and put the decrypted phone on the desk.

"Seventeen contacts," I say. "Five confirmed city coordinators: Phoenix, Denver, Nashville, Charlotte, and Minneapolis. The remaining twelve are tiered above them. Communication handlers, financial processors, and one that reads like a logistics coordinator for movement across state lines." I pull up the communication map on my laptop and turn it toward them. "The network is structured in cells. Each city coordinator operates independently, they don't know each other's identities, they only communicate upward. Which is why seven jurisdictions couldn't connect them. Each one was only seeing one cell."

Cain looks at the map. "The top of the structure."

"Still working on it. The encryption on the upper tier communications is custom, it’s different architecture from the lower levels, which means someone with real technical capability built it." I pause. "Whoever is running this, invested in their security infrastructure. That's not a small operation."

Lincoln speaks for the first time. His voice is even and controlled. "Renee? he asks.

"Nothing yet on her location specifically. But the movement data on the phone puts one of the coordinators in Nashville for six weeks before her disappearance." I meet his eyes. "I'll find her."

He nods once, then goes back to looking at the map.

Cain picks up the phone. "The message, Escalate timeline."

"They're moving faster because they know I'm close. It’s a standard response for an organization that has been careful long enough to get comfortable, when the comfort breaks they accelerate rather than pause." I close the laptop. "Which means if they have another target in preparation, the gap between environmental surveillance and taking someone is going to be shorter than three to five months."

"How much shorter?"

"I don't know yet. That's what I need to find out." I sit back. "The phone gave me the structure. I need the location data from the upper tier contacts to find out where they're currently active."

"How long?"

"Days, maybe less." I look at him. "They came to my house, Cain. They put their hands on my brother. I'm not taking my time on this anymore, I'm moving as fast as the data allows."

“There’s something else.” I look at him, and he waits for me to reply.

“They were here, which makes me think their next target is close by.”

Something in Cain's expression shifts, he looks at Lincoln and without having to ask I know it’s him asking about Lileah. Cain has put the best person looking over Lileah, so I’m not worried about them getting close to her. If Lincoln can’t be with her then she’s told she can’t leave our parents’ house, yes, she fought with us all about it. Cain told her he doesn’t want to speak about it again, and that soon shut her up.

"Be careful that speed doesn't cost you accuracy," he says.

"It won't."

He looks at me for a moment longer, then he nods.