He hands it over, moving the screen in and out for her to see what he’s found.
Assassin August’s peering out the window, watching the world kick up its dust storm of death. “It’s because there are three of us here, all in the same place,” he mutters. “That’s why it’s happening so fast.”
“Anytime you want to go home,” I suggest to him.
“If you could have just kept it in your pants,” he prods.
He’s not wrong. That’s the worst part. We’re so close to maybe fixing this. If we only had that little bit more time. Time the two of us burned through last night.
I instinctively pull my hand away from August. He notices, eyes running down my arm first, then with a flash up at me. “If there were only two of us, how much more time do you think we’d have?”
“It’s impossible to say. It might buy us a day.”
“Would it get us to Monday morning? When the supercomputer people are in, so they could fix Shashi’s login?”
“It might.” Assassin August shrugs, coming back towards us. “I’m not super keen on dying today, but I guess if it helps?—”
“No.” August shakes his head. “No, no one’s dying. You’re going home. You’re both going home. You’ve both worked reallyhard at this, trying to fix the problem. For years. And we need both your minds on it going forward. You can’t break up a team like this.”
“It’s a moot point if I can’t get this bloody thing to work,” Shashi mutters, swishing her fingers across the jarringly slow screen of August’s phone.
August watches her a few more seconds, then slides away from me, wandering over to Jon.
I have to wonder what he’s saying to him. Goodbye, most likely. Or maybe he’s gone to him for the physical comfort I can’t give him. All while every atom in my body aches to reach out and touch him.
Their heads are bent close. Jon tries to step away, and August catches his arm, ripping him back, talking in his ear. It goes on, Jon shaking his head. It honestly looks like another breakup, only I can’t imagine August going over there to start a fight with him. Especially in these last few hours. He’s far too sweet. Far too kind.
Shashi throws the phone down, drops back into her chair, and starts hitting the keys again, so hard I think they might break.
Then August’s back by my side. His brow’s hard, set, while he stares down at the carpet, that particle accelerator turning over faster in his fingers.
“What was that?” I ask him. Jon’s still over there, glowering across the room at him.
He blinks fast, a few times, then snaps his head up, the volume of his voice addressing everyone. “Listen, you’ve got three great minds here. I really think you can do this. I think you just… you need a little more time. So…”
He moves fast, striding to the centre of the room. Then he turns and locks eyes with me. His arm shoots out, his fingerclicks a button on the particle accelerator, and August tears a hole between this world and the next, just like that.
I’m up like a shot, faster than I can even process what’s happening—this complete and utter catastrophe that’s unfolding right in front of me. But even quicker, a weight smashes into me—Jon coming down on top of me, his full dead weight knocking me to the floor.
“I’m sorry, August,” August calls above the confused and horrified shouts of the others. “I don’t see another way.”
“Let me up!” I shove against Jon as hard as I can, but he’s got the advantage, got me down on my back, pinning my arms so he sets bruises in my skin with every struggle. “August, don’t do this!”
“You can fix it. I know you can. The three of you.” He makes himself so small as he says it, when he’s the entire centre of this fucking universe. “You do that, then maybe you come find me. We’ll see.”
The room seems to collapse beneath me—the chairs, the desks, the hardwood floor, the small space between us—utterly insurmountable. “August, please don’t!”
Amber makes a move for him, but Shashi grabs her hand and wrenches her back, her eyes flinging upwards when the building shakes.
August’s gaze traces across the ceiling, eyes wide and frightened. But it’s like the confirmation he needed. He nods once. “I have to go.”
“August, don’t!” I kick my legs up at Jon, fighting as hard as I can. He slams his forearm down into my chest, knocking me back against the hard floor.
August turns towards the portal, then stops, and just for a second, I think my pleas are working, he’s thought better of it, he’s coming back. But he only places the particle acceleratorcarefully down on a table, saying to Asshole August, “Close it. When I’m through, close it.”
And he nods. The fucking bastard, complicit in my one love walking into god knows what kind of other world, with nothing and no one to protect him. All he does is nod, agreeing to his death.
I scream for him, shout our name, shove at Jon with all my strength, but nothing helps. I can only watch, struggle, bereft, while August disappears into thin air.
