Author's note: I want to thank everyone who's left a review! I've been struggling with my mental health, and your reviews really helped me feel better & find the strength to continue writing! Thank you!

Day 5

Sergio woke her up with soft kisses. She smiled and, without opening her eyes, reached out a sleepy arm and pulled him down onto the mattress with her. He resisted for only a moment, then relented and allowed her to cuddle up to him, and she sighed happily as he wrapped his arms around her.

"Good morning", he said softly.

"Mmm", she said in return, burying her face against his chest and breathing in the comfortingly familiar smell of him. She loved to have him close when she woke up. And when she fell asleep. And every minute in between.

"How did you sleep?" he asked her.

"Wonderfully", she said, then turned her face up to smile at him. "Last night was amazing."

"Yes", he smiled back. "It was."

She sighed regretfully. "I suppose we have to go back to normal now."

He nodded. "Unfortunately."

She reached up to kiss his cheek. "It's alright. We're almost halfway now, we'll be out of here soon."

She got up and started dressing while he put on his pajamas.

"Everything is running smoothly in the Mint", he said. "No issues at all. In a few hours, the truce with the police will be over and they'll return to work. I expect no problems, but wake me if anything happens."

"I will", she nodded. "How are we going to keep Elena busy today? Do you think it's time we let her discover the house in Toledo?"

He frowned. "I think we should do that tomorrow. At noon we'll release the five hostages I promised her in return for the truce. That should be enough to keep her off our backs for today."

She nodded and kissed him goodnight, then she went to sit in front of the screens. There was still a warm glow inside of her as she replayed the events of yesterday's date in her mind, the sweet things he'd said to her echoing in her ear, the memory of his touch still on her skin. She was smiling to herself as she clicked through the different camera images rather absent-mindedly, but then something caught her attention and she was suddenly snapped back to reality to frown at the screen. In the breakroom, Berlin was sleeping on the couch, with his head in the lap of one of the hostages. The young woman was sitting upright, staring in front of her with an expression that Raquel didn't like at all. As she was watching, Berlin woke up and started talking to the hostage in a way that seemed rather too intimate, and Raquel's frown deepened. Berlin and the woman got up and left the room, and when Nairobi entered it a few minutes later, Raquel decided to call her.

"Hi Nairobi, how are things there?"

"Hello Lisbon. Everything's fine, the presses are running at full capacity again." Nairobi looked up at the camera and grinned. "I trust you had a good time last night?"

Raquel couldn't help but grin too. "We did, yes, thank you."

"You two really have it bad, huh? Paying millions of euros just to get laid. Was it worth it?"

Raquel smiled broadly. "It was, yes."

Nairobi laughed. "Good for you. Meanwhile, the closest I've come to getting laid in months was Berlin staring at my ass."

Raquel turned more serious. "Talking about Berlin… Nairobi, is there something going on between him and one of the female hostages?"

"You mean Ariadna. Yes, I'm pretty sure he's fucking her."

Raquel stared at the screen in horror. "He's… he's sleeping with one of the hostages?"

"So is Denver."

"What?!"

"With that Monica girl."

"The woman who was shot?"

"Yeah. He saved her life and apparently they bonded."

"Nairobi, that… that's concerning."

"I know, but what can I do? They're all adults."

"But there's a terrible imbalance of power! Are you sure those relationships are consensual?"

Nairobi frowned. "Berlin and Denver are a little rough around the edges, but I don't think they're rapists."

"I'm not saying they are, but these women are scared for their lives. They may feel like they need to trade sexual favors in return for protection."

"Yes", Nairobi said. "I thought about that too, but I can't be sure. What do you propose?"

"Will you please talk to them and make sure they don't feel pressured into doing anything they don't want to do?"

"You think they'll just tell me they're trading sex for protection? I'm one of the bad guys too, why would they trust me?"

"You're right… they might not tell you outright."

"Hmm", Nairobi said. "Let me just try something, and I'll get back to you."

She hung up and left the room, and Raquel kept frowning at the screen. The thought that these women might feel pressured into having sex with their captors made her stomach turn, and she suddenly felt angry at herself for not realizing earlier that this might happen, for not making clear rules that nobody was to take advantage of the hostages. She'd thought that was a given: you don't sleep with people who are in such a vulnerable position that you can't be sure if their consent is freely given. But then she realized that men like Berlin and Denver had no experience with the desperation that comes from powerlessness, and that it probably hadn't even occurred to them that what they were doing was questionable at best. If a pretty woman smiled at them, why would they question that? She knew both men were honorable in their own way, but a delicate ethical matter like this was beyond the grasp of either of them.

