The shadowy powers that be, the people who pulled the puppet strings, would have to cover everything up. One fact was going to stand out to them – the CIA’s second in command and the director of a black ops program that wasn’t supposed to exist had shot each other and a handful of American soldiers. The puppet masters would probably demolish the entire complex before they’d even had time to make sense of the evidence there. They’d call it a horrible accident, a building collapse due to a structural flaw, what a shame.

She thought of the last things Kevin had said to her before he crashed.

“You can do this, Ollie. I know you’ll save his life. Because you have to. And then we’ll all be safe. This isn’t going to happen to Danny again, so you pull him through it.”

She wondered if he really did have that much faith in her or if he was just trying to keep her from panicking. But would he have allowed himself to pass into unconsciousness if he hadn’t believed his own words?

“Alex?”

Her head whipped up so fast the wheeled stool beneath her rolled back a few inches. She jumped off it and leaned over Daniel, taking the hand that was weakly groping for hers.

“I’m right here.” She glanced at his IV. The ketamine must be out of his system now, but he had an intravenous painkiller that would keep him from feeling too much discomfort.

“Where are we?”

“Safe, for the moment.”

His eyes slowly opened. It took them a moment to find her, and then another to focus.

She’d known with decent certainty for at least two or three hours now that he was going to open his eyes again, but the familiar gray-green nearly knocked the wind out of her anyway. She felt tears overflow her own eyes.

“Are you hurt?” he asked.

She sniffed. “Not a scratch on me.”

He smiled slightly. “Kevin?” he asked.

“He’s fine. That’s him snoring you hear – not a buzz saw.”

The corners of his mouth turned down as his eyes slipped closed again.

“Don’t worry about him. He’ll be fine.”

“He looked… really bad.”

“He’s tougher than any person should be – kind of like you.”

“Sorry.” He sighed. “I got shot.”

“Yeah, I noticed that.”

“Carston took the gun from the guy next to me when Deavers pulled a gun on him,” Daniel explained, his lids pulling back just a few millimeters. “He moved fast for an older guy. They were shouting at each other, but all the soldiers lined up with Deavers.”

Alex nodded. “Those were their orders.”

“Deavers gave the order, and one of them shot Carston and then me. Carston fell to his knees but started shooting. I didn’t have a gun, so I grabbed the ankles of the people near me with your ring.”

“You did good.”

“I wanted to get to a gun, but the two guys I hit fell on me. I couldn’t lift them. My arms weren’t working right.”

“The one on your chest probably saved your life, actually. He kept the wound covered till I could get there.”

Daniel blinked his eyes open again. “I thought I was dead.”

Alex had to swallow. “Honestly, so did I for a while.”

“I wanted to stay until you got there. I wanted to tell you some things. It felt horrible when I knew I couldn’t.”

She stroked the side of his face. “It’s okay. You did it. You stayed.”

The comfort thing was coming to her more easily these days. She’d changed a lot since meeting Daniel.

“I just wanted you to know that I don’t regret any of it. I’m grateful for every second I’ve had with you – even the bad ones. I wouldn’t have missed it, Alex, not for anything.”

She leaned her forehead against his. “Neither would I.”

They didn’t move for a long moment. She listened to the sound of his breathing, the sound of his evenly beeping monitors, and Kevin’s robust snores in the background.

“I love you,” he murmured.

She laughed once – a quick, jittery sound that matched the tremors in her hands. “Yeah, I’ve sort of figured that one out, I think. Took me long enough, didn’t it? Anyway, though, I love you, too.”

“Finally speaking the same language.”

She laughed again.

“You’re shaking,” he said.

“I’ve had so much caffeine, I need a detox.”

It was still middle-of-the-night quiet outside, so the sound of a car pulling up to the back of the building was hard to miss. Alex was surprised by how little her nerves reacted – there wasn’t much left in her, she could tell. She just felt weary as she straightened up and freed her hands. She pulled her PPK from the small of her back.

“I really hope that’s Val,” she muttered.

“Alex —” Daniel whispered.

“Don’t move even a fraction of an inch, Daniel Beach,” she whispered back. “I spent too long patching you up for you to go and tear something now. I’m just being cautious. I’ll be back in a sec.”

She hurried to the rear door and peeked past the side of the little curtain. It was the car she was expecting – the ugly green Jag – Val in the driver’s seat. She could see Einstein standing up on the passenger side.

Alex knew she should feel more, knowing that all of it was over, that almost every loose end was wrapped up. She should be elated, relieved, grateful, possibly shedding tears of joy. But her body was completely done. Once the coffee wore off, she’d be comatose.