DANE

He didn't know how many hours they lay together, talking, hoping, fearing. The truth was, he didn't want to stop talking. Didn't want to think about anything else but being close to her. But Lila was exhausted and eventually the overload of emotion dragged her eyes closed as soon as she stopped talking. He continued to hold her, curled around her, until she was deeply asleep. Then, much as it pained him to let her go, he slowly slid away, located his clothes, and checked the phone, wincing when he saw that it was already after two in the morning, before tapping a message out to John.

​​

LOCKDOWN THEN CALL ME.

URGENT

The thumbs up emoji popped on the screen within seconds and Dane breathed a sigh of relief and left the Penthouse, heading through the fireplace and to the apartment. But once there, he was left pacing. It was still a handful of minutes before his phone buzzed.

"John?"

"I've got the files for Chris."

"That's great, but that's not what this is about."

"I figured, with locking down and all."

Dane blew out a breath and instinctively checked that the door was closed and locked behind him. "Okay, so the plan has to change."

Ever unflappable, John didn't even swear. "How dramatically?"

"We're… shifting the goal slightly."

"To what?"

"We're still getting this to Harry, still hoping for a miracle there, but we're not waiting anymore. The go plan has to be fixed and ready. Like, any minute, kind of ready."

John didn't answer immediately and Dane wasn't sure if that meant he disapproved, or was only thinking about the logistics of what Dane was asking.

"Can I ask what changed?"

"No, but you're going to figure it out, and you're not going to tell anyone, you hear me?"

John snorted. "Good thing you warned me, I might have been tempted to just, you know, tell people…" John trailed off lamely. Dane almost smiled. Humor was not John's strong point.

"Well, anyway, here's what's going to happen. We're infiltrating as soon as you can make it happen. I have to find out who's in charge. That's it. We find out who's running the show, then we get out."

"Okay."

"In the meantime, the packets become Plan A."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously"

"Dane—"

"I know it's risky, but there's no other option. Can you do it?"

On the other end of the phone, John grumbled. "I can, but… we talked about the risks, Dane, but this increases them. This is a whole new level of—"

"I know, but like I said, necessity. How much time do you need?"

"To do it right? Two days."

"And what are risks from law enforcement in the meantime. I can't go to jail, John. I was ready but… now I can't."

"You wanna tell me what changed in the last six hours?"

"Everything."

"Helpful, Dane. Thank you."

"No problem. So?"

John sighed and Dane could hear his fingers tapping on a keyboard in the background. "So, the search warrants have been issued, but your charges are still pending—I'm guessing they think they need something from the search warrants. You're a person of interest though, so technically they can ask you to come in any time. If you're serious about this, my advice changes. I say don't seek them out at all. Let them come to you. And pray that they don't get the warrant in place before you have to fly. Because then it's a crapshoot whether I can jig the system so it doesn't recognize you. Not to mention, the people—"

"We can't control that. Tell me what we're looking at to get this all done."

Tap, tap, tap. "Habitation is already done. Backstory is easy to beef up. Allies are the hard part, but I have an idea. Really, the biggest risk is the travel. Getting you there without anyone following."

"I'll need cash. Easily accessible. Enough for a year, at least."

"Easy."

"And Harry?"

"He hasn't put his conversation with you in the system. That doesn't mean he hasn't told anyone. But it's not in intel, or the file notes. I think he's keeping a lid on it."

Dane breathed a little easier. "Have you already called Chris to get the files, or—"

"I just finished them. I texted him. If he hasn't called me back when we get off here, I'll call him."

"Perfect. I need you to tell me the minute Harry puts anything about me in the system, or if the warrant is issued. There will be some decisions to make on this end if that happens and I need all the time I can get."

"Of course. Do I lockdown before I call you, or just take the risk?"

"Lock it. If my phone suddenly stops working, I'll know why."

"Okay."

"Are we good, then?"

"I think so."

"Thank you, John. Seriously. I couldn't have done any of this without you—oh, wait. The files?"

John sighed again. "It's going to depend whether you've got a sympathetic judge or not. I mean, you got everything as far as I know. There's confession. There's witness to crime. You've even got your father's death—which, by the way—also isn't in the system anywhere. If they've discovered it, they've kept it analog so far."

Dane took a deep breath then. This was all working in his favor so far. "Good."

"The problem's going to be whether they allow it. The commission of a crime has a lot more wiggle room, but will they let it all in? Hard to say—and the rest is weaker without it. It's really hard to call, Dane."

"I know."

"You got Burnstein's guy on this?"

"I will. I was waiting to—"

"Don't wait. You need someone in your corner immediately if they come for you."

Dane raked his hand through his hair. "If they come, I'm running, John."

"They'll—wait, what? Since when?"

"I told you, I can't go to jail now."

"I thought you meant you won't do time."

"No, I mean, if they come for me, I have to run. I can't risk it."