Chapter 26 · The Dead Man's Call

"Mark, you need to listen to me very carefully." David Roy's voice came through the phone cold and flat, like he was reading off a script he'd memorized in his grave.

I pressed the phone harder against my ear. Emma's gun was still pointed at my chest, but her hand had gone slack. Kyle was bleeding out on the floor between us, gasping like a fish.

"You're dead," I said.

"I was. Three times now. But the loop spat me back out twenty minutes ago, and I've got about forty-five seconds before they trace this call."

"Who's they?"

"The same people who framed you three years ago. The same ones who put my name on the list." His breath hitched. "Mark, Lyla's next. Midnight tonight. If you don't move right now, she's—"

The line went dead.

Emma lowered the gun. Her face had gone white. "That was David."

"Yeah."

"He's been dead for six months."

"Yeah."

"He just called you."

I shoved the phone in my pocket and stepped over Kyle. He was still twitching, but the light was going out of his eyes. No more resets for him. No more seventy-two-hour do-overs.

"Where's Lyla?" I said.

Emma blinked. "What?"