Page 105 of Elusive Promise

"He says there's not. He wants me to leave."

"Then do it."

"Three minutes," Neil said. "Get out of here, Parisa. We're running out of time."

She heard shouting coming across the phone she still had in her hand, and she knew that both Jared and Damon would be entering the building soon, probably at the same time the bomb was going off. They would try to save her, and they would die trying.

She put the phone next to her ear once more. "You have to stay away, Jared—Damon. I'm coming down now. Don't come into the building. Don't get too close." She looked at Neil, giving him a sorrowful look. "I wish I could help you—the way you helped me."

"I'm sorry I wasn't the hero you thought I was, Parisa. Please, help Ben. He's a good kid. He's not part of any of this. His only mistake was to fall in love with the wrong woman." He looked at his watch. "One minute. Go, Parisa. I don't want your death on my conscience, too."

She hesitated one last second and then turned and ran toward the door. She took one look back and saw Neil get on to the ledge. He looked down at the ground and then up at the sky—just like the raven in his story. He checked his watch one last time.

"No," she screamed.

* * *

Jared and Damon ran toward the building. They could see a man standing on the ledge of the roof. The police stopped them when they reached the perimeter.

While Damon flashed his badge and stopped to explain who they were, Jared dashed past security and entered the building. The door had barely closed behind him when the bomb went off. He was knocked off his feet, his head bouncing off the wall, as plaster rained down around him.

Stunned, it took him a moment to stumble to his feet. There was a ringing in his ears that was shockingly painful. He scrambled to his feet, terror in his heart.

Where was Parisa? Had she already left the building?

But he hadn't seen her standing by the police, and she wouldn't have gone far.

He raced toward the stairs, leaping two steps at a time as he made his way past some minor damage, hoping that this would be as bad as it got, that the main explosion had occurred outside and far from Parisa.

She had to be all right.

The prayer went around and around in his head as fear rocketed through him.

This wasn't like the last time. Parisa wasn't April. Parisa wasn't…dead.

She had to be alive.

But he'd said those same words before, to no avail.

Finally, he burst through the door leading onto the roof. He stopped abruptly, unable to see more than a foot in front of him. There was a thick, dark, burning smoke in the air—the same smoke that had surrounded April, the same kind of smoke that had swirled around the World Trade Center when his mother had died. He could not lose another person he cared about like this.

"Parisa," he shouted, coughing as he inhaled too much dust. "Where are you?"

"I'm here."

Her voice rang through his heart. And then she appeared in the swirling dust.

"I'm here, Jared."

He threw his arms around her, holding her as close as he could, burying his face in her hair, needing to really feel that she was alive.

"I'm okay." She pulled back, looking up at him with her heart in her eyes. "But Neil's dead."

He nodded, his gaze sweeping her face, searching for any sign of injury, but thankfully she appeared to just be a little scratched up. "I figured."

"He jumped off the roof. There was no way to stop the explosion. Hopefully, his action caused the least amount of damage."

"I'm just glad he didn't take you with him." He framed her face and gave her a hard, grateful kiss. "You should have left as soon as you saw him."

---