Evans

The voice on the other end of the line had said three words before disconnecting.

"He is safe."

That was all. Then silence. Then a dead tone.

I stared at my phone for a long moment. Hailey was watching me from across the table, waiting.

"Someone has Calix," I said. "But they say he is safe."

"Who was it?" she asked.

"I don't know. The voice was male. Calm. No accent I could place." I set the phone down. "It wasn't David. David's people don't say things like that. They issue statements. They don't reassure."

Hailey absorbed this quietly. "So someone else is involved. Someone we haven't identified yet."...