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Still, there was no response.
And I wasdesperateto look toward the Governor, who had frozen still so as not to inadvertently get my attention.
If he motioned to me with his hands, I would have caught it out of the corner of my eye, but he didn’t move a muscle.
“Hello?”
I tapped at the communicator as if it were broken before shaking it.
I frowned as if I were confused by it and then ended the call.
The moment it ended, the silence erupted into yells.
I couldn’t understand what the squad was saying as they shouted over each other.
“Quiet!” the Governor bellowed at the top of his voice. “If he calls back—”
My communicator buzzed and a completely random number I had never seen before flashed up on the screen.
And still, there was no holo-image available.
“Oh my God, oh my God!” I cried. “It’s him! It’s him!”
The Governor shushed me and spoke softly. “We know it’s him. We said this was likely how he was going to play this. Remember? Everything is under control. We’re going to play the same trick on him that he played on you. We’ll make it look like you’re in your apartment.”
“What if he wants to meet me in my apartment?” I gibbered, repeating the same questions I’d said earlier when the Governor had taken me through this whole thing.
“He won’t. They never choose the victim’s home. They want you somewhere you don’t feel comfortable, where you don’t have the upper hand.”
The communicator continued to ring.
“What if I say something wrong?”I wailed. “What if I do something that tips him off? I shouldn’t have told you about this. I shouldn’t—”
“Layla!”the Governor yelled, gripping my shoulderstight in his powerful hands. “Stop panicking! We’ve been through this! We practiced this! Just stay calm. It’s okay to be a little nervous. He will be expecting that. Just act normally. Tell him you have the Orb and he’ll tell you where the meeting place is. We’ll keep trying to locate him.”
Then he pressed his lips against my forehead. “Don’t worry. We’re here for you and we won’t let anything happen to you.”
I was still afraid but the truth was, his words did soothe me.
I gradually nodded and felt a whole new well of confidence that hadn’t been there before. “Okay.”
“Good,” he said, eying me carefully. “Now answer the call. Act natural.”
Then he nodded to Klem, who flicked a switch on the wall, and in an instant, the squad was gone and so was the cockpit.
It had the appearance — or rough appearance based on what little information I had given them to input into their holographic computer system — of my bedroom in my apartment.
It didn’t look right to me and I could have spotted the differences instantly… but there wasn’t anyone else on Enchor’s Heart — or the galaxy, for that matter — who could do the same.
My apartment was my holy center, the place I rested and recuperated and I never let anyone else come anywhere near it.
Especially not my clients.
I cleared my throat and took in a deep, calming breath before I let it out again.
My breath continued to shudder but it would have to do.
I pressed the answer button but the instant before my finger pressed it, the call went dead.