When Nairobi returned to the phone an hour later, Raquel got a sinking feeling in her stomach at the sight of her frown.

"Not good?" she asked her as she picked up.

"Not good", Nairobi confirmed. "Monica seems alright, she got the silliest smile when I asked her about Denver, I think she really likes him. But when I asked Ariadna about Berlin… well. I felt a rather clear lack of enthusiasm there, so I asked her if she would leave if she could and… Lisbon, you should have seen her face. I think it's pretty clear that she's desperate to get away from Berlin."

Raquel felt nauseous. That poor woman must have been terrified to be driven to such measures, and now she'd been violated. I should have realized, I should have seen... She took a deep breath. It was too late to prevent any harm from coming to Ariadna, but she'd be damned if she let it continue.

"Nairobi, we have to get her away from him."

"I agree. Should I go get him so you can talk to him?"

Raquel's thoughts were racing, trying to gauge Berlin's reaction if she told him Ariadna was only sleeping with him for protection.

"No", she said finally. "I know men like Berlin. Either he won't believe me and keep doing it anyway, or he'll feel like she betrayed him and punish her for it."

"Then what do we do?"

"We have to get her out of there, it's the only way to make sure she's safe."

"How?"

"We're releasing five hostages at noon in return for the truce. Make sure she's one of them."

Nairobi shook her head. "Berlin will never let her go."

"Then we won't tell him", Raquel said firmly. "I'll instruct Berlin to select five different hostages. Five minutes before they're released, I'll call him and keep him talking, while you switch out one of the hostages for Ariadna."

Nairobi grimaced. "Holy fuck, Berlin won't like that."

"I'll explain everything to him, and I'll tell him you were acting on my orders."

Nairobi squared her shoulders. "Oh, don't worry, I can handle him. I'll follow your instructions, Lisbon. No woman is getting abused here on my watch."

"Thank you, Nairobi."

…

She felt uneasy the entire rest of the morning, wishing she could get Ariadna away from Berlin immediately. Sergio got out of bed half an hour before noon, and she lost no time telling him what was going on. He gave her a pained look, and she reminded herself of the fact that Berlin was his brother.

"Are… are you sure she's doing this against her will?"

"Yes", Raquel said. "Nairobi said she's desperate to leave."

Sergio looked horrified. "Then you made the right call. She'll have to leave."

At ten minutes to twelve, they both put on their headsets, Raquel called the Mint and Nairobi went to get Berlin. He came in five minutes later and picked up the phone with a frown.

"Can this wait? We're just about to release the hostages."

"That's what I want to talk to you about, Berlin", Raquel said, keeping an eye on the camera in the entrance hall, where she could see Nairobi arrive with a confused-looking Ariadna.

"Alright, then talk", Berlin said.

"Is it true that you've been sleeping with one of the hostages, Ariadna?"

Berlin's frown deepened. "That's none of your business."

"It is, Berlin", Sergio said. "Please answer the question."

On the camera, meanwhile, Nairobi asked Ariadna a question, pointing at the doors, and an expression of infinite relief appeared on her face as she nodded fervently. Nairobi pulled one of the five hostages out of line and put Ariadna in his place. When the woman realized she was really going to be released, she burst into tears.

"Yes", Berlin said on the phone. "We're in a relationship."

Sergio was looking distinctly uncomfortable, so Raquel took over again.

"I'm sorry, Berlin", she said, "but you're not. You were taking advantage of her."

Berlin drew himself up. "I most certainly did not take advantage of her. I would never force myself on a woman. She came to me."

"Yes", Raquel said. "Because she was scared, Berlin. Because she thought it would keep her safe."

He scoffed. "You don't know what you're talking about."

On the screens, the doors opened and the hostages walked out. Raquel breathed a sigh of relief, then steeled herself and said:

"We decided it would be better to send Ariadna out."

Berlin froze. "Out?"

"Yes", Raquel said. "She just left the Mint with four other hostages."

Berlin was silent for a moment, then he said in a dangerously quiet voice: "Who sent her out?"

"It doesn't matter", Raquel said. "She was sent out on my orders."

"Oh, are you the one calling the shots now?" Berlin asked. "What does my dear brother think about that?"

Raquel raised her eyebrows at Sergio, who looked like he'd rather be anywhere else, but then he pushed his glasses up his nose and said:

"This is an unfortunate business, Berlin, but Lisbon has my full support."

