Page 33 of Twisted Empire

“Got that covered already.”

“Good. When we meet, we have to keep talking in code, like we were doing earlier. You’re just an old college buddy who I’m helping out with a vacation rental, or something like that. Got it?”

“Yeah.”

“Anything that can’t be said out loud, we can write down, but we have to be very careful about it. Type it out like a text on your phone, act like you’re showing me a photo, and then delete it before anyone else sees it,” Henry said. He was obviously accustomed to living with the society looking over his shoulder at all times. “Anyway, where are you right now?”

“About an hour away from New Marwick.”

“All right. Remember that old lookout along East Coast Drive? We used to park there when we wanted to go to the beach.”

“Yeah, I remember the spot.”

“Meet me there at half past five. I should be done with work by then.” There was a loud banging on the other end of the line, like someone was pounding on the payphone wall. Henry swore under his breath again. “I’m just talking to my fucking sister!” he called out a few seconds later, presumably to the Crown and Dagger thugs assigned to follow him around.

A man said something in response, but I couldn’t make it out.

“I had to come to this phone, because my cell was screwing up. The battery is fucked,” Henry went on in an indignant tone. “And I can’t use my work phone for personal calls.”

There was another scuffling sound, and a terse voice came on the line a second later. “Who is this?”

Elias frantically waved his hand at me, and I leaned forward. “This is Mellie Davenport,” I said in the haughtiest tone I could conjure up. “Who is this?”

“Sorry to bother you, Miss Davenport, but you’ll have to talk to your brother later. You know he’s not supposed to use pay phones.”

The line went dead.

I breathed a sigh of relief. “They bought it. Thank god.”

“We’ll need to ditch this phone anyway, just in case they start to suspect anything and trace the call.”

“Good point. We’ll drop it in a trashcan on our way out.”

Elias nodded and began to clear away everything from around the fire. I helped, and when we were done, we set about putting on our full disguises.

With a messy dirty-blond wig, thick-rimmed glasses, drawn-on freckles, bulky jacket and faded jeans, Elias looked like an average suburban guy. Nothing particularly conspicuous about him, other than his towering height.

My disguise had the same effect on me. I looked several pounds heavier with the oversized clothes, and the black boots with the hidden interior heel made me appear substantially taller than usual. After adding the red wig, thick goth-style makeup, and veneers to the equation, I doubted anyone in the world would ever look twice at me and wonder if I was Tatum Marris.

“Ready?” Elias finally said, assessing my new look with a shrewd gaze. “You’re practically unrecognizable.”

“You too. And yes, I’m ready.”

We ditched the first burner phone on our way out of the backwoods campground, and then we killed some time in a tiny tourist town in central Connecticut. We weren’t meeting with Henry till after five, but we didn’t want to hang around New Marwick all day, just in case someone happened to recognize us even with the heavy disguises.

At half past four, we got back on the road. My heart seemed to beat faster and faster with every mile we drew closer to New Marwick, and by the time the city’s skyline appeared on the horizon, my nerves were frayed and raw.

“It’s okay,” Elias said, touching a hand to my shoulder as we stopped at an intersection. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”

“I know,” I said. “I just can’t stop stressing.”

“Keep breathing deeply. It’ll help.” He squeezed my arm.

I closed my eyes and took his advice, drawing deep breaths right down into my diaphragm like I was trying to meditate.

It helped for a while. My pulse slowed and my stomach felt less knotted, but then there was a sudden dip in the road, followed by a loud, repetitive clunking sound on my side of the van. My brain was immediately on high alert again, adrenaline flooding my system. “What’s happening?”

“I think there’s a hole in one of the tires,” Elias said with a frown, slowly pulling over on the edge of the road. “Don’t worry, we’ve got a spare.”

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