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“Who has the number?”

“Alphonse.”

I asked where I could get hold of Alphonse and was told he was working the night shift. I headed back to the prison and waited for the man matching that description.

I thought about what the guard had told me.

Why were the shifters looking for Ruby?

What did she know?

I had a sneaky suspicion that it had something to do with me but she didn’t have any information about me. She could give them my mobile number at best, but I had replaced my mobile after the attempt on my life the day before.

They could have killed her as punishment for the death of the shifter. The only reason they were keeping her alive was because she had value to them somehow.

It made me sick, thinking of what they could be doing to her and that I was unable to help her.

Finally, Alphonse came through the gates with some friends of his. I called out to him and he came towards me.

When he was close enough, I dropped my voice and fixed my stare on him.

“What is the number you called when you saw Ruby Winton?”

He listed the number in a monotone.

His friends called out to him that they were leaving and I quickly released him, making sure he remembered nothing about our conversation.

Then I called it in to my team at the Castle.

“Find me a name and an address,” I said, holding the line.

“It’s a burner,” I was told, “not registered to anyone.”

Shit.

“But I can tell you this,” my tech friend said. “A call was made to this number, which bounced off towers close to Sunside Swamp.”

There it was again.

Sunny the Snake kept popping up in my life.

I asked for an update about what was happening and was transferred to Tick.

She sounded excited. “The Sharks scored a massive victory last night! They spotted a couple of missiles and eliminated them, going after the vessels from which they were fired and blowing them up.”

“Excellent.” I was pleased my plan had worked.

Her voice dropped. “I hear there was some confusion last night in the War Room when the news came. Nobody knew who had given the order.”

I wasn’t surprised to hear that.

I didn’t care either.

“How is the king?”

Tick’s voice dropped to a whisper.

“I’m not sure, I will keep you posted.”