"I had no choice but to send her out", Raquel said.

On the screen, they saw Berlin take a breath, and when he spoke again, his voice was deadly calm.

"You interfered in a strictly personal matter."

"I had to", Raquel said firmly. "She had to be protected."

"From what?"

"From you."

"She's in love with me."

"No", Raquel said quietly. "She wasn't, Berlin, I'm sorry."

There was a pause, then Berlin said:

"Alright. If she's out, she's out and there's nothing I can do about that."

Something in his voice made Raquel distinctly uneasy.

"Now don't do anything stupid, Berlin."

He looked straight into the camera as he said: "Like what?"

"Like… like trying to get back at me somehow."

"How could I get back at you, Lisbon? You're out there and I'm stuck in here. Following your orders, risking my life so you don't have to make your hands dirty. Stopping the presses and guarding the hostages so the two of you can have a romantic evening together because, how did you put it, Sergio? "We really need it"? I'm not surprised. This heist is what brought you together – a common goal, and all feelings are heightened because of the high stakes. But how much of that will be left when this is all over?"

Raquel saw Sergio frown, but Berlin wasn't done yet.

"You know, Raquel, at heart he's a lone wolf. You have the heist tying you together now, but what will you talk about when it's over? You're very different people, and sooner or later, he will get bored of you."

"Berlin", Sergio said warningly.

"You may have captured his attention in the bedroom for now, but at some point that will fade, and then what? Do you really think you can keep him interested forever?"

"Berlin", Sergio said, "that's enough."

Raquel agreed. "Personal attacks are beneath you, Berlin. I regret that this happened, but it's done now. Go back to work."

"Why should I follow your orders anymore?"

"Because if you don't I'll have you removed from command."

"Ah, yes", he said softly. "That old threat again. You'll call Helsinki and Oslo and have me tied up and put in a locked room with Arturito."

"Exactly", Raquel said drily.

Next to her, Sergio did a bit of a double-take and looked at her with wide eyes, and she suddenly realized she hadn't actually told him what she'd threatened to do to Berlin. Oh well.

"Hmm", Berlin murmured, fingering the cord of the telephone. "And what would you do if I… disconnected the phone? No one would notice for quite some time."

Sergio sat up in alarm and opened his mouth to speak, but Raquel held up a hand to stop him.

"You could do that", she said calmly. "But then you know we'd have to retaliate."

"How?"

"We could plant your DNA in the house in Toledo and make sure the police discover it. That would make your life very difficult when you come out."

"But in the meantime", Berlin said smoothly, "I could finally run things the way I wanted. There are many other pretty women in here… Let's see if they would be open to a… transaction if I guaranteed their personal safety."

Sergio stiffened indignantly and opened his mouth again, but Raquel firmly shook her head at him.

"You wouldn't do that, Berlin", she said softly. "You're angry with me right now, and I understand that, but you're not a rapist. You're better than that."

He stayed quiet, and she pressed her advantage:

"We asked Ariadna if she wanted to leave. She said yes. She cried. I know you wouldn't want to keep a woman by your side who didn't really want to be there."

There was a pause, then Berlin said:

"She left voluntarily?"

"She did."

"How do I know you're telling the truth?"

"We can send you the footage of her leaving."

"I would have given her a good life with me."

"She didn't want that, Berlin."

"She said she did."

"She lied."

There was a long pause, and Raquel held her breath to see how he would react. After a while, he drew himself up. "She deceived me."

"She was scared, Berlin. She lied to protect herself. You don't want a woman under those circumstances."

"No", he said thoughtfully. "No, I don't."

Raquel felt a surge of satisfaction. That was step one.

"Good", she said.

Berlin frowned. "You still interfered in a personal matter and undermined my authority with my crew."

"I know", Raquel said. "But you're going to have to let this go."

"Why would I?"

She thought about it for a moment. What did Berlin care about? He didn't care about money, or the connections he had to other people. The only thing that mattered to him was power and honor.

"Because otherwise I'll remove you from command."

"You already said that, and I told you I could just disconnect the phone."

"If you do that, we can't communicate with you either, in case the police make a move."

"What if I don't care?"

"I think you do care. You want the operation to succeed as much as we do. And if you disconnect us, consider this: in 24 hours, that tunnel will be open and I can come through to give orders in person."

"I could do a lot of things in 24 hours."

"Yes", she said. "You could. But would it be worth it to spend the rest of the operation tied up and blindfolded in a locked room?"

"What about my authority?"

