Chapter 46
46
The helicopter touched down about a hundred yards from where the mercenaries had taken their stand. At some point—it was all a blur to Ani—they’d stopped firing and run for their own helicopter, which was painted in camouflage and hidden at the edge of the forest.
A soldier had climbed out of a crack in the ground—there must be a tunnel under there—and fired at them as they ran. With surprise on his side, he’d brought them all down.
Now the four mercenaries were in custody, hands tied behind their backs, sitting on the ground about halfway to their helicopter.
“We’re not saying a fucking thing until we have lawyers,” Ani heard one of them growl as she limped across the field.
“The number’s in my pocket,” said the other. “Best legal rep money can buy.”
“You’re going to need it.” Sergeant Thomson gazed down at the two of them, her hands on her hips. “If you think the people in charge of this thing won’t toss you to the wolves, you’re even stupider than I thought.”
Ani shaded her eyes to gaze through the mist. Was that a group of people emerging from the trees about two hundred yards away? It was! Young people…they must be the Wilderness Alive group…alive and well!
As they came closer, she recognized Nyx, Lachlan, and Sam all helping shepherd the kids along.
But no Gil.
She ran as fast as she could toward them, though her hip was aching from being cramped in the helicopter for so long. “Where’s Gil?”
“He’s still inside the cave. He’s probably trying to find the virus canister,” said Nyx. “Corporal Walters is there too. Oh wait. He’s here.” He gestured toward the soldier now standing guard over the four mercenaries. “I guess it’s just Gil down there.”
Ani met Lachlan’s gaze. He was slimmer than Gil, with a lean build and shaggy brown hair, but there was no mistaking his resemblance to his brother. He looked just as worried as she felt. “I’ll go back and find him,” he said.
“I’m coming with you.”
“No, he’d want you to stay safe.” Lachlan’s green eyes were so much like Gil’s that her heart flipped over. “Even if he wasn’t in love with you, he’d want that.”
In love. The words ricocheted through her heart like a bell chiming. In love. I’m in love. We’re in love.
“He might be hurt. I’m coming with you,” she said firmly. “Just lead the way.”
Sergeant Thomson jogged over to them. “Sam, can you take some kids back to town in your plane? We don’t have enough space in the helicopter. More are on the way, but I’d like to get this airlift going asap.”
“Of course,” said Sam. He met Ani’s gaze. “You let me know if you need anything.”
She nodded and was about to follow after Lachlan when Thomson stopped her. “Can you do a quickie checkup on these kids before we load them up?”
Gil. Gil. Gil. The need to see him, to make sure he was okay, drummed through her blood. But how could she turn her back on teenagers who’d just been through an ordeal?
She met Lachlan’s gaze in a silent plea. “I’ll find him,” he assured her. “You take care of these kids.” He loped off toward the grove of trees from where they’d all emerged.
Ani loved Gil, but right now she was pretty damn fond of Lachlan too.
It wasn’t until she’d given each of the kids a quick but thorough checkup that she realized that Victor Canseco was still nowhere to be seen. And then her heart stopped, as Lachlan came running from the forest. Alone.
When Gil opened his eyes, the best sight in the world greeted him. Ani’s tender smile and radiant dark eyes. “Ani…”
“I’m here. I’m not leaving you.” She was crouched next to him on the cold floor of the cave. He looked around and saw no one else. The guards must have been taken into custody.
“What happened?”
“I don’t know. Lachlan found you like this, and came and got me. I sent him back to get a gurney.”
“You…” He swallowed through the tightness of his throat. “You’re okay?”
“I’m okay. Just worried about you.”
“The mercenaries?”
“Under arrest, at least the ones that are here. Nyx says they’re working for a consortium called New Frontiers, but none of them are talking.”
“The kids?”
“They’re safe. Thomson is coordinating an airlift to get them all out. Smart of you to bring Sam along.”
His head was throbbing. There was something he was supposed to know, something he’d learned right before he got knocked out.
He struggled to sit up, and she helped him. Her soft hair brushed against his cheek. It felt like heaven. “Have they found Victor?”
“No. Maybe he managed to slip away from them. We haven’t seen him.”
He remembered something else. “You said you met Lachlan?”
“Yes.” She flushed slightly. “He seemed to know who I was already.”
