"Kara, I can't," he said, his voice breaking. "I can't leave you. I don't want to be alive if you're not."
"But I want you to be alive, and that's the promise you have to give me. That's the only thing that will make me happy right now. Promise me you'll go. And you'll tell my mom and my brother that I love them, that they were the best family in the world." Tears slipped from her eyes, and she wanted to wipe them away, but she couldn't move. "Max, please."
He gently wiped away her tears with his thumb. "You are so brave, Kara."
"Don't tell anyone I cried, okay? Let them think I was tough until the end."
"There's not going to be an end," he said desperately. "Qadir will send the codes. He'll make the trade. He has to."
She really wanted to believe that.
Max's gaze roamed her face, as if he were memorizing every detail, and she was doing the same. His face was the image she wanted to see when she took her last breath.
Max's earpiece crackled, and he took it out of his ear so she could hear Jason.
"Helicopter is airborne," Jason said. "We should have the codes in the five minutes."
She looked at the timer. It was down to eight minutes. She felt a strange sense of calm, of acceptance. If death came, it would be quick. Maybe that was the blessing. "I love you, Max," she said suddenly. "I want you to know that. It's kind of crazy that I could feel this way for someone I've only known for a week. But I'm glad I got to feel it."
"I love you, too."
"Even if you don't mean it, I like hearing it."
"I mean it, Kara. It's fast, but it's also real."
"You need to go, Max. It's down to seven minutes."
"You said four," he argued.
"Three more minutes won't make a difference."
"The code is coming. It has to," he said fiercely.
She smiled through her tears. "And you said I was the optimistic one."
He cupped her face with his hands, still being careful, then pressed his lips against hers in one last emotional kiss.
And then the phone on the table buzzed.
She couldn't quite believe it. "Is that it?" she asked in disbelief.
Max grabbed the phone. "Two sets of numbers," he said, taking a photo of the code and sending that one to Jason, before he came to her.
She could hear Jason confirm receipt of the code.
Max looked at the keypad on her vest. "Here we go."
"Don't you want to send a bomb tech in here?"
"I can do it. Trust me."
"With my life," she breathed.
He carefully pressed each number on a code that felt ridiculously long. Her heart was thundering against her chest. She felt like she was going to pass out, which might be a blessing. But she was still awake when Max finished the sequence.
"Done," he said.
Nothing happened. The timer kept counting.
