"I don't know." She's holding onto my arm, getting her balance back. Her fingers dig into my bicep with surprising strength. "Fitz, the video?—"
"Was brilliant and reckless and we're going to have a very long discussion about it later." I kiss her hard and fast, tasting blood and tears. "Right now, we need to find Grace, neutralize the hostiles, and get everyone to safety."
She nods, steadier now. The trembling in her limbs is subsiding, replaced by something harder. Something focused.
I hand her one of the guard's sidearms, checking first to make sure there's a round in the chamber. "Are you able to shoot?"
"Not really, but I’ll do it anyway."
"Good. Stay behind me. Do exactly what I say. And Jordan?" I wait until she meets my eyes, until I'm sure she's really hearing me. "This time, I need you to trust me completely. No heroics. No improvisation. Just follow my lead."
"I trust you," she says, and I hear the truth in it, feel it in the way her hand steadies in mine. "I've always trusted you."
In our playroom, trust is everything. Outside it, in the real world, Jordan has always been independent, always made her own decisions, always charged ahead without asking permission. But here, now, bleeding and battered in a Swiss resort corridor, she's giving me her submission freely. Trusting me to protect her, to lead her, to bring her home.
Grace is somewhere in this maze. Hurt, scared, waiting. Jordan's hand finds mine, her grip steady despite everything. We move.
6
JJ
We find Grace in a supply closet on the third floor—Fitz kicks the door open, and there she is, huddled with her mother and two other hostages. The relief on her face when she sees us nearly breaks me. Fitz gets us moving, and we're heading back toward the ballroom to regroup with the other hostages when the world explodes.
The blast throws me against the wall, my ears ringing, smoke filling the corridor. Through the chaos, Fitz shouts my name.
"Here!" I call back, coughing. "I'm here!"
He appears through the smoke, his movements sharp and controlled as he checks me for injuries with surprisingly gentle hands. "You hurt?"
"No. Shaken, but okay." The corridor is a disaster. Debris everywhere, a gaping hole where the wall used to be. "What was that?"
"Explosives. They're destroying evidence or preparing to bring down the building." The woman with military bearing from the dining room turns out to be Major Adeyemi and is part of the Nigerian security detail, appears beside us, calm despite the destruction. "We need to evacuate. Now."
Fitz is already assessing our options. "The exits will be compromised. Main entrance will be watched. Kitchen and service corridors will be their second priority."
"The wine cellar," I say suddenly, remembering the plans of the resort I studied before we arrived. Fitz isn’t the only one who likes to know new places in advance. "It has an old service tunnel that connects to the original building down the mountain. They used it for deliveries before they built the main road."
Fitz looks at me with something between exasperation and admiration. "Of course you remember an escape route."
"I remember everything. It's why you married me."
"I married you because you're brilliant and beautiful and you drive me insane." He kisses me hard. "And right now, that brilliant mind might have just saved us all."
Major Adeyemi is already organizing the rest of the hostages. "Anyone who can walk, help someone who can't. We move in groups of ten. Captain Fitzwallace and I will take point. Mrs. Fitzwallace?—"
"JJ," I interrupt. "Call me JJ."
"JJ, you take rear guard with..." She looks around, spots a young man who held his own in the earlier confrontation. "You. What's your name?"
"Paul. I was Royal Marines, three years."
"Perfect. You and JJ cover our retreat. Anyone hostile, you shout and we deal with it." She hands me an extra magazine for the pistol I'm carrying. "Can you actually shoot that thing?"
"Better than most. I own a BDSM club. You'd be surprised how often weapons training comes in handy."
She stares at me for a moment, then laughs. "I think I like you, JJ."
We move as a group through the smoke-filled corridors. Fitz is magnificent. Calm, controlled, every movement economical and purposeful. He's in full tactical mode, the loving Dom Iknow replaced by the legendary soldier he was before Cerberus. Heat flares through me despite everything. Terrible timing, as always.
