TWELVE

Five minutes. Maybe less.

Within five minutes, Sola and her grandmother were in the house, using the ladies’ room, and getting the kinks out. And two minutes after that? Ehric and Evale came through that back door like they had been shot from a cannon.

The two men stopped dead when they saw her, as if they were shocked that their request had been actualized.

“You’re here,” Ehric said in a strangely flat voice.

“Yes.” She glanced at his twin. “Where’s Assail?”

Ehric bowed so low, he nearly kissed his heavy combat boots. “Let me take you to him.”

“Which hospital? I’ll drive myself.” She glanced at her grandmother. “Vovó, let’s go—”

“I stay here.” Her vovó took off her coat. “Bring me the groceries from the trunk. I send him for more things.”

As she pointed at Evale, the man assumed a look of messianic zeal, and Sola debated putting her foot down. But Assail’s cousins had never been anything less than respectful, and besides, it didn’t seem fair to drag her grandmother to a hospital and ask the woman to wait around while Sola tried to inspire a dying man. That could be hours.

Evale spoke up. “She will be safe herein. Markcus and I shall protect her.”

If Markcus was the thin guy over in the corner, it was hard to believe he’d be much help in a fight. Then again, like Evale was going to need any? He had more guns on him under those loose clothes than he had fingers and toes.

“Okay,” she said to Ehric. “Let’s go.”

The man nodded, and as he headed for the mudroom and the garage, Sola glanced at her grandmother, giving the woman one last chance to change her mind. When her vovó simply went for the refrigerator to check for staples, Sola started off in Ehric’s footsteps.

As she passed by the guy’s twin brother, she said in a low voice, “She’s older than she thinks she is.”

Evale snapped a hold on her arm, stopping her. Eyes that were the color of a blue diamond bored into her like stakes through her skull.

“You take care of my kin, I take care of yours.”

Sola’s chest tightened, and in that moment of connection, she realized how alone in the world she was. She had never felt as though she had help keeping herself and her grandmother safe and alive—because she trusted no one, out of necessity. And yet this killer in front of her? He had just given her the kind of vow that made them…almost family.

“Thank you,” she said roughly.

He released his vise grip of a hand and bowed. And then she was walking out on legs that were wobbly.

In the garage, there was a blacked-out Range Rover she knew all too well. It was the SUV she’d ridden in after the abduction, and the sight of the thing took her back to that horrible night.

“Which hospital is it?” she said as she went around to the passenger side.

“You’ve been there before. It is where we took you.”

“Oh, right.” Even though she had few memories of the place. Shock’ll do that to a girl. “How far out of town is it?”

“Not far. But we have to pick up someone first.”

As she got in, she felt for her gun. “Do I know them?”

“Do not worry.” Ehric glanced over from the driver’s side. “I will not let ill befall you.”

Actually, that’s my job, she thought. But thanks.

Ten minutes later, they pulled into a strip mall, headed around the back, and a man stepped out from behind the mountain of snow that had been cleared from the parking areas. He was blond-haired and—yeah, wow, really good-looking. Wait…she recognized him from before.

As the guy walked over, Ehric stared across at her. “Please remove your hand from your weapon. He is our escort or we will not be allowed to pass. If he senses your aggression, things could get…complicated.”

Sola slid her hand back into view, but kept her palm on her thigh. “Who are these people?”

“Friends.”

File this under birds of a feather, she thought as she re-measured the blond’s enormous size. And P.S., why couldn’t she hang out with normal people who had normal jobs?

The man popped the door, bent himself like a pretzel to squeeze inside, and filled the entire back seat as he unkinked his bends. “How we doing, people? Hey, Sola, I don’t know if you remember me. You were pretty out of it when I saw you last. My name is Rhage, and I’ll be your deadweight for this trip. Please keep all trays in the upright position and the swearing to a minimum. In the event I get carsick, I will request a transfer to the front seat, driver or passenger is fine. And if the lady wouldn’t mind giving me her weapons, we can get moving.”

As she twisted around to look at him, he gave her a winning smile, his brilliant blue eyes so stunning, she was momentarily struck dumb by their color. It was almost as if they were backlit, somehow? But she wasn’t fooled; good looks and charm aside, if she didn’t pony up the metal, he was going to lose that easygoing facade quick as a camo sheet being pulled off an anti-aircraft gun.

“I’d feel better if I kept it,” she muttered.

“I’m sure you would. But then you aren’t going to my facility. So what’s our choice? And by the way, if we get in there and I search you, which I will, and I find anything you didn’t disclose? We’re going to have some problems, the three of us—problems that are going to be difficult to solve amicably. Have I made things clear enough?”

