I called my mother before Reyes finished giving the order to her agents.
Three rings. Four. The particular eternity of a phone ringing at three AM when you know someone is sleeping, and you need them not to be.
She answered on the fifth. "Sophia?" Sleep in her voice, but already alert, Diana Calloway had spent four years primed for calls that meant something had changed. "What's wrong?"
"I need you to listen to me very carefully." I kept my voice even. "Don't open your door. Don't let anyone into your apartment. I don't care who they say they are or what reason they give." I paused. "Is your door locked?"
A sound of movement. "Yes. Sophia, what"
"James Okafor is parked outside your building."
Silence.
Not the silence of confusion. The silence of recognition.
"Mom." My chest tighte
