Page 62 of Innocent Salvation

“Talk to me, Seb, distract me.”

“Did you know that falling in love has a similar effect on the body as cocaine?”

Snow laughed. “Really?”

“Yep, it’s scientifically proven.”

“You’ve been spending too much time with Watchdog.”

Seb gave a lopsided grin, which made her heart flip, making her believe every word he said.

“You might be right. I also know that vacuum cleaners were originally horse-drawn.”

“You’re lying.”

“Nope, I wish I was.”

Snow sobered as she caught the clock on the timer tick down as Reaper unscrewed the case on the phone.

“We’re gonna be okay, Snow, and I’m going to spend the rest of my life showing you how much I love you and proving to you that although I’m not worthy of you, I’ll try every single day to make myself better.”

Tears pricked her eyes and a sob bubbled in her throat. “I love you, too.”

Seb cradled her face in his hands and kissed her tears away. “If this is all we ever have then I consider myself blessed to have known you and had that time.”

“Fuck!”

Seb and Snow looked at Reaper.

“What?” They both demanded at the same time.

“It had a back detonator. We have thirty seconds to figure out the code.”

“Try Dominique’s birthday, the fourth of July nineteen sixty-five.”

They watched as Reaper put the code in and the screen flashed. They only had two more attempts.

“Shit.”

Snow closed her eyes trying to replay every second of her life with Henri. Her eyes popped open, and she saw the clock had fifteen seconds to go.

“Zero, four, zero, five, one, zero, zero, eight.”

Reaper punched in the code and as the clock hit two seconds the light went green.

Her body sagged as Sebastian took her weight and she groaned with the pain that shot from her shoulder joints from hanging for so long.

“Fuck, that was close.”

Seb kissed her as he gently unhooked the rope and eased her into his arms, removing his shirt and slipping it over her head. Moving to the door, he carried her up the stairs, a smirking Reaper behind them, covering her back as he and her work family had always done.

Bein and Bás rushed to them as Sebastian gently set her on her feet, keeping his arm around her as he massaged her shoulders.

“Did you get him?”

Bein looked at Bás. “Can you believe she’d even ask us that?”

Bás smirked or at least it was for him and nodded. “Henri Goubert is on his way to jail. Interpol are handling it.”