Page 104 of The Blonde Identity

He didn’t even turn around.

“I don’t care.” He traced her skin with his lips. “Let me warm you up.”

But she pulled back. “You chose me.” There was wonder in her voice. And love. But absolutely no surprise.

“Always.” And then he kissed her. Like she was oxygen and water and life itself. Like they could survive there—on their little island of stone—for eternity as long as they had each other. They could make it. They’d be okay. She really thought it was true. Right up until the shots rang out.

Impossibly, Zoe seemed to hear them first, because she dove, dragging Sawyer to the rocky ground. She felt his body over hers, protecting her. Warming her. But she could see Kozlov and the second guard standing on the unfinished bridge. Bits of ice and stone flew up as bullets landed way too close. Maybe forever wasn’t that long, after all, she thought, just before a cry pierced the air.

Alex was on the ground, pinned beneath the first guard’s lifelessbody. Zoe heard her sister scream then watched her roll the guard away and shift and—

Suddenly, the guard’s gun was in Alex’s hand and Alex was aiming at the bridge overhead—not at Kozlov. At the bridge itself. And then she fired.

One after the other, the bullets pierced the thick glass. Zoe heard it crack. She saw it break. And then the bridge began to crumble and fall. A long, elegant line of destruction sweeping its way across the glacier. A lit fuse of shattering glass racing toward Kozlov and the second guard.

And then they were falling.

They were sliding.

They were gone.

The wind kept blowing and the snow kept swirling, but the loudest thing on that mountain had to be the sound of Zoe’s heart as it tried to beat its way out of her chest.

“I...” Zoe couldn’t get a deep breath. “Is it over? Did we win?”

“Yeah. I think we won.” Sawyer’s hand felt warm against her frozen cheek. Her skin burned and her throat felt like fire, but Zoe was alive, and Sawyer was safe, and Alex—

“Alex!” Zoe was on her feet and heading toward her sister when she felt Sawyer tug her back.

“Stay there, Zo!” Alex ordered, but her eyes were trained on Sawyer. “The drive! Did you get it?”

But Sawyer just smiled down at Zoe. “I saved everything that mattered.”

Zoe saw her sister start to argue—to roll her eyes and call them morons—but Alex’s scorn morphed into the world’s most reluctant smirk as she looked at Sawyer. “Hurt her and I’ll kill you. Slowly.”

And Sawyer said, “I know.”

It should have been over. It would have felt likeThe End, but Zoe realized that Alex was still creeping down the steep incline, closer and closer to the edge.

“Stay there!” Zoe warned.

Sawyer must have read her mind because he shouted, “It’s over, Alex. Kozlov’s dead.”

But Alex was shaking her head. “Kozlov’s network is alive and well.”

“It’s over,” Sawyer tried again. “You can come in. There’s a CIA mole at the bottom of the mountain along with the man he was working for. No one will suspect you now. Come in. It’s over.”

She turned, wind in her hair. “It’s over when I get that drive back.”

Sawyer lunged and Zoe screamed, “No!” But the word was nothing but an echo as Alex ran and leapt—arms and legs spread wide. Hanging on the air—weightless on the wind—before she reached for the little loop on her vest and tugged. A parachute sprang free a moment later and all Zoe could do was watch as her sister faded, disappearing into the clouds.

***

Sawyer dropped to the rocks beside her, both of them breathing hard in the high altitude and thin air, both of them looking like they weren’t sure whether they should laugh or cry. But Zoe knew better.

“Are you okay?” His hands were running over her face and her neck. His hands were everywhere.

“I’m fine.”

---