He smiled again. And waited, as if he didn’t care what her decision was, either way. Her choice was going to determine what he did, and he took no ownership over whether the outcome was A) “amicable” or B) “bust a cap in your ass.”

Ehric shifted in his seat and started handing over his weapons. “It does not apply solely to you,” he said. “And I trust them.”

Sola watched the show, coveting the man’s pair of forties. As well as his switchblade, and his—were those throwing stars? And a…

“Excuse me,” she cut in. “Is that a grenade?”

Ehric looked at the compact, palm-sized bomb in his hand. “Why, yes. It is.”

As that was passed back, like it was nothing more than a Halls Mentho-Lyptus being shared between cold sufferers, she knew she was solidly in drink-the-Kool-Aid-or-get-off-the-ride land.

“I really don’t want to do this,” she muttered as she got out her nine and handed it over. “I mean…really.”

---

Annnnnnd twenty minutes later, they were out far from the city and its suburban skirting, traveling on a two-lane road through a forest of evergreens, passing by yellow reflective signs with deer leaping on them and nearly no cars.

“Oh, yo! Turn this up!”

The man named for the Hulk’s primary emotion shot his arm out between the seats and hit the volume just as they slowed and bumped off the asphalt onto a pair of deep ruts in the snow and underbrush.

“—you’re face-to-face with greatness and it’s strange—”

Sola cranked around, and the guy took it as having an audience, flexing his biceps and singing to her, every word perfect and on pitch as if he had done this a million times before. “…It’s nice to see that humans never change…”

They began to bounce up and down over divots and dips, the music swelling as big-and-blond sang his heart out. “…What can I say except yooou’re WELLLCCCOMMMMMME!”

Sola blinked and looked at Ehric—who was bobbing his head to the beat like a dad riding tight in an Odyssey at carpool. As her brain tried to assimilate the Deadpool-meets-Disney extremes, it was impossible not to wonder why she kept falling down rabbit holes—although at least this one had a soundtrack she could stand. If it were Frozen? She would have killed herself.

Rhage tapped her shoulder like he wanted the attention back. “My kid loves Moana. We watch it all the t— What has two thumbs and pulled up the sky?”

When he got to the “this guy,” his leather jacket opened and she checked out a matched pair of daggers that were strapped, handles down, to his enormous chest. He had disappeared all their weapons into somewhere, and God only knew what else he was packing under his—

As Ehric slowed to a stop, she glanced out the front windshield and frowned at a decrepit old farm gate that was wing-and-a-prayer’ing it at the job of keeping anyone from heading farther on the lane. Clearly, they were just going to plow through the thing—

The old gate broke apart and moved in two halves out of the way, its structural failings clearly an illusion. And as they continued on, there was soon another…and another…and still others. With each succeeding barrier, the fortifications became newer and stronger, the ruse of no-security, this-is-nothing-special fading away.

Wonder how many hidden cameras are in those trees? she thought, as they slowed again for a twenty-foot barrier that looked capable of keeping a velociraptor in place.

“Are you guys with the government or something?” she asked.

The guy in the back seat was now busy singing “Can’t Stop the Feeling,” so he didn’t answer, but he probably wouldn’t have even if there had been low-level elevator Muzak going on—

Wait…something was wrong with the landscape, everything blurry, with the pine trees indistinct vertical blurs and the ground smudged to the point she couldn’t pick out the bald bushes or boulders or fallen trunks anymore. Was it fog? Except how was that happening in the dead of winter?

Pulling the sleeve of her heavy fleece over her hand, she rubbed her window, but there was no condensation on the glass. And leaning in closer did not help, either. God, the stuff was so thick, the headlights were illuminating a distance of no more than ten feet ahead. Past that, it was impossible to find any kind of focal point—

Holy Moses.

The last gate was a massive, military-worthy installation of concrete slabs, iron pinnings, and barbed wire. And as soon as they went through it, everything around the SUV became crystal clear again, the descent into an underground tunnel smooth over an asphalt road that had been professionally laid and maintained. Down at the bottom, a multi-level parking area appeared, and Ehric took them over to a reinforced steel door.

Yes, she thought. This was where Assail had taken her after the abduction. This was where she had been treated.

“We are here,” Ehric said as he hit the brakes.

Before Sola could unscramble herself from events a year old, the entrance to the facility swung wide, a blond woman in a white doctor’s coat bracing the weight open.

Sola recognized the doctor instantly, and that was when the trembling started. What was her name…Jo? Jules?

With a shaking hand, Sola opened her door. “Hey, Doc.”

The woman smiled. “Hey there, yourself. You’re looking well.”

Jane, she thought. They called her Doc Jane.

“Thanks.” Sola went over and felt an absurd impulse to hug the female as if they were friends. Which they were not. “I feel good.”

