Chapter 36
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
“Gagnon’s down.” Asher’s report brought responses in his ears, but he ignored them, trusting the team to handle whoever and whatever else needed handling.
He crossed the room in three swift strides, his weapon still trained on Gagnon’s motionless form, half-hidden behind a metal cabinet that stuck oddly into the room.
The door leading to the fire escape was behind that.
Blood pooled beneath the man’s head, his pale eyes staring sightlessly upward.
The threat was over, but Asher’s pulse hammered like he was still in the middle of the fight.
He kicked the enemy’s gun away per years of combat training.
Not that he’d ever seen a corpse squeeze a trigger.
Cici huddled on the floor, trapped between the body and the wall. The blade that’d saved her life was still clutched in her trembling fist. Not a blade, he saw in the hellish light. A letter opener.
He didn’t want to think about the carnage she’d witnessed.
But she was breathing. She was alive.
“Cici.” He crouched beside her and, before she did something she didn’t mean to do, took the makeshift weapon out of her hand.
She blinked at him, her beautiful eyes wide with shock. “Is he… Is it…?”
“It’s over, sweetheart.” At least it was for them. Grant and Bartlett held the building. He and Cici were safe in here.
Asher tossed the letter opener aside and holstered his weapon, wanting to pull her into his arms, to hold her until the terror faded from both their memories.
But in the hours since he’d seen her, she’d endured more than most would in their entire lives.
He needed to move slowly, to be gentle with her.
“Are you hurt?” His voice came out rougher than he intended, filled with too many emotions to name.
“Yeah, I’m…” She started to nod, then winced. “I think…” Her gaze flicked to Gagnon. “I just want… Can you, please…?” She reached for him. “Help?”
He was dying to do just that. He stood and pulled her up, then swept her into his arms. His shoulder screamed, but he gritted his teeth through the wave of pain.
She sucked in a breath, color draining from her face.
“I’m sorry.” Her pain hurt him more than his own. “I’m sorry. I can put you down.”
“No, please.” She gripped his sweatshirt. “Don’t. I don’t want to…”
“Okay, sweetheart. I got you. You’re okay. I got you.”
She tucked her head against his chest. She didn’t cry, just held onto him like he was her safe place.
Thank You, Father. Thank You.
He focused on the steady rhythm of her breathing, the warmth of her body pressed against his.
She needed peace. She needed to be away from this space and the two lifeless bodies. He carried her out of the office and down the hall to a break room he’d found when he was clearing this floor. He kicked the door open. Inside, he lowered himself to a sofa, keeping Cici securely on his lap.
She needed medical help. Now that the trauma was past, she was in shock. There were no blankets. Nothing to do but hold her close, to share his body heat until someone came.
They sat there in silence, holding onto each other.
The lights came on in the factory outside the door, giving just enough light for him to see her properly. A bruise darkened her cheek, and her clothes were spattered with blood. Bright red splotches from just now, brown splotches from a different violent event
“I’m sorry.” His voice was rough with emotion. “I’m so sorry I let this happen. I should have—”
“Stop.” Cici lifted her head. Her hand found his cheek, her touch gentle, if shaky. “Don’t apologize to me. You came for me. You saved my life.”
He closed his eyes, leaning into her palm. “You saved yourself. That move with the letter opener—”
“I told you I could help.” Her voice carried a tremor, but her smile was radiant.
This beautiful woman amazed him. “I never doubted you.”
There were no more gunshots coming from outside or below.
The helicopter’s rotors began to wind down, the deafening roar gradually fading to a mechanical whine.
Shouts and footsteps echoed across the factory floor, but they seemed distant, muffled by the bubble of quiet that had settled around Cici and him.
“Status report,” Grant’s voice crackled through Asher’s earpiece. “Rhodes, you got Cici?”
“I got her. She’s…” He paused through a wave of emotion. “She’s safe.”
“Thank God,” Alyssa said.
“Mercenaries are surrendering,” Bartlett said. “Law enforcement’s here.”
“Copy that,” he said into his comm, then removed his earpiece. The team could handle the cleanup. Right now, all that mattered was the woman in his arms.
Cici tilted her head back to look at him. “Who are you talking to?”
“The team.” At her raised eyebrows, he remembered that she didn’t know what’d happened outside the factory since she’d been taken. He gave her a quick rundown on everyone who’d come and all they’d done to get her back.
Her eyes were wide. “Alyssa’s out there?”
“And safe. She’s the one who cut the power and got the layout of this place. She worked with your dad to get satellite coverage.”
Her eyes widened. “Dad. He must be furious with me.”
Furious? “Why would he be? You haven’t done anything wrong.”
“I mean… I’m sure I did. I just don’t know what.”
“Nobody’s angry with you, sweetheart.” If Gavin Wright blamed anybody for this, it would be Asher.
“Your father just wants you safe, like the rest of us. Thanks to him, we knew the helicopter was coming.” He studied her face in the dim lighting, cataloging each bruise, each sign of what she’d endured. “Tell me what hurts.”
She closed her eyes, maybe taking inventory. “My ribs. My head.” Her fingers skimmed over the darkening bruise on her cheek. “But I’m alive. We’re both alive.”
Against all odds, despite his failures and mistakes, they’d survived.
“I thought I’d lost you.” The admission scraped his throat raw. “When I woke up in that ravine and you were gone—”
“I thought you were dead.” Her voice broke on the last word. “They threw you over that cliff, and I was so sure…” She pressed her face against his neck. “I couldn’t bear it, the thought that you died because of me, because of my need to prove myself.”
“Hey.” He cupped her face gently, forcing her to meet his eyes. “Don’t do that. You did something heroic, something amazing.”
“Something stupid.” But a slight smile crossed her lips. “But you came for me anyway.”
“I told you I’d choose you.” The words came easier now, without the fear of rejection—and the weight of imminent death—hanging over him. “I meant it, Cici. I know it’s crazy, but…” He forced his lips to shut, not giving voice to the admission that wanted to escape.
She inched closer, holding his eye contact. “I love you, Asher.”
Fireworks that rivaled the craziness of the past few hours exploded in his chest. This woman he’d secretly longed for since he was a high school student somehow loved him back.
He could hardly fathom it.
He pressed a gentle kiss to her lips, afraid he might hurt her. Afraid whatever this was would splinter and crumble. But knowing the truth, deep inside. “I love you.”
Who knew how she’d feel when this was all over? His feelings, though, weren’t fresh or new. He’d been fighting them since he was eighteen years old, or trying to anyway.
He didn’t want to fight them anymore. He’d walked away from her once, smarting from her casual rejection. He’d found her, then almost lost her.
He didn’t know what it was going to look like or how they’d make it work, but he’d figure it out. No way was he letting Cici go again.