Vela picked up her phone again to dial the new number Gerald had given her when she requested his boss’s New Zealand contact; it rang out and returned unanswered yet again for the fifth time.

"Is this really Riven's number?" she muttered to herself impatiently.

"Because he can't say he hasn't been seeing her calls for the past 20 minutes. She deliberately called by 5 p.m. so he wouldn't have any excuse. It's still noon over there, or is he ignoring her on purpose?"

She continued to vent ...