Something’s not right
The furrows and dropped jaws from his teammates meant Lanse had indeed heard right. Tess told him she loved him through his telecom. As much as he wanted to believe it, it didn't make sense. Either that wasn't Tess, or it was some encrypted message.
"Noted," was all Lanse replied to Tess, before miming to his teammates to shut off communication. Once Tess and whatever was with her could no longer hear them, he said, "Freck."
They stared at the ground, as their minds buzzed for an explanation to what Tess said.
"Something's not right," Zack said. "This feels like in the movies when the serial killer lets you answer the call to say you're okay. But you say something crazy to alert the caller that you're not."
"You really think so?" Zino asked. "I knew Tess wasn't intentionally not answering us." Then she gasped and moved both hands on her head to panic. "Oh no. Just how long has she been trapped?"