Page 121 of Till Death Do Us Part

I gritted my teeth as I climbed higher up the chain, up to the network of pipes on the ceiling, rattling empty now with only a few drops of water coming out, useless against the flames. I felt like my strength was coming the same way, but I squeezed out every last drop of strength, and I forced myself onwards.

Back to safety.

Back to Elaine.

It took me what felt like a lifetime to make my way across the room, and I was almost fully faded by the time I made it back—enough that when I was so close I could see the fear and the hope in Elaine’s eyes and I felt the pipes buckling as one of the supports gave, I couldn’t figure out how to gather the strength to catch myself.

The pipes gave way, and at last, after all these years, I dropped.

Chapter 62

elaine

With the bullet wound in my side still burning, I shouldn’t have had the strength or the reflexes for it, but something else awakened in me, seeing Vera falling, and the next thing I knew, I was bent over the railing, holding her by the hand, straining to keep her up and out of the fire.

“Vera!” I gasped. “Stay… with… me. You promised we’d get out safely!”

She looked up at me with wide eyes, her focus sharpening again—I’d watched as the focus had blurred out of her gaze as she crossed the room, and she swallowed hard as she pulled herself together again.

“Elaine,” she said, quietly, simply. That was it—all that needed to be said. She grimaced, and with a momentous effort, she pushed her other arm up, the one covered in blood from her shoulder, and she grabbed my hand with both of hers, kicking against the wall to rappel up as I dragged her up. It was slow, agonizing, and I felt like my strength would vanish, but eventually, finally, I managed to pull her up over the railing, where she collapsed against me with her arms around me, breathing raggedly.

“Vera,” I whispered. “I was… scared for you.”

“You saved my life,” she breathed.

“You’re my wife. I’ll do anything to protect you, too.”

She squeezed me tighter. “You’re a damn good shot after all.”

I laughed thickly. “I couldn’t hit the support beam. But I knew how it had to be fixed on the ceiling, and I couldn’t miss the ceiling, so… I aimed there.”

“Smart woman. And I’m alive because of that.” She choked, spitting up blood, and I grimaced as I took the radio from her, holding her weakening form as I activated it.

“Rail!” I shouted. “We’re in the archives. They’re burning now. Glenn and Quayle are both here, both dead, but we’re both too badly injured…”

“I’m coming,” Yulia’s voice said right away.

“We’re in the car waiting for you,” Petra said.

“I’ve gotten the emergency doors at the back of the building unlocked,” Caitlyn said.

“I have a team ready for both of you,” Jenna said. At the end of it all, Rail’s voice was quiet.

“They’ve got you taken care of. Good work today.”

Vera and I both collapsed to the floor, breathing hard, and we held each other firmly—both of us holding onto our reasons for staying—before the door burst open and Yulia ran in with a whole team behind her, and she shouted orders as she stooped to pick up Vera, another Whitecliff operative helping me walk.

It was all a blur, but somehow, we made it up through the building and out through the side doors, out to where Petra had the car waiting for us. And as I collapsed against Vera in the backseat, I watched the building engulfed in flames behind us.

The Blackbirds burning away to nothing as Vera left with her new family.

The Whitecliffs let us use their full-fledged medical facilities, and I wasn’t really sure what was happening at any point—Petra got us there so quickly it felt like I’d only just gotten into the car, but somehow I was in a hospital bed, and the Whitecliff physicians worked together with Jenna on both me and Vera, two beds in the same room, and I took strength knowing she was right there, staying strong for me.

I drifted in and out of consciousness, a blur of pain and doctors’ voices, but slowly, eventually, I woke up to quiet, feeling the gentle tightness of bandages around my waist, and in the peaceful moment, I found Jenna, squeezing my hand with a small smile.

“Welcome back,” she said. “Feeling all right, dear?”

“Where’s Vera?”