Liar. As the time she had spent in the clinic came back, she felt her inner Fiona Apple come on, all sorts of deep emotion warping her consciousness in ways she did not appreciate: She remembered arriving here, bloodied, bruised, and with a gunshot wound, Assail by her side. She had been seen by this doctor, assessed medically, and patched up. How long had she stayed? She couldn’t recall.

Everyone had been perfectly nice and professional, and all she’d wanted to do was see the last of them.

Doc Jane nodded a greeting at the men and then addressed Sola. “So Ehric’s told me you’d like to see Assail?”

“Yes.” She cleared her throat. “I don’t know how I can help, but…that’s why I’m here. Yes.”

Stammer much?

The doctor put her hand on Sola’s arm. “I’m glad you came. Let’s go down to him.”

As Sola stepped into a long corridor that was wider than a train tunnel, Doc Jane asked, “Tell me, how much do you know about his condition?”

“I know that he is dying.”

Ehric joined them. “We’re hoping that she will inspire him.”

“Miracles can certainly happen,” Doc Jane said. “And I am open to anything at this point.”

After the blond guy with the Disney tracks came inside, they went forward in a group, their footfalls echoing throughout the concrete hall. The men said a few things, Doc Jane answered, and Sola heard nothing of it. She was too busy looking around, trying to get her bearings, and praying that she kept her shit together when she saw Assail.

He had to be in really bad shape.

They went by many closed doors, none of which had any signage. And at one point, she could have sworn she smelled popcorn, like there was a mess hall or a break room somewhere close, but then the doctor was stopping.

“I want you to be prepared.” The woman smiled gently. “He’ll know you’re here, I promise you. Just talk to him as you would normally, he’ll hear you—”

“Wait, he isn’t awake?” Sola asked.

Doc Jane glanced at Ehric. “No. He’s not conscious.”

“Oh.”

“Are you ready?”

Sola stared at the door they’d halted in front of. It was such a generic one, the flat metal panel painted a soft gray, and yet her tangled emotions turned it into an obstacle course that was miles long.

Do it, she told herself. Go on. You drove for a day and a half straight to get here.

“This is harder than I thought,” she heard herself say.

“Do you want some extra time?”

What was really going to change, though? “No. I’m ready.”

Doc Jane opened things slowly, and at first, what was up ahead in the small, bare room didn’t calibrate. The hospital bed was expected, and so were the beeping machines, but what she saw underneath the thin blankets was not…

“Assail,” she choked out.

Stumbling forward, she caught her balance just before she fell, and then she simply stood there, unable to move.

If she hadn’t been told it was him, she would not have found one…feature…that was Assail’s in the patient lying, bald and shrunken, in that bed. His skin was white as snow, his cheeks hollow, his cracked lips parted as he barely breathed—

As Sola became aware of a pressure on her own mouth, she realized she had put her palm to her face to keep her reaction in.

How had this happened? she thought. How had he gone from being that healthy, strong man…to this?

Then again, cancer was a fucker.

“Talk to him,” Doc Jane prompted quietly, before raising her voice. “Hello, Assail. You have a visitor.”

As if he were a hundred years old in a nursing home.

Sola lowered her hand and tried to find something, anything, to say.

“It’s still him in there,” Doc Jane whispered. “The physical body may seem different, but the soul remains the same.”

“Oh, God…what do I say?”

“If you were lying there, what would you like to hear?”

I love you. You are not alone. I am not going to leave you. As her heart pounded and she felt sick to her stomach, those three simple sentences went through her mind over and over again. I love you…

Back when he had been healthy and she had been centered, when time had seemed like a river without beginning or end, it had been so important to keep herself from saying those words. Now? Impending death wiped out all that self-protection and that illusion of choice and free will, giving her a courage she had lacked.

Forcing herself to go around to him, she reached out to take his hand—

Frowning, she looked back. “Why is he restrained?”

“It was for his safety and ours—”

Without warning, Assail’s lids popped open and he looked at her—and Sola gasped. His silvery eyes were dilated so wide, there was no color around the pupils, and the sclera was red, as if his skull had filled up with blood and drowned out the white.

As he stared through the pain of his suffering, he began to pant, his hollow chest pumping up and down and his arms rising against the binds that kept them in place.

Sola took his hand and squeezed his cold fingers. “Assail? I’ve missed you.”

His mouth moved as if he wanted to speak, but nothing came out. Instead, his response was a single crystalline tear that formed in the corner of his eye…and dropped silently onto the pillow.

“Assail,” she begged. “Can you stay with me? Don’t go now. Stay here with me for a little while?”

She had no idea whether he could see out of those eyes, but the doctor was right. He knew it was her. He absolutely knew she had come.