“That’s because I told him about you.”
“You did?”
“Oh yes. But he already knew you were important. He knows me. He knows I’ve never been in love with a woman before, not like this.”
Her eyes shone into his. A drop of chilly water dripped from the cave’s ceiling onto her hair. It looked like a jewel.
“He probably knows I want to marry you.” Quickly, he added, “If you’re not ready to get married, if you need more time, or if you never want to get married, that’s fine. I just want to be with you. And Ani?—”
“I might not be able to have kids,” she blurted. “I just want you to know that before you go too far.”
“There is no going too far. I love you. I will love you forever. That’s how I’m built. We can figure the rest out later, one step at a time.”
Her beautiful dark eyes filled with tears. “I love you too,” she whispered. “But what you said, about the family line…”
“Fuck that. Lachlan can step up. Or not. I don’t even care about that family line shit. I care about you and Lachlan and a few other people out there. I’d like to have a family, but how we get there doesn’t matter. Besides that, I care about protecting people from harm and being a good person, and really that’s all I need in life.”
She dropped her forehead against his. The contact sent energy rushing through him. He tilted his head back to claim her mouth. The kiss sealed their words into his heart and the world settled into place. Him and Ani. This was it. For good. The end.
And even though he was knocked flat on his ass in an ice cave, it was such a beautiful ending that it made every lonely moment on the way worth it.
Something prickled his nostrils, pulling him from that perfect moment. He sniffed the air.
Smoke.
He scrambled to his feet, remembering what he’d seen right before something had knocked him out. “Victor,” he shouted. “Are you back there?”
A tendril of smoke curled through a pile of rocks. “Just go…” came a weak voice from behind the rocks.
“What are you doing? You aren’t dumping the virus, are you?”
“No! God, no! I have to fix this.”
Gil exchanged a quick glance with Ani, who looked horror-stricken as she realized what was happening—that Victor had started a fire in there.
He reached a hand to help her up. “Victor, come with us. Let’s get out of here.”
“I can’t. I’m ashamed. I don’t know who I am anymore.” His heartbreaking wail echoed through the cave. Ani’s eyes went wide with dismay and she clutched at Gil’s hand.
“Victor,” she called. “It’s Ani. Listen to me. I know that feeling, when you don’t know who you are anymore. Sometimes life feels that way. But you can find your way through, I promise. If I can, you can.”
“You don’t understand. It was me. I did all this. It’s all my fault. They released the omegavirus to threaten me. They held those kids hostage because of me. They almost got my Milagrosporos . They stuck me back here because they thought I’d keep it all safe. But they’re wrong. I have to fix this.”
The smoke was getting thicker. Victor must be setting fire to his research, his samples, the equipment, everything.
Gil wondered if he should climb over those rocks and physically manhandle the scientist out of there. But he wasn’t sure he had the strength at this point.
“It wasn’t just you.” He coughed and waved smoke away from his face. “Nyx said it was the Milagrosporos affecting you. It gives you delusions, makes you paranoid.”
“Paranoid?” Victor asked after a pause.
“Yes. That’s why you didn’t trust anyone.”
“You’re lying .”
“No. I swear to you on…” He cast around for something Victor would believe. “On my twin brother’s life. I’m telling you the truth. You can’t trust yourself right now. You aren’t thinking clearly.”
“Then who can I trust?” Another heart-wrenching wail.
“Trust your training,” said Ani. She broke off into a fit of coughing. The smoke was intensifying. They had to get out of here. Right now. “The only way to fight it is to learn more. You’re a scientist, and you can do that work. But only if you come out of there. What does your training say?”
“Study. Test. Reproduce the results.”
“So come out and do that. We need you to be a scientist. A real scientist. Come on, Victor. Get out of there. Now.” Gil put all the authority he could into his voice.
A moment passed, then another. Gil pulled Ani toward the crack in the rock, their closest exit from this damn cave.
“We’re going, Victor,” he yelled.
The smoke was so thick he could barely see the outline of a figure when Victor finally climbed through the gap in the rocks. Relief rushed through him.
But they were out of time. They had to leave. Ani was coughing badly now, and his first responsibility, forevermore, was to her—and to any little ones who might join them. One more time, he swooped Ani into his arms and carried her to safety.