I swallow.I’m not a little girl anymore, trapped.I’m a grown woman with a gun nearby.I can take control of this situation at any time because I’m not afraid to die.“That’s why you killed them all?”
“We were supposed to be together.”
“So it is my fault.”I knew it.This is the guilt I’ve carried all along.“You killed them so you could have me.”
“Yes,” he says softly, and it hurts so badly knowing the truth.I’m the reason BK murdered them.
“We have a connection,” he says, and I want to deny it.But I know it’s true.We’re connected in so many ways.He was there when my psychic ability awakened.He was the reason I am who I am today.
And now we’re going to die together.I couldn’t kill him the night he first came to me, but I can now.
Before I can grab my gun and rush him to end this, a new voice rings out.
“No, Inara is mine.”And Rex steps out from the shadows.
The gravel crunches under his boots.He looks larger than life in his dark suit, but all I can think of is how he’s bulletproof but not bombproof.
“No, please.”I hold out a hand to stop Rex from moving forward.“Wait,” I say to BK as much as I do to Rex.I step between them, like I’m protecting one from the other.I’m not sure who I’m protecting from whom.
Rex speaks over my head.“It’s over, Dennis.You’ve lost.”
BK tries to say something and starts wheezing instead.His hand trembles around the trigger.
“Stay back,” I say to Rex.“He’s rigged to blow.”
“It’s okay,” he says to me.“We got the family out.”
Relief weakens me, making me bow forward.I did it.They’re safe.
Rex looks back at BK.“The only victim tonight will be him.”He makes a move toward BK, and I panic.
Rex is going to try and take BK down, but BK isn’t bluffing.Rex will get blown to bits.
I can’t let that happen.
I have to stop it.
And I know how.
“This ends now,” I say to them both.Before they can react, I stride to the edge of the roof and jump onto the ledge.The wind whips up from several stories below.I don’t look down, though, because I’ll get dizzy.
“Inara, no?—”
BK wheezes something.He lifts his hand, wiggling the trigger at us.He’s seconds away from killing us all, I can feel it.
It’s now or never.
I face Rex.“I love you,” I mouth to him and leap into the night.
22
Inara
I’m fallingfrom a great height.There’s no sound, only the sensation of surrender.Everything will be over soon?—
A blast of excruciating heat hits me.I scream, feeling like it’s searing my skin from my bones.
My eyes are closed against the stinging.This isn’t a dream.It’s happening.It’s real.
