Page 271 of Hidden Tide
“This isn’t over.”
I open my hand and show him the false compass.
“It is for you.”
“You don’t know what your father started.”
“No. But I’m going to finish it.”
The agents take him away.
Captain Marquez is lifted onto a stretcher. Elena reaches him before the medics can load him into the ambulance.
She takes his hand.
He touches her face.
For one moment, neither of them speaks.
They don’t need to.
Then I see Ben.
Piers tries to make him remain on the rescue boat.
Ben pushes his hand away and climbs onto the dock.
His left leg gives out.
I catch him.
Or I try to.
His weight nearly takes both of us down before Piers grabs the back of his vest.
“I told you,” Piers says.
“I had it.”
“You had Calle.”
“That was the plan.”
Ben’s arm comes around me.
I press my face against his chest.
His heart beats beneath my cheek.
Fast.
Strong.
Alive.
“You came back.”
“I promised.”
