His feet thundered down the hallway leading to the back of the stage. He heard the music playing over his heavy footfalls, a fittingly ominous, tension-filled song. Even as he pushed himself to run harder, Rico couldn’t help but think Jett had picked the song. It was sufficiently dramatic, perfect for a man who enjoyed putting on a show.

There were two men near the stage door, but they were paying more attention to their phones than to anything going on around them. By the time they noticed Rico, he was already shoving the doors open, quickly disappearing from sight. The music blared backstage, making Rico wince as he looked around hurriedly. He was hoping to find someone he could demand to stop the show immediately, but there was no one around. It didn’t help the music was so loud he could barely hear himself think, let alone communicate with someone else.

Through a slot in the curtains, he could see Riley facing the audience and grinning wide. Fury passed through Rico as he watched her nod eagerly at someone in the audience. She had set everything up and now she was enjoying her victory.

Then he became aware of the shrill sound of a bandsaw and his fury shifted to fear. As he stepped to the side, he could see the conveyer belt machine Jett had shown him. The machine was on, and one of the large boxes was moving its way to where the saw spun furiously. He couldn’t see Jett anywhere on the stage and the fear crept into Rico’s throat as he wondered if Jett was already in the box. When he stepped close enough to the point he was nearly on display, he saw a haze of magenta pushing its way out of the box. His throat closed as he watched the aura shift and warp, trails of it pushing its way toward Rico where he stood in the shadows.

Rico watched the aura for a moment, dumbfounded as he realized the worst-case scenario was occurring in front of him. Riley had not only been part of the original murder, but she had sealed Jett away in the box, sending him to his death. Rico remembered enough of the trick to know Jett should have been out of the box from the moment it started moving. As he watched, the box wiggled, probably from Jett’s panicked movements as he heard the approaching sound of death.

Without thinking, Rico dashed out onto the stage, waving his arms and shouting for the show to stop. Vaguely, he was aware of every eye suddenly turning to him in accusation. Ignoring them, he shouted up to the back of the house, where he remembered the sound and light people normally were. His attempts to stop the show were lost in the din of the music and he wondered if Riley and had intentionally made the music louder than usual to block out any sounds Jett might make while in the box.

Whirling around, Rico searched until he spotted Riley, watching him with wide, shocked eyes. Near her, was the button he remembered seeing Jett point out and he ran toward it. It was a set of two buttons, with the start button prominently larger than the stop. Rico jammed his thumb into the button, breathing a sigh of relief as he heard the saw’s shriek dim into a dull whine as the entire mechanism ground to a halt.

Riley strode forward, hate on her face as she shoved her palm into the start button. Rico looked up, preparing to grab hold of the woman and yank her away, freezing as he took in the sight of her. A wash of purple-red surrounded her, the aura was faint, the sign of her soulmate near but not near enough to smudge her features. As he watched, the edges of the aura trailed away, leading into the audience.

Confusion took over as he glanced toward the audience, trying to find the end point of the aura trail. All he could see was a sea of faces gazing up at him with a mix of confusion, anger, and fear. There was no one out in the audience he recognized, but as he thought about the recordings he’d watched, he realized he knew exactly who was out there.

“Tell Oliver I said hi, bitch,” Rico snarled at her, not caring if she couldn’t hear him as he jammed his finger onto the stop button again.

She might not have heard his words, but apparently, she had read his lips well enough. Her face twisted further as his lips formed Oliver’s name. As Rico watched, the aura around her body pulsed with sudden intensity. She reached out, taking the device holding the buttons off the table, wrenching it out of the indent meant to house the small device. Her fingers jammed the start button again, smirking horribly as the sound of the bandsaw whirled to life again behind Rico.

Rico grabbed for her, trying to reach the button. She was quicker than he’d given her credit for, pulling the controls out of his reach. But Riley wasn’t fast enough to pull herself away and his grip wrapped around her wrist. He yanked, trying to pull her to him to grab the buttons away from her with his other hand. His motion was cut off when a pair of strong hands wrapped around his free arm, yanking him back.

Rico looked frantically over his shoulder, seeing two security guards. “No, let me go! You don’t understand.”

They either couldn’t hear him, even close enough to grab hold of him, or they didn’t care. He was shouting like a madman, and they were preoccupied with trying to keep a good hold on him. They were both large men, but Rico gave them a good fight. Knowing he wasn’t going to be able to reason with them, he redoubled his efforts in trying to pull Riley toward him.

The four of them grappled with one another, Riley trying to pull herself away from Rico while keeping the buttons out of reach, the security men trying to pull Rico free of her, and Rico caught in the middle, desperate to save Jett. As they fought, Rico barreled forward, trying to rip his arm free from the men behind him in a last bid for the controls before the tug of war wore him out. Riley’s eyes widened further and for a moment, both of their grips were on the small device for the mechanism. The men behind Rico gave an almighty tug and their combined strength yanked Rico back, almost off his feet.

