Lila

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Lila stood in her own living room, a purring cat whipping around her legs as she watched Tish crawled out of the bedroom, shaking. She rushed over and urged her to get up onto the couch, but Tish refused to be visible through the windows.

"Tish, we're four floors up, no one's looking in—"

"They can do all kinds of things," she sobbed, running a shaking hand through her hair. "I saw them. They have… so much technology. That's why he was so mad. If he could get into our systems and use the information with his…" She curled up into her own knees again, rocking like she had in the car. "Can't… breathe…" she sucked in.

Lila noticed Rupert kept his distance as she slid down to the floor next to Tish, though he meowed at her again. "Honey, we need help." she pulled her phone out of her pocket. "I need to call Dane, he'll know what to do—"

"NO!" Tish tried to grab her phone, but Lila was too fast and pulled it away, bracing against Tish's frantic clawing for it. "You don't understand. They can track everything. No matter what, if you say my name they'll—"

"Tish, calm down, I'm not going to call the staff—"

"Not even Dane. Dane talks to people you don't know about, Lila, he trusts people he shouldn't. I know he does. They were in the building!"

"He already knows we have a spy, Tish. He's very careful who he shares anything with for that reason. We need help. You need medical attention, and I need—"

"Just not on the phone, please… please… h-he'll hear it. Please, Lila!" she shrieked and Lila put her hands up, holding the phone and reached out to put it on the coffee table.

"There you go, calm down. We'll talk about it and figure it out, okay? Just… just breathe, Tish."

The poor girl nodded. She was trembling and hugging herself staring at the phone like it was a snake, ready to strike.

"Tish, I'm so sorry you got hurt. Can we please sit up on the couch or something, so you're more comfortable?"

She shook her head vigorously. "I can't. I can't. They can see in the windows, even high up like this."

Lila sighed. "How about I close the curtains in the bedroom and we go in there. You can lay on the bed. I'll get you some food and drink. You can shower if you want? Is anything broken? Did they… are you… did anything happen to you? More than bruises?"

Tish's eyes went distant for a minute, but she swallowed and shook her head. "No. I was afraid… but no."

Lila took a breath. "Okay, then how about going into the bedroom? That will be a lot more comfortable."

Tish nodded. "Can you please go in first and pull the curtains?"

"Sure. Sure." Lila got to her feet and trotted into the bedroom, rushing to pull every curtain, then turn on the lamps at the sides of the bed. "Okay," she called to Tish, "you can come in here now…" she made it to the door of the bedroom to find Tish sitting back up against the wall like she'd been about to get up, but had stopped herself.

"I… I'm scared," she said in a tiny voice.

"How about you crawl in here? Once you get in you'll see, there's no way anyone could see you. I promise."

Shaking like leaf in the wind, Tish twisted to her hands and knees, and crawled into the bedroom carefully. Then, with a breath of relief, she got to her feet and stumbled to the bed, pulling the quilt over herself as soon as she laid down. "Thank you," she murmured. "Thank you."

"Do you want a shower or something?"

"No… just… please… stay here. I don't know who to trust. I don't know who I can tell. Who won't take me back to him…" She looks left and right, then at Lila like she was reconsidering whether she should have spoken to her. "Dane trusts you, obviously," she said through chattering teeth. "Once I knew you guys were together, I knew you were safe. I knew I had to find you, I just… it was so… I couldn't…"

Lila was about to say how relieved she was that Tish had come to her, when she remembered something and a little spear of fear cut through her. "Shhhhhh…." Lila made herself sound calm and soothing. "Just rest, okay? Why don't I get you a drink? Water? Coffee? Hot chocolate?"

"J-just water." Tish's teeth were starting to chatter again.

"It must have been so hard being apart from everyone and everything for so long. Did they let you eat and drink at least?"

"B-barely," she said breathlessly. "It was just that room and his computer and his eyes…"

"Shhhhh… don't think about it. Okay? Just rest. I'll get the water. I'll be right back."

"Don't call anyone!"

"I won't. I promise. We'll figure this out together, okay?"

"Okay," Tish said, but she was laying facing the door and Lila could feel her eyes on her back as she walked out.

Tish had said she'd seen nothing, spoken to no one since Friday night.

