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He doesn’t reply. I strain my ears, trying to read the silence. But it’s impossible.
“Call back in five minutes,” Derek says at last, and then hangs up.
I check the time and then walk over to the duffel bag.
After folding up the other clothes I had pulled out of it, I put them back in along with my normal burner phone that I have been using while on campus. My eyes linger on the guns and the passports. But in the end, I just heave a sigh and zip the bag closed before placing it on the bed.
Once five minutes have passed, I use my encrypted phone to call Derek back.
“Well?” I say as soon as he picks up. “Have you talked to the Master? Did he accept my deal?”
“Yes.”
Relief washes over me.
“With one condition,” Derek adds.
I narrow my eyes. “What condition?”
“He wants you to put on a show when we bring you back with us too.”
“Let me guess? He wants me to grovel and beg and convince everyone that resisting him is futile even before the two hundred days of torture, so that it will stop the unrest right away.”
“Correct.”
“Fine. Done.” I heave another sigh. “So, do we have a deal?”
“Yes, we have a deal.”
“Good. I’ll meet you at that deserted parking lot behind the old textile factory.”
“We’ll be there. And Anna? If I see one single weapon on you, the deal is off.”
“Understood.”
Before he can reply, I hang up.
For a few moments, I just stand there in the middle of the room, taking it all in. Memorizing what happened in here. The happiness I experienced here. I will need it for what’s to come.
Once I’m ready, I drag in a deep breath and then stride towards the door, leaving my go-bag with the guns and the passports on the bed. I glance out the windows as I reach the ground floor. There are guards stationed around the house. But they’re here to protect Rico, not to prevent me from leaving, so they won’t stop me.
Air smelling of warm stone and pine trees envelop me as I open the front door and step outside.
Just as I expected, the undercover guards don’t challenge me as I simply walk away from the house and down the street. I head back to the parking lot behind my apartment building, where Rico left my car after retrieving it from downtown.
My heart squeezes in agony as I slip into the car and drive away, because I know that there is still one thing left to do.
As I drive out of the residential area, I pull out my encrypted phone and call Rico.
“Who is this?” he answers, his voice hard and suspicious since the number I’m calling from is blocked.
“It’s me,” I reply.
“Isabella?” He sounds surprised.
“Yes. I’m just calling to tell you that I’m leaving.”
“What? What are you talking about?”
