“It’s no use,” he says and raises his head out of the shadow.I flinch at what I see.There are patches of shiny skin-like scar tissue mottling his face.Like he’s been badly burned.
He didn’t have those scars the last time I saw him.
But the eyes are the same.Flat and dead.
Then he flicks open his coat, and I see why my gun would be of no use.His torso is wrapped in duct tape, with the same makeshift incendiary devices that I saw downstairs all over his body.The wires wind down his right arm.
He lifts his hand to show me he’s holding the trigger.
“Put down your gun, or we all die.”
Rex
The press conference takes forever.Nadia walks me out, and finally, I sink into the back seat of the car and wave at Ivan to start driving.I can’t wait to get back to Inara.
Alfie alerts me that Hamish is trying to reach me and connects the call.
“Hamish?”I ask.
“Victor has urgent news for us.”Hamish’s voice is tight and strained.
I sit up in the seat.“Victor?”The assassin I hired has been quiet, only checking in with sporadic reports.
“He got a lead that put him on Ted Raider, the photographer, and followed him tonight.There’s something you should see.”
My phone screen lights up with footage of Inara entering the building and Ted hovering in the back.
No.“Get me eyes on that building.Now.”
Inara
Checkmate.BK’s done it.He’s lured me out alone, and now I know his plan.If I shoot him, it’ll trigger the explosion.If I don’t, he’ll probably do it anyway.
We’re going to die together.The only question is if I can stall him long enough for Ted to save his family.
I raise my hands in the air to show I’m complying, then slowly set the gun on the ground.
When I straighten, I raise my face to the sky.Come on, Rex.One thing I know is that he’s got this whole city surveilled.He might be watching us, even now.
I don’t want him to see me like this, but I don’t want to die alone.So it’s a comfort, knowing he might have eyes on me.
A tiny part of me holds out hope that he’ll come for me.I try not to dwell on it, but the more I push it away, the stronger it becomes.I even sense someone behind me again.
Don’t think about it.Focus.
“Come closer,” BK says.
Adrenaline races down my arms.I want to snatch up my gun and shoot.Remember the family.Stay strong.“Promise me the family will live.”
“Just the family?Not you?”He coughs a few times.
I say nothing.We both know my life is a lost cause.I’m not going to beg for it.
“I’ve been waiting for you.”
“Why?”
“It was always going to end like this.You and me, together.”
