Page 38 of Control's Undoing

Closing it, he hesitated, gaze darting to the fan beside it.

Colum raced out of a room toward the back of a museum, holding a tattered French flag.He was grimacing and winced when the alarm blared again.

Xavier raised a brow, pointing to the flag.

“FromLes Mis,” Colum said, leaning in so Xavier could hear him.“It made me think of you.”

Xavier turned, unlatching the other wall display and pulling out the lace fan.Carefully folding it, he offered it to Colum.Colum took it, then tried to read the plaque below the now-empty display, but the interior lights were off.

“It’s fromLady Windermere’s Fan,” Xavier said.“A play by Oscar Wilde.”

Colum took it, carefully opening and closing it.“Lady Windermere’s Fan, A Play About a Good Woman,” Colum said, just loud enough to be heard.“If I remember right, the fan symbolizes the performative nature of femininity.”

Xaviertsked, stepping closer, until their chests almost touched.“Or the fan is Lord Windermere’s devotion.A sign of how hopelessly in love he is.”

Colum’s gaze slid down to Xavier’s lips, though the mask hid them.For a blessed moment, the sound of the blaring alarm, interspersed with a rhythmic thump that sounded like footsteps, faded as anticipation muted the world around them.

Footsteps.The thought niggled at Xavier, yanking him from the moment.He turned to face the front door.

A man had entered the building and was coming at them, gun raised.

Xavier froze, shock warring with disbelief.He was about to be shot.Worse, Colum was about to be shot.They needed to run, they needed to?—

A knife handle sprouted from the man’s eye.

Xavier’s mouth dropped open as the man sank to the floor, a thin scream escaping him as the gun fell from his hand.

What… How…

“No more flirting!”Annie yelled from behind him.“Let’s go.”

Xavier whirled to see Annie standing at the far end of the hall near a door marked “staff,” a knife in her right hand, duffel bag hooked over her shoulder.

Asecondknife?

Xavier looked from Annie to the man on the ground—yes, there was a knife sticking out of his eye—to Colum.

Annie just killed a man by throwing a knife into his eye.

Putain de bordel de merde.

Colum looked shockingly calm as he grabbed Xavier by the arm and forced him to move.They ran past Annie as she waved them through.Xavier and Colum stopped in the total darkness, panting.What felt like several years later, but was probably less than a minute, Annie appeared, pushing between them to take the lead once more.They followed her through the back half of the house and out into a tiny garden.

“You two okay?”Annie asked as she urged them down the steps.

Colum nodded, while Xavier just stared at them.

“Colum, can you climb that wall?”

He nodded.

“Go.”

Annie grabbed the flag and fan Colum still held, then Xavier’s newspaper, stuffing everything into her bag, as Colum hoisted himself up onto the brick wall at the back of the garden, straddling it.He reached down for Xavier.His shock hadn’t worn off, but he was no longer frozen by it.Taking Colum’s hand, he hauled himself up and over, dropping into a narrow alley.Colum passed him Annie’s duffel, then leaned down, and a second later, Annie was sitting on top of the wall.Xavier looped the bag over his shoulder and reached up to help her down, but Annie jumped, landing with perfect balance.

Xavier shifted his focus to Colum, steadying him as he slid down the wall.

Annie had her phone in her hand, and by the time they reached the mouth of the alleyway, a black car was waiting for them.

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