"You will only really lose that if you disobey orders now and we have to remove you. Right now, nothing is lost. Only Nairobi knows what happened. As far as the others know, it was your decision to send Ariadna out. You haven't lost face."

He considered this silently, and she continued softly:

"Let's move on and focus on the plan, and you can keep your position. We're so close to pulling this off – and I know you want the heist to succeed. You made a commitment to this operation and to your brother, Berlin, and you want to keep that commitment because you're a man of honor. I know you are."

He stayed quiet for another few seconds, then squared his shoulders. "I am."

"Then we are in agreement", Raquel said. "Let's get back to work."

"I won't let anything like this pass again, Lisbon."

"Then let's hope we don't encounter any more issues in the future."

Berlin nodded and hung up the phone.

Raquel heaved a big sigh of relief, then turned to see Sergio look at her with admiration.

"You handled that really well."

"I'm a negotiator", she shrugged. "This kind of thing is my job. Was my job."

"Do you think he'll give us any more trouble?"

"No. The crucial thing was to show him he couldn't win in the end. He's vindictive, but he's not stupid. And by appealing to his sense of honor, I gave him a way out without losing face."

He gave her a look. "You do realize what he said before was nonsense, right? About… about me getting bored of you."

She felt just the slightest twinge of unease, but it disappeared as she looked into his eyes.

"Yes", she said. "Of course I know it was nonsense. He was just trying to get under my skin."

At that moment, his phone pinged, and she watched his eyes light up as he read the message.

"Elena?" she asked carefully.

"Yes. We're meeting for drinks tonight." He looked up at her enthusiastically. "I hope I can get her to talk about the case, I need to know if she has any suspicions of how we're going to escape. I'm sure she won't just tell me… it will be interesting to try and get it out of her. I need to think about a strategy."

As usual when he needed to think, he got up to use his punching bag, and as she watched him go, she felt the twinge of unease return. Do you really think you can keep him interested forever?

…

Sergio stepped out of the hangar with a feeling of nervous excitement. He'd promised Raquel this would be the last time he'd seek out Elena, so this was his only shot at getting information out of her, and he needed it to go well. They'd agreed to meet directly at Hanoi this time. He got there ten minutes ahead of time, and sat down to wait for her. She arrived at exactly nine o'clock, looked around, and gave him her half-smile as she spotted him.

"Hello Salva", she said as she sat down across from him.

"Hi Elena", he smiled.

"I thought it would be safer to meet here, so you wouldn't get picked up by the uniforms again."

He grinned. "Well, that was an experience. Have you caught anyone yet?"

"No", she said. "We know the leader of the operation is on the outside somewhere, and he probably isn't very far, but if he's smart, he won't leave his hiding place. Still, my people are on the look-out. You never know – he might go out for food or coffee."

Sergio nodded earnestly. "I hope you catch him."

She sighed. "That would be great, because it's starting to look like he has no intention of ending this soon."

"Why don't you just… I don't know, bust in?"

"Because the hostages might get hurt in the process."

"Are you under a lot of pressure from your superiors?"

She gave him a look of mild surprise. "Yes, actually. I'm trying to end this peacefully, but sometimes I feel like I'm the only one who really cares about nobody getting hurt."

"That must be tough", he said sympathetically. "It can't be easy to be a woman in a man's world like that."

She looked even more surprised, but pleasantly so.

"No", she agreed. "It isn't easy."

She considered him for a moment, then said: "But we don't have to talk about my job. How is your cider coming along?"

"Oh, fine", he said. "Believe me, I'd love to hear more about your job. It's a lot more interesting than mine – my vats of cider don't give me nearly as much trouble as those robbers are giving you."

She hesitated. "Still, I really shouldn't talk about an ongoing case."

He gave her an embarrassed grin. "You know, I'm… I'm actually a big fan of detective novels. When I was a kid, I thought about joining the police like you."

"Really?" she said, amused. "What made you change your mind?"

"I inherited my father's business. It was important to me to honor his memory."

She nodded. "I respect that."

"But I never lost my fascination for your line of work, so…" He gave her an inviting smile. "If you'd like to discuss your work, I'd love to hear all about it."

She hesitated, then said: "I can't tell you anything classified, but alright. What do you want to know?"

He eagerly leaned in. "How many people are on your team?"

"About twenty, working in different shifts around the clock."

"What kinds of things do they do?"

"Oh, there's a lot of different jobs…"

She kept talking and he kept asking her innocent questions, feeling her increasingly let her guard down, until he got to what he really wanted to know.

