Living with the Dead

Hope clamored over the body of one guard, then the second. The first was unconscious. The second? She didn't pause to check.

The air throbbed with residual chaos. Every pump pushed the shame of her cowardice deeper into memory, gone but not forgotten.

As she climbed to the roof, that chaos throb was like the faintest beat of a distant heart, that pulse coming stronger with every step, chaos reeling her in.

"Where is she?" Karl snarled.

"Put him down!" someone yelled.

"Oh, I intend to."

Hope threw open the door. Karl stood at the roof edge, one hand around Rhys's throat, holding him over the side. Two armed SWAT team members had their guns trained on Karl.

Rhys hung there, unmoving. He was fully conscious, just staying very, very still.

"Karl? I'm okay."

He turned. The Cabal team still shouted orders. But he ignored them. His gaze traveled up and down Hope, assessing, as if, should she be injured, he might not rethink his threat to drop Rhys.

The Cabal men – like good soldiers – gave her only the briefest glance, checking for weapons, then dismissing her. When they looked away she mouthed and pantomimed a message, telling Karl she'd come with Rhys, that he wasn't pla

He turned away before she was certain he got the message.

"So your plan failed, did it?" he growled at Rhys. "Hope was smarter than you gave her credit for. Outwitted you and escaped. Don't expect me to give you another shot at her. That's not how I handle threats."

Rhys's eyes saucered, a choked "wait!" burbling up as Hope flew forward, shouting for Karl to stop. He spun… and threw Rhys at the nearest guard as he lunged at the other.

Rhys hit the first guard, bowling him down in a shower of gravel and dust. Karl knocked the second one flying. Hope ran for Rhys's gun, dropped near the door. She made sure it was loaded with darts, then shot both the Cabal men. It wasn't as easy as it sounded, but she managed… after missing once and lodging a second dart in Karl's pant cuff.

Afterward, as she held a torn scrap of Cabal SWAT uniform to Karl's newly re-split lip, she said, "Next time you plan a fake out, warn me."

"If I did, your reaction wouldn't be nearly as authentic."

Rhys returned from dragging the second guard behind the rooftop shed. "I'd appreciate a warning, too, though I'll settle for not being used as a missile."

Karl shrugged, committing to no such promise.

Karl and Rhys hauled up the men on the stairs – both unconscious and given a second shot to be sure they stayed that way. Then Hope told them about the woman and the guard on the third floor, and said, "Irving came down looking for the guard."

"And?" Rhys prompted.

"I tranquilized him."

"And?"

Karl's head whipping around. "What'd he ask you to do?"

Hope touched his arm. "I didn't. Rhys says Irving will come back after us, and he's right, but that's when I heard you, so I left him."

"Good. You two check for more guards. I'll look after Irving."

"I-I can. I should."

"No, you shouldn't. And you're not going to."

He strode off to take care of it for her… as always.

FINN

Fi

He'd sent Damon on ahead with Adams and the man Robyn had called Rhys. But when Fi

Or, Fi

"Did you get her shoulder checked?" Damon slid to the edge of the seat and leaned over.

"Couldn't. She seems fine with it, though."

"Didn't I warn you that as long as Bobby's conscious, she'll say she's fine? She needs to see a doctor."

"And she will, as soon as we're done. That's her decision."

When Fi

"She looks good, don't you think?" Damon asked.

Fi

"She seems to be getting back on her feet," Damon said.

Fi

"Hold on," Robyn said.

Fi

She jolted forward, then gave a pained smile as she adjusted her lap belt. "I thought that would be less alarming than screaming 'Stop!' I was just going to say I recognize this area. Ahead is that bookstore I told you about, where we first saw the boy."

"Rhys's son."

"Why would he bring Hope -?" Her chin jerked up. "Hope was on the roof when his son jumped. She was trying to talk him down."

"But Rhys wasn't there."

"He's clairvoyant, remember?"

It took Fi

"He did. He said as much in the motel. If he blames her for him jumping and he's taking her back there now…"

"Direct me."

She did.

Robyn led Fi

"Is that the van they put Marten in?" he asked Damon.

"Uh…" Damon popped into the front seat for a better look. "Shit. Yeah. It is."

He parked at the far end of the lot. "Get closer and take a look."

When Damon left, Fi

"What are you doing?" Robyn said. "That's their car. They're inside the building."

"I know. I'm calling for backup."

"What?" She shot to the seat edge.

"I've just confirmed that's the van your friend Karl was in. That means we have a potential double hostage situation, possibly with two separate and hostile parties. I can't go in there alone."

"Fine." She grabbed the door handle and wrenched. "Unlock this."

"Calm down."

The moment the words left Fi

"I am calm, Detective Findlay. Calm enough to know that you're going to sit on your ass while my friend's life is in danger, and calm enough to know that I'm not going to do the same. Now open this door."

"I need backup. Standard – "

" – operating procedure." She twisted the words, wringing out a bucket of contempt. "Fine. You follow procedure, except on one point. You forgot to lock this door and I escaped."