“Let me see him.” She tugged on Marcus’s sleeve.
“In the car. We’re getting out of here. Now.” Marcus didn’t stop, he kept moving away from the blaze that was engulfing trees in addition to what was left of the buildings then. Kennedy jogged beside him, grabbing Knox’s wrist and feeling for a pulse. It was hard to say for sure given their jostling, but she thought…maybe…there might be something there.
And finally, finally, her own heart began to beat again.
When the three of them entered the clearing, the rest of the Shields sent up a combined roar that seemed almost as loud as the explosion that had ripped through the complex. It was short-lived as they piled into their vehicles and zoomed out of the jungle back to the obscured landing strip where their jet waited.
Kennedy shut off every emotion rioting in her core and focused on keeping Knox alive. Again.
They were an hour into the flight home before she felt comfortable enough to plop onto her ass on the floor of the jet. She stayed nearby the creamy leather sofa where Marcus had laid Knox out, still clutching his hand in hers. The whoosh of the oxygen he was on lulled her.
Marcus joined her, gathering her to him. “You did it, Kennedy. You saved him.”
“No, you did.” She looked up at him, then rested her head on his shoulder, suddenly too weary to move. “And you saved me too, because I couldn’t have lived without him.”
“I know.” He kissed her disgusting char-scented hair. If he seemed a little sad, he had plenty of reasons for his misery, not the least of which were the heavy things they’d done to shift the scales back into the favor of goodness.
It took a lot out of all of them. Kennedy looked around at the entire team, most of whom had crashed, including Sola, who slumped next to Aarav, her head lolling onto his chest.
Numb and overwhelmed, Kennedy let her own eyes close. There would be time to figure out how the hell to piece the wreckage of their lives back together after they were safe, in Middletown.