Page 40 of Saving Their Forever

After a soft knock, West pokes his head into the room. “Got a minute?”

“As long as you don’t wake them.” I push to my feet with a groan and meet him just inside the door. “They’re keeping her overnight. Well, both of them.”

Concern darkens his blue eyes. “Just precaution, right?”

“Yeah.” I stare at the man who found me hiding under a bush after hiking for miles in the snow, barefoot, to escape Hell. He saved my life. Then helped me save Dax. And he’s been saving me on the regular for three fucking years. “Listen, about what I said…”

He doesn’t look away, but what I see in his gaze cuts deep. “If you want someone else to take over?—”

“Fuck no. I was out of line, West. I’m…sorry. You’ve been the heart of this team from your first mission. Not because you’re the best at what you do—though you are—but because you see us. Every one of us. There is no Hidden Agenda without you. Or…there shouldn’t be.”

If he walks away, I’ll tell Inara, Graham, Raelynn, and Wyatt to go with him. Because he’ll keep them safe. He’ll keep the whole family…safe.

West blows out a slow breath and, for a moment, I think I might see a shimmer in his eyes. “I was really hoping you weren’t going to opt for the ‘beat the shit out of me’ option.”

We share a quiet chuckle, and the tension between us falls away. “So…everything…taken care of at the Battery?” I ask.

“We cleaned up the mess. Austin ‘convinced’ the med tech to turn himself in and he’s being booked on kidnapping charges now. He already gave them a full confession. But…that’s not why I stopped by. Zephyr called. A message came in right before the power went out at the battery. But it got buried with everything else going on. She didn’t see it until she logged back on twenty minutes ago.”

“You going to tell me what it said?”

West rubs the back of his neck and shakes his head. “One word. ‘Help.’”

“That’s it?” I glance back at Wren and the baby. They’re still sleeping, and I lean my shoulder against the wall. I’m exhausted, but if this is the person who helped us, who looped the camera feeds so Ramin couldn’t see Dax and Rip weren’t still tied to those fucking chairs, who shut down the lights and the countermeasures at just the right time…we can’t ignore this.

“Yep. She’s trying to trace the message, but whoever it is…they’ve gone dark again.” He checks his watch. “I’m heading home for a few hours. If she can find them, I’ll handle it.”

I don’t know what to say to the man. This should be my job. Both because I’m the one who started Hidden Agenda and because I owe the mystery hacker a debt I can never repay. But nothing in this world could get me to leave this room. Not with how close I came to losing them.

“West, if you need?—”

“I won’t.” He shakes his head. “You have more important things to do, Ry. Watch over them. And for fuck’s sake, wipe that stupid grin off your face. It’s scaring me.” He jabs my arm, a rare smile curving his lips, and I think this is what it’s like to be truly happy.

EPILOGUE

Saba

It’s been almost eighteen hours. Pieces of the laptop litter the floor, but no matter how hard I try, I can’t fix the motherboard without tools.

My legs ache, and I dig the heels of my hands into the stumps to try to quell the phantom pain. But all it does is bring tears to my eyes.

I finished the last package of crisps before the sun came up. There might be more, but if so, they’re in one of the tall cabinets, and I can’t reach them.

The dead man’s eyes watch me as I claw my way across the floor to the window. Well, one of them does. The other…bits of it are still under my fingernails. He threw me against the wall when he realized I’d shut off the power to the facility. After he turned it back on, he kicked me so hard, two of my ribs cracked.

In his rage, he knocked over the table with the laptop. The power cord tripped him and gave me the chance to slam the computer against his face over and over again until it shattered into pieces and a shard pierced his neck.

The scent of blood hangs so thick in the air, I keep expecting drops to rain down from the ceiling.

Before the laptop screen went dark, I saw McCabe and his men fight back. They had love on their side, and my mother used to say that hate cannot win in a battle with love. I hope she was right.

I will not survive much longer. In the moments before I shut off the power, I tried to send a message to the hacker working with the Americans. One word. “Help.” But with the laptop destroyed, I doubt there was enough to go on to find me. If the message was even delivered.

Abdul-Alim—Ramin’s cousin—was supposed to kill me, then himself. I should have let him. I am not looking forward to starving to death. The door is locked from the outside, but even if it weren’t, this building’s elevator is broken. Abdul-Alim carried me up fifteen flights of stairs when he brought me here. The only other buildings close by are under construction.

The sun is high in the sky. It must be well after noon. A spider skitters across the floor. It doesn’t care about me. Does it know I will be dead soon?

A quiet click draws my gaze to the door. Is the building settling? Or maybe there are rats. I hate rats.

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