With a cry of despair, Rico watched the device fumble out of both his and Riley’s sweat slick fingers. For one agonizingly slow moment, he watched the device flip and twirl in the air. It plummeted to the ground in a clatter, the casing around it exploding as it collided with the hard flooring of the stage. Pieces of electronics flew everywhere in a small shower of metal and hardware. Even as his way to save Jett was smashed on the floor, Rico could hear the machine whirling angrily behind him.

His moment of weakness was all it took for the security men to pull him away from Riley. Rico caught the expression of triumph on Riley’s face as he was drug away by the security men. The fury from before reared up and he tried to lunge for her, wanting to wipe the smug expression off her face. The men behind him were expecting it, and as one, they pulled Rico back, dragging him toward the back of the stage.

As he was pulled, Rico caught sight of the conveyer belt and reality asserted itself again. Despite his desire to wring Riley’s neck in front of everyone, he couldn’t leave Jett to die miserably. Rico twisted in the men’s grip, trying to get them to understand.

“I’m a cop! Stop the fucking show, he’s trapped in there! He’s trapped!” Rico shouted, struggling against their grips.

As he fought to get free, an image of Chip rose up in his mind. Rico had never had the chance to say any final words and he’d never had the chance to save Chip. Everything had been chaos and confusion, with Rico unable to remember anything about the crash. Now he was left to watch Jett slowly glide to his death. His last words had been an argument, with Jett desperate to get Rico to understand, to reach out and soften. Rico had rebuffed him, had refused to let his guard down and trust the other man.

Rico had failed to have faith, and by doing so, had a hand in putting Jett on the conveyer belt just as Riley had been responsible. He’d had the opportunity to make things right, and he’d let it slip through his fingers. Worse yet, Rico’s chance to help Jett, to get him out of danger, was slipping through his fingers as he watched. If he did nothing, everything would be for naught, and he would have to watch as the man he had found himself growing to care was murdered in front of a full audience.

The thought sparked a cold fire in his mind, enveloping his thoughts, traveling down into his body. His struggles ceased, his frenetic panic and terror evaporating into nothing. His vision focused, and he forced the last traces of desperation to drain from him. Quietly, he reminded himself that extreme emotions and adrenaline would get Jett killed. Years of training and missions poured back into his conscious mind, and Detective Hernandez of the Las Vegas Police Department was replaced by Chief Petty Officer Hernandez of the Navy SEALs.

The security men continued dragging him, probably relieved their troublemaker had given up the fight, but Rico paid them little attention. Colors were bolder and lines were sharper, every detail passing by his attention noted and set aside. He remembered his backstage tour with Jett, mind flitting over everything with clarity. Rico’s thoughts traced the path of the box as it moved down the conveyer belt, measuring the amount of time it would take to get from where it was to the bandsaw. Finally, he watched Riley, seeing not the victorious look on her face, but evaluating the threat she could pose to his plan of action, then dismissing her as inconsequential.

As the security guards managed to pull Rico to the curtain, the former SEAL made up his mind and shifted into action. Each of them had hold of one of his arms, their other hands holding tight to his shoulder, their grips focused on his front as they drug him backward. Rico shoved his feet against the floor, pushing himself backward suddenly. As he expected, Rico felt their startled grips fall away as he darted behind them.

One of the men was quicker to recover than his friend, lunging forward to grab hold of Rico once again. Effortlessly, Rico shifted away from the man, grabbing his arm and throwing him in the direction he’d been moving. As the security guard hurdled forward into the shadows backstage, Rico turned, intuitively avoiding the next one’s attempted grapple. Rico twisted, placing his booted foot into the back of the man’s leg and shoving forward. Another shift, and Rico sent the second guard sprawling onto his front.

Free of their hold and knowing he’d bought himself necessary time, Rico whirled back to the stage. His breathing was even as he ran, hurrying to the box as it made its way down the line of the conveyer belt. Moving as quickly as he could, he grabbed hold of the first knot on the box, eyeing it speculatively. Rico recognized the style of knot and with a few quick motions, undid it. The next few knots came just as quickly and once enough of them were undone, Rico began to pull at the rope. He slipped his fingers into the seam of the lid, trying to pull the cover away so Jett would have enough room to wiggle out.

The shadows of the box were illuminated as Rico pulled the lid away about half a foot. Jett’s face came into view, dark eyes wide with fear and panic as he frantically stared out the space Rico had formed. Rico watched as Jett’s lips formed words, though the only one he recognized was his own name. There would be time to talk about everything after Rico had him free and he bent to undo more of the knots.