Page 123 of The Rat

“My career? What aboutyours? Youdidn’t have clearance to put Rory in that prison. You went rogue,and when the chief inspector finds out, it’s your career that’ll befinished.”

“I’ll take you down withme.”

“What evidence do you have? Ithought it was legit, I thought it had been authorized, me and Rory were theunlucky ones that got used, and you can’t prove otherwise. We’llprobably get compensation.”

“Bitch…”

“Now if you don’t mind,”Sebastian muttered, “kindly get off my property. Iapologize inadvance for the noise tonight.”

Morris reached into her bag and passedSebastian a bottle of champagne.

“See, I’m celebrating witha pop…”

The cork blasted into theair, anddrink bubbled from the top. Sebastian took a long glug, then sighedin pleasure. Rory frowned, then remembered Sebastian’s words whenthey were inside the prison. The last thing Hamish would hearbefore his world comes crushing down, would be apop.

“And a big bang…”

Rory knocked his head back intothe house at the sound of the first firework.They went off like no displayRory had ever seen, hundreds of fireworks exploding into the sky.He thought of the barrels Sebastian had got his friend to store,the powders, the chemicals, and glanced back up at the sky. The bigbang wasn’t a bomb, but fireworks.

The sky lit upwith sparkles ofred, green and gold. The bright colors lit up the darkness, andHamish looked in dismay at the sky, then back at Sebastian. Hisgaze drifted, and he found Rory against the farmhouse.

Rorycouldn’t hear what words were growledhis way, but Hamish’s face folded with angry lines, and his lipspulled back with his furious words. He marched at Rory, butSebastian side-stepped in front of him. Morris took the bottle fromSebastian, then turned back to the fireworks.

Sebastian and Hamishexchangedsnarls, and angry expressions, and the strobe-lighting effect ofthe fireworks would’ve been amusing had Rory not been sophysically, and mentally exhausted.

Hamish walked away, throwingRory one final glare before getting in his car. Sebastian watchedhim go, gavehim a patronizing wave before jogging over to Rory.

“You okay?” Sebastianwhispered into his ear.

Rory shook his head,and Sebastianpulled him into a hug. He wasn’t okay, he was far from it, but withSebastian holding him, and him clinging back, he thought maybe, oneday, he would be.

Epilogue

Rory sat long enough forthe damp to seepthrough his pants. His knees were drawn up to his chest, and hiseyes were fixed on his sister’s name. The granite headstone hadspeckles of gold, and when it caught the sun, itsparkled.

He’d filled the pots at the baseof the headstone with daffodils, and the yellow brightened up the graveyard.Even during the coldest spells of winter, he made sure there wassome color by Erica.

Six months had passedsincetheservice and it was nothing but a blur in his mind, but he tried notto dwell. Sebastian had got him through it, and afterwards he wasleft with a hollowness he didn’t know how to fill. Sometimes itfelt so overwhelming he thought he wouldn’t get through anotherday, but Sebastian stepped in, held him together until he was readyto take on the next one.

Rory sensed Sebastian before he sawhim, and when he got closer, he looked over hisshoulder.

“Officer down, does herequest back up?”

Rory snorted,shook hishead, then got to his feet. He was still wearing his uniform, buthad loosened his tie, and untucked his shirt.

Sebastian tugged him close and kissedhis cheek.

“Did I worry you again?”Rory mumbled at his collarbone.

“I knew where you’d be. Iliketheflowers.”

Rory glanced back at them and nodded.He knew Erica would’ve approved.

“Ready to go?”

“Yeah.”

Sebastian led him away from thetombstone, towards the gate that led to the cemetery.

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