That feeling of peace left the moment he set me down and I spotted a man dragging a dead masked operator inside to lay him next to two others.
Helix employees who’d chosen the wrong side. The side of greed and evil.
“Never leave a man behind—not even these guys,” someone I didn’t recognize said in a remorseful tone. He knocked his night vision into place once he was back outside the hangar, probably to help search for more bodies.
I shifted back into Alejandro’s welcoming arms, catching his eyes since his night vision goggles were at the top of his helmet.
I didn’t want to see the blood and death, knowing they’d died, in part, because of me.
He cupped my chin. “Not your fault.”
“But this still isn’t over,” I said, remembering. “The evidence is in Tasmania, not here. We were right.”
“Thanks to you, we can get there in time. What you did tonight ...” His voice was tight. “No body armor. Just armed with courage.”
I sniffled and rested my hands on him, feeling the plate beneath his dress shirt. So, so grateful he’d never had to take a round to test the plate’s effectiveness. “The explosives. You’re clearly in one piece, thank God. What happened?”
“He never planned to detonate. It was a decoy,” Hollis said, coming up alongside us. She pulled me away from Alejandro for a hug. “Hi.”
“Hi,” I choked out as more operators began flooding the room.
One of them had the mastermind asshole behind all this: Rhett. He was bleeding. Bound and gagged. The guy shoved him on the ground. “Celeste,” the guy said in a low voice, nodding at her.
“I just go by Hollis now.” She went over and patted his arm. “Thanks for the help tonight. I was worried for a minute you’d miss all the fun.”
“Of course you two know each other. Why am I not surprised?” Reed grumbled while striding in, letting his sling catch his rifle.
The guy ignored Reed and turned to face me. “Carter Dominick.” He smiled. “Happy to see you alive and breathing. You were brave.” He focused on Reed and tipped his head toward my best friend. “And inmyformerline of work,” he continued—whatever that was supposed to mean—“it paid to know someone likeHollis. Only person who has more money and gadgets than I do,” he added with a light laugh as my brother joined us again.
“What are next steps? Orders from your dad?” Ryder asked Gray, one of the few people here who I already knew, thanks to Trevor’s relation to his wife, Tessa.
Gray looked around at the crowded hangar. “Echo Team will take Rhett on their plane to the States. Delta Shield catches a ride with Hollis to Tasmania and gets the evidence.”
Alejandro stepped off to my side, resting his hand at the small of my back. Part of me wanted to borrow that sidearm strapped to his outer leg and go whack Rhett in the temple the way he had me just a week ago.
“Who, um, killed Cipheria?” I asked in a tentative voice, worried about the men here having to take a woman’s life. Something told me that wasn’t the norm for them.
“I did.” An operator walked in to join us while removing her helmet, shaking out her blonde hair. “The rings,” she said, passing them off to Ryder before looking at me. “Sydney Hawkins.” She stood alongside a few other guys from the Falcon Falls team who’d been acting as Alpha Team tonight. “It was you or her. Easy choice.”
“Thank you,” I breathed, relieved Cipheria was no longer a threat. Not so sure how I felt about Rhett living to see another day, though, and I knew Alejandro and Ryder weren’t happy about that, either.
“Come on. Let’s get you to the airport. Trevor and Eden are on their way there now, and they’re eager to see you,” my brother said.
“Did Beau make it out alive, too?” I asked.
Alejandro stopped short, then shot an uneasy look at my brother.
I swallowed. “What is it?” I whispered.
“Well, um,” Ryder started, “Beau had been disarmed, when Eden reached for a fallen weapon. She went to shoot him, and Trevor saw what she was about to do.”
Stomach wrenching, I squeezed my eyes closed at what I knew was coming next.
“Trevor went ahead and took the shot before she could,” he continued, “not wanting her to get blood on her hands.”
“Will do, man. You ever need anything, I’m just a call away,” Carter Dominick said to my brother from inside the private hangar at Queenstown Airport. He pivoted to Hollis next and grinned. “Stay out of trouble, will ya?”
“Me? Trouble?” she teased.
