Page 81 of Velvet and Valor
I struggle to contain my breathing and plant my back against the rusted hull of a forgotten boat. Checking my corners, I move carefully around the foredeck. No sign of him.
An animalistic grunt reaches my ear, followed by a wrenching of metal. I turn to see a nearby hull toppling over right on top of me. Moorcrock must have pushed it. I don’t have time to think, just react.
I leap away and flop hard on my chest as the hull crashes behind me. Coughing, I drag air back into my tortured lungs as I scan for Moorcrock. I see him, running toward an even larger storm sluice than the first. If he makes it outside, I might lose him forever.
Moorcrock hears the scuffle of my shoes on the slick concrete. He turns and fires. I throw myself onto the concrete until he empties his clip. The moment I hear his feet running again, I get up.
“Stop!” I shout, pointing my own weapon. “It’s over, Moorcrock.”
“Eat shit!”
He turns around and throws his gun. It skitters harmlessly by me and I race up behind him. Why did he just stop?
I find out why when I collide with him and we both fly off the edge of the sluice. A twenty-foot drop passes by in an eye-blink before we slam down, hard. The wind explodes out of my lungs. I can’t even groan in agony.
Nothing seems broken. My mind screams danger, danger. Moorcrock could still be a threat. I roll off of him with effort, looking for any hidden weapons he might have…
My breathing comes in ragged gasps, but I stop struggling. There’s no point. Moorcrock isn’t going to hurt me. He isn’t going to hurt anyone ever again. His neck is twisted at a grotesque angle, his tongue thrust out in an almost comical fashion.
It’s over. June is safe. And as an added bonus, we recovered the stolen gems which should make Jax’s buddy on the LAPD happy.
19
JUNE
“There he is!”
I leap out of the police ATV and skitter across the plain of jumbled stones. Axel sits up and groans.
“About time you guys got here,” he says.
I grab him around the waist in a fierce hug. He groans again, but his arms go around me like a comforting blanket.
“I love you too,” I murmur into his chest. “You ran off before I could say it before. That was patently unfair!”
“I’m sorry,” he says. “I thought it would be all heroic and stuff.”
“Heroically stupid, maybe,” I say. “Thank goodness your friend Ezra showed up when he did.”
“Yeah. I see the police have arrived.”
“Ezra called them,” I say. “I’m just glad you’re safe. Why did you tackle him off of a virtual cliff?”
“I…was just really angry.”
“You didn’t know it was there, did you?” I ask with a sigh. “What am I going to do with you?”
“I can think of a few things—ow.”
We give our statements to the police. It takes quite a while and requires a trip to the station. There are a lot of bodies, after all. The police spend most of their time talking to Axel.
When we finally get out of the station house, the sun has long since sunk behind the horizon. It’s finally safe to go back to my house. I love his beachfront property, but it’s a damn long drive, and it’s damn late.
“So,” I say on the ride to my place. “You said you love me. I said it back. Now what?”
The streetlights paint his face with intermittent white while he gathers his thoughts.
“We stay together,” he says with utter confidence.
