Providence

 

The passing hours were agonizing. Alex tried everything she could think of to occupy her thoughts with something other than what Ethan must be doing. Every imaginable scenario had been run through her mind a dozen times while pacing the floor. It was 11:47 a.m. She desperately wanted to call someone—to do something to find out what was going on. But she promised she’d wait, so she did.

Ten minutes later, the phone on the nightstand rang. Startled, she looked at it knowing no one should be calling her there. Slowly she walked over and picked up the receiver.

“Hello?” she said warily.

“Is this Alex?” a male voice asked.

“Who wants to know?”

“I believe we have a mutual interest, Ethan Grey.” This was the kind of call she had been dreading.

“Who are you? Is Ethan okay?”

“We need to meet.”

“Why? Where’s Ethan?” she demanded.

“Ethan is being detained. I think we can resolve this if we meet. Otherwise I may not be able to help him. We need to be prompt about this. There’s a bar called Das Sporthaus directly behind your hotel on the next street. Can you meet me there in fifteen minutes?”

“I don’t even know who you are. How can I trust you?”

“You don’t have a choice. Come by yourself and do not call anyone, especially your friends from yesterday. Fifteen minutes.”

“But how will…” The phone hung up from the other end.

This was not good. She needed help. They may have already killed him and were just setting her up for the same fate. No, if someone had done something to Ethan and wanted to get rid of her too, why would they want to meet in a public place? The global, she realized. It has a built in tracker and she could probably find out where he was that way. But tracking another global was something she had never done before and had no idea how to do it. The Professor would know. Smith might know. But the man on the phone warned not to call anyone. How would he know if she did? Still, it wasn’t worth the risk. Whoever it was on the phone was right, there appeared to be no other choice.