"You know what I wonder?" he said carefully. "How do these robbers think they're going to get out of there?"

"Well", she said slowly, "they're having their hostages dig a tunnel to the sewers. They want us to think they're going to escape that way."

"But you don't think they will?"

"No. They've released hostages to us, who told us about the tunnel. The robbers know those hostages will have told us about the tunnel, so they won't actually use it."

"So how will they escape?"

He was satisfied to see a frustrated frown appear on her face.

"That's what I can't figure out. They asked for a truck and a boat, and I was sure that was just another distraction, but now I'm not sure. You see, the guy behind all of this is so goddamn clever, I wouldn't put it past him to set up something to look like a distraction, only to use it after all."

He had to try very hard not to grin broadly.

"So there's one guy who's the mastermind?"

"Yes. He calls himself 'the Professor'."

"And he's very clever?"

"Sadly, yes. We negotiate on the phone, and I've never talked to anyone quite like him."

"What's he like?"

She rolled her eyes. "Unbearably smug, and constantly asking inappropriate questions."

"Like what?"

"The first time we talked, he asked me what I was wearing."

He raised his eyebrows. "Really? Why?"

"It's just a strategy to unbalance me."

"And does it unbalance you?"

"Please", she snorted. "I'm a woman in the police force, if I let a little sexism faze me, I would have quit a long time ago."

He suddenly felt a little bad for her. "I'm sorry you have to deal with this 'Professor' character."

She shrugged. "Some random guy asking about my orgasms isn't the worst thing that's happened to me on the job."

Now he felt even worse. Her phone pinged.

"I'm sorry Salva", she said. "I have to read this in case it's urgent."

"Of course."

He observed her silently as she read her message, and he suddenly realized that, in seeing her only as an opponent in this game they were playing, he'd lost sight of the fact that she was, in fact, a real person.

"I'm sorry", he said, and he meant it.

She looked up. "What for?"

"The sexism you have to deal with."

She put her phone away and gave him her half-smile. "It's okay, it's not your fault."

He shifted a little guiltily. "Still."

"I just hope this will all be over soon, my team is getting tired."

"How much longer do you think they'll stay in there?"

"I don't know", she admitted. "I thought this would only take a few days, but of course, the longer they stay in there, the more money they can print."

"You must be getting frustrated."

"I am", she said. "Especially since they're doing everything they can to make me lose time."

He made a mental note of the fact that she'd figured that out. Finally he couldn't reasonably ask her more questions about the heist, so he allowed her to steer the conversation to other matters. He hoped he could get a bit of an insight into her personal life, but to his considerable frustration, she seemed unwilling to talk about herself, instead sticking to topics like politics and literature. Yet, despite his frustration, he had to admit that he was enjoying himself – though she seemed to live mostly for her job, she was informed and well-read, and she was an engaging person to talk to. Still, after an hour or so, he just wanted to get back to Raquel, and she seemed ready to call it a night as well.

"So", she said. "This was nice."

"Yes", he smiled. "It was."

"It's rare to find a man I can really talk to."

"From what you've told me about your colleagues, I'm not surprised."

"No", she said thoughtfully. "I meant in general. You know, there are not a lot of people I connect with."

"Yes", he said. "I get that."

She gave him a smile, the first full, genuine smile he'd seen on her face. It made her look much softer, and he was suddenly struck by the thought that maybe it hadn't been such a good idea to get to know her after all.

She tilted her head. "So… do you want to get out of here?"

"Alright", he said.

"Your place or mine?"

He blinked at her. "Sorry?"

"I think your place is closer, but we can go to mine if you prefer."

His eyes went wide as comprehension dawned on him. "Oh!"

She suddenly looked embarrassed. "I'm sorry, that was probably too straightforward of me. I'm not very good at flirting, I like things to be clear."

Oh no. Oh no, no, no, no, no.

"You need to know that I'm very selective in the men I date, so when I find one I like, I don't see much sense in being coy."

He felt a horrible, squirming wave of embarrassment engulf him. What should he say – what could he say? Oh, this was bad, this was so bad. She was looking at him – he had to say something!

"Well… I… I…", he floundered, and she laughed.

"You do look very surprised, Salva. I'm sorry if I didn't make it clear before that I like you. Though me agreeing to go on a date with you was kind of a sign, don't you think?"

He had never wanted out of a situation more desperately. He felt like his face was on fire.

