While it rang, I looked at Chloe.

“If you back out now,” I said, “he wins. And both of us go down with him.”

“I’m not backing out,” Chloe said.

Her voice was steadier now.

The fear in her eyes was being replaced by something else.

Anger.

“Good,” I said.

The call connected, and a familiar voice answered on the other end.

“Anne?” the voice said. “Is that you?”

“It’s me,” I said. “I need your help, and we only have nine minutes.”

I spoke quickly, explaining the situation to the person on the line.

I told them about the cloner, the Melanie Harper identity, and the transfer Lucas was trying to initiate.

Chloe watched me, her hands clasped in her lap.

“We can route the transfer through a holding node,” the voice on the phone said. “But we need his employers to authorize the bypass.”

“I’ll handle his employers,” I said. “You just get the digital net ready.”

“It’s risky, Anne,” they said. “If he detects the node, he’ll scrub the accounts and disappear.”

“He won’t detect it,” I said. “He’s too arrogant.”