So how did she know Dane and Lila were together? Had the man told her? But it didn't seem like they'd been socializing… But he might have told her to try and get her to tell him details. But Tish hadn't mentioned that. Was she being paranoid?

She walked carefully past the coffee table with her phone on it, and swallowed. Dane's words that night so long ago, that had seemed so irrelevant at the time, echoed in her head.

"…I'm serious, Lila. If I learned anything growing up with my father, it was that even if I couldn't identify the source, if I was ever nervous or afraid, it was better to listen to that instinct, than to ignore it. If you ever feel afraid—even just uneasy!—you come to me if we aren't together. And if we are together, you tell me. I don't care if I'm the reason you're scared, you tell me. I'm the guy who yells, and I can be an ass. I know I'm going to have to apologize—probably before the week is out. But no matter what, if you're ever afraid, you tell me, Okay? I will always want to help. I will always want to protect you. Always…"

Lila was decided. She got the water and tried to stop her hand shaking as she hurried back to the bedroom to find Tish, hawk-eyed on the door. But she seemed to relax when Lila came back in. Lila sat on the bed to hand the water to her.

Tish drank like she really hadn't drunk that day.

Lila frowned. "I'll get you some more," she said as she took the glass back and Tish lowered herself back to the pillows. "And how's your pain? Should I get you some ibuprofen too?"

"Y-yes, thank you." Tish put a hand to her arm and looked her in the eye. "Thank you."

Lila forced herself to smile. "I'm so glad you trusted me," she said quietly.

"I knew I could."

"Okay, so just lay there for a second. I'll be right back."

She walked out of the bedroom, sweeping the phone up as she passed the coffee table, then forced herself to keep her steps quick and even like she had just a moment before as she crossed the living area, the skin on her back crawling because she couldn't look back. Couldn't look suspicious as she opened the front door and leaped into the hall.

Josh turned, smiling from his position right next to the door, but he frowned when he saw her empty hands. She left the door open and turned, letting her fear show. Josh's eyes widened.

"Lila, what's wrong?"

"There's a woman in my bed and I think she's—"

But Josh was already running into the apartment, pulling a gun from somewhere in his jacket.

Lila turned and ran for the stairs.

*****

Dane

Dane hangs over John's shoulder as he uses satellite site to locate Tish's cellphone. He'd seen this tech before—everyone had. At first his breath came quickly as they zoomed in toward the city, and then the side of the city where both the apartment and office building were located. But as John grew closer and closer—and they began to see street names—it very quickly became clear that they were zeroing in on the apartment building.

"I thought she moved. I thought we were looking at where she went?"

"We are," John said, his voice tense.

Dane grew more frustrated. Of course her phone was at the apartment building—she lived there. Where had it moved to?

John entered the last coordinate and clicked again, and the little pin landed on the top of the building.

Dane snarled. "That doesn't help us at all. I thought she moved?"

"She did," John repeated patiently. "Just… give me a second… Do you know which apartment number she lives in?"

Dane was frustrated with himself that he had to look it up, but it took only moments on the database behind them. "She's got 274 with a roommate from admin."

John frowned and tapped something into the computer again. Then clicked again. Then shook his head.

"What is it?" Dane asked.

"I'm not sure if it's a glitch with the satellite placement or… wait a second, let me triangulate these two…" he said distractedly. Dane waited, his fingers clenched to fists while John double checked something and tapped through different screens on the computer.

"Ah! Okay, that makes sense." Then his face paled.

"What?" Dane snapped.

"She… her apartment is on level two, yes? That's why the number starts with a two?"

"Yes."

John swallowed hard. "Let me just double-check something." He went back to tapping and waiting until Dane was ready to throw him through the window.

"What is it, John?"

John sat back and rubbed a hand over his face. "I hope I'm wrong. But I can't be. I've done it three times… Dane, it looks like when she left the house on Saturday she had the phone with her, and she came to this building. That's what they were trying to hide. Then today…"

"What?!"

John turned and looked at him, the reflection on his glasses stopping Dane from seeing his eyes. "Today her phone moved to your Penthouse."

Motherfucker got to Tish.

Lila's at the Penthouse.

"No!" Dane tore out of the room at a sprint.

*

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