"I mean… uhm…"

"We can go to your place if that would make you feel more comfortable. I don't usually go home with men I barely know, but I think I can trust you."

A twinge of guilt appeared to spice up his embarrassment – this was getting ridiculous – he had to get out of here somehow. He steeled himself, took a deep breath and blurted out:

"I'm sorry. I can't."

She frowned. "You can't what?"

"Take you to… I mean… accept your… uh… I can't."

"Why not?"

He desperately cast around for an excuse. "I… I have to get up early tomorrow."

She raised her eyebrows. "To brew cider?"

"I have… an appointment. At… at the dentist."

There was confusion in every line of her face. He suddenly realized for the first time that she was quite attractive, and she probably never had a man turn down an offer to go home with her.

"At the dentist…", she repeated slowly and with apparent disbelief.

He saw absolutely no way to get out of the situation gracefully, so he just put some money on the table and hastily got up.

"I have to go… I'm sorry… I… well… I have to go."

He didn't dare look at her again as he turned around and walked out of the café, cursing himself savagely for misjudging the situation so badly. He realized now that, just because he hadn't seen this as a date, it didn't mean that she saw it the same way, and he suddenly understood that Raquel had been right all along – of course she thought he'd asked her out, and that implied certain things... Still, her proposal had surprised him in more than one way – he'd been under the impression that women didn't usually sleep with men on the first date… though, come to think of it, it made sense for Elena. She clearly didn't like to waste time and she seemed like the kind of person to go after what she wanted. And apparently she'd wanted him. Oh god, what must she be thinking now? He couldn't have handled the situation more poorly – she must be completely mystified as to what just happened. He could still feel his cheeks burning with embarrassment as he quickly walked along the street, and he resolved not to tell Raquel about this. He'd get the biggest 'I told you so' in history.

…

Raquel was fidgeting behind the screens, waiting for Sergio to come home. She wasn't really worried this time, but it would still be a relief when he got back and this whole Elena business would be over and done with – it had caused more than enough friction between them. When he finally walked in, however, she immediately noticed that something was off.

"How was it?" she asked, noting how he avoided her eyes as he walked up to her.

"Uhm… fine", he replied. "It was… a productive meeting."

"Did you get any useful information out of her?"

"Uhm, yes, a few things."

She frowned. "Sergio, what's wrong?"

"Nothing", he said, finally looking up at her and giving her an uncomfortable smile.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "What happened?"

"Nothing", he repeated.

"Out with it."

"There's nothing to tell!"

"Oh please, your face couldn't possibly get any redder. You look as though she tried to kiss you." She gave him a closer look. "Did she try to kiss you?"

He squirmed uncomfortably. "Not… not exactly."

"Then what, Sergio?"

He heaved a big sigh. "Well… she did seem to think it was a date."

She nodded. "Of course. And?"

He looked at the ground, then mumbled: "She asked me if I wanted to go home with her."

She gave him a dry look, then turned back to the screens.

"Uh-huh."

He looked beyond embarrassed. "I know you told me so."

"I did, yes."

"You were right."

"I sure was."

He shook his head. "I shouldn't have done this."

"No", she said succinctly. "You shouldn't. How did you leave things?"

"I… I made an excuse and left."

She frowned at him. "What kind of excuse?"

"I said I had to get up early."

She rolled her eyes at him. "That's a terrible excuse. How was the rest of the evening?"

"Fine."

"Did she have a good time?"

"I think so."

"Then she must be so confused right now. Has she texted you anything?"

He took out his wallet to get at his phone, then looked at it.

"No."

"Well, I suppose that's for the best." She gave him a cool look. "I hope you're properly ashamed of yourself."

He grimaced. "Believe me, I am."

"Good", she nodded. "Then we won't talk about it again."

"Thank you", he said, clearly relieved.

"I want to hear what she told you in a minute, but could you get me a coffee first? Decaf."

"Of course", he nodded, putting on his jacket again and walking to the door.

The moment the door closed behind him, she noticed that he'd left his wallet on the desk. She was about to hurry after him, but then movement on the screen caught her attention: Denver was walking into the breakroom with Monica, and she observed them closely to see if there were any signs that Monica was in the same situation as Ariadna had been. The couple was laughing, however, and Monica's smile seemed genuine. Behind her, Raquel heard the door open again and turned to tell Sergio his wallet was on the desk – only it wasn't Sergio coming through the door.

She recognized the face immediately, and instinctively reached for a gun she wasn't wearing.

"Don't even think about it", said Inspector González, cocking her gun and pointing it straight at her chest.