Dane

He must have dozed off. The combination of peace, love, and physical exhaustion combined to take him away completely from the sound of the television. His eyes were closed and his lips against her hair, and all he was aware of was the warm weight of her sprawled on his chest, their breathing syncing as he sank deeper and deeper away from the world.

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And in that place only barely attached to reality, there was a part of him that woke up and blinked. A part of his soul that had been hidden most of his life. But it raised its head tentatively and looked around to find a world of warmth and love and safety and it sighed a happy sigh. And as Lila dozed on his chest, he kissed her head he wished he could live in that place forever.

He should have known it wouldn't last.

His phone buzzed first. It was a burner John gave him—he'd left the phone Chris gave him in the hidden apartment in case it got traced, but forward calls to the burner. He almost ignored it, but when he looked to the coffetable where it sat, he saw John's face on the screen. He groaned and shifted, waking Lila who jerked her head up so her hair fell over her face. She crawled off him and disappeared into the bedroom as he picked up the phone and answered it.

"John?"

"Where are you, Dane?" The tone of his voice was short and dark. Dane's stomach clenched.

"At the Penthouse, why?"

"Something very strange is happening. We got inside, but got no answers. It's like they're on an operation the halls are virtually empty. And where they are together, no one's mentioning names. It has to be intentional. Like they know someone's listening."

Dane rubbed and hand over his face and looked up to find Lila, mostly dressed, walking back into the room, watching him. He frowned and she looked concerned, but picked up her pants and put them on, then sat next to him on the couch, her hand on his back.

"So, you think they're onto us?"

"At the very least, they're actively working against the possibility that someone is listening or watching. I've never seen anything like it. I haven't been able to get to the basement yet, but I'll keep trying."

"Good luck, even if you get down there, you'll probably lose signal. It's pretty heavily protected."

"Well, I think you need to keep your head down. For real. Consider coming here. And let me know if you hear anything from anyone else. I don't like this. I don't like it at all. One of my station contacts has gone dark, and some of the local law enforcement systems are showing zero updates for the past twelve hours."

"You didn't think you should maybe lead with that?" Dane said through his teeth. "What do the updates mean?"

"It means either they've frozen the system so I'm only accessing a stored log, or they've specifically ordered people not to use it. Either way, again, it means they know someone's watching."

"Shit."

"Yes, shit. That's right."

"Okay. Um…" he looked at Lila and she looked back, her brow lined with concern. "So, I just need to sort out a couple things here. Did you get those things ordered that I asked you to? And I'm assuming you locked down the phones before you called?"

"Yes, you should have a delivery any minute. And you'll be back online in three or four minutes."

"That's fine. I'll get over there as soon as I can."

"I think that would be for the best. And bring Lila. I would enjoy seeing her."

"You don't think that's risky?"

"I think neither of you will relax if you're apart. And if she's with you anyway…"

Dane tipped his head. "How did you know? Last night? I didn't mention it."

John chuckled. "Your voice has an entirely different quality when you're in her presence, Dane. You're very obvious."

Dane quirked an eyebrow. He knew that wasn't true, but it was true that John had… abilities that he'd never seen in others. "Well, I'm glad to hear I'm so transparent."

"To me, anyway. I've never understood why Chris didn't see through you more, honestly."

"Too busy being full of his own shit," Dane scoffed.

John chuckled. "Okay, well, get yourselves sorted out as quickly as you can, then get over here. It will be far safer. I can keep you out of sight until it's time to go. And in the meantime, I'll let you know if anything changes on the systems here."

"Thanks, John. I'll talk to Lila. I'm guessing we'll get moving pretty quickly."

Lila's head tilted and she didn't look happy, but she didn't say anything as he and John signed off, then Dane cleared his phone to open back up.

John had come up with a system a year earlier that allowed them to turn connected cellphones into what effectively became walkie-talkies—they could reach each other, but no one else, and no one else would reach them while they were locked down. The calls didn't go through the cell network, so they weren't logged in the phones. It was a fantastic system. He was going to have John put it on Lila's phone.

"What's going on?" she asked as Dane waited for John to reopen his phone.

"Someone is up to something, and we don't know what. John thinks we should go to his bunker and stay there for a day or two, then leave town."

"Well… wait, what? Leave town?"

Dane sat back, sighing. "I talked to him last night. And thinking about… everything," he glanced pointedly at her stomach, "I realized that you were right—about not looking for a fight. And that the only way I could be certain that the fight wouldn't come looking for me was if I disappeared. Which means you'd have to disappear too, because I'm not going anywhere without you."

She gaped at him.