Raven gazed at the phone's dead screen. "All right, so the first step is to trace the number, isn't it?"
Dante let out a sigh. "Raven, it's a burner phone. It is intended to be untraceable.
She folded her arms. Yes, but you're Dante. You are the only person who can perform hacker magic. Wave your nerd wand, plug it into your laptop, and presto—location.
Dante squeezed his nose bridge. "It doesn't work that way."
"Fine, ugh." She raised her hands. "Next, we give Javi a call."
Dante let out a groan. "We just discussed not having faith in anyone."
"All right, but let me explain. What if we call him and find out that we don't trust him? We only give him half the truth, for example.
Dante looked at her. "I've never heard of a more stupid plan."
"Awesome, so it's decided," Raven said, already dialing Javi.
She turned away and held the phone out of Dante's reach. "It's ringing, too late!"
He muttered something under his breath that sounded suspiciously similar to "I hate you."
Javi picked up right away. "Oh, so you're calling me back now?"
Raven said sweetly, "Missed you too, Jav."
"Stop wasting your time, Raven. What on earth are you two up to? After you've vanished from the face of the planet, Morelli's men are still searching for you, and now I receive a mysterious message from a deceased woman?"
Raven and Dante looked at each other.
"You received a message from Valerie?" Dante's voice was sharp as he asked.
Javi paused. "Hold on. You guys weren't that?
"Javi," said Raven slowly, "what message?"
On Javi's end, there was some shuffling and the scraping of a chair. "It was merely an odd sound clip. I assumed it was a joke. You called me first, just as I was ready to call you guys and swear at you."
Raven pressed his fingers into the armrest. "Now play it."
Javi sighed. "You're really controlling. Wait—"
Silence for a few seconds. Then a voice crackled through the speaker, distorted.
"—find them before they find me—"
Not moving.
"—wrong place—stop looking—trust no one—"
A loud clap. Then there was quiet.
Raven's breath caught. "That's her."
Dante had already taken his laptop out. "Send us that audio file, Javi."
"All right, but—first, could you give me some background? "What on earth is happening?"
Dante gave Raven a quick look. She let out a sigh. "We believe Valerie is still alive."
A long silence.
Then "Excuse me?"
"She called us. She said we were looking in the wrong place, but it was cut off. We need your assistance in tracking down the number.
Javi gave a sharp exhale. "Yes. Yes, all right. Give me five minutes.
The call was cut off.
Raven looked over at Dante. "So we do trust Javi."
Dante complained. "Javi is what we use. That's not the same.
Raven grinned. "Whatever helps you sleep at night, buddy."
Rolling his eyes, Dante concentrated on his laptop. "I'll find it if the number left any trace."
Raven let out a breath and held onto the armrest. Let this lead to somewhere, please.