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“But what about the pass code?” I ask.
“You get Cormac to fess up,” Falon says, folding her arms over her chest. She clearly doesn’t think I can do it, which makes me want to hand deliver it to her.
“Once the protocol has been initiated, the system will begin the self-destruct process as soon as Cormac says the pass code,” Jax says.
“I only have to get him to say it?” I say. “That shouldn’t be … too hard.”
“Yes, but he has to be the one to say it. It’s voice-encoded,” Dante says. “It won’t work unless it’s him saying it.”
“Okay,” I say slowly. It won’t be as simple as raiding his office if Cormac fails to comply. “What if he’s not there?”
Dante exhales heavily. “We have to assume he is. He gave the order to destroy this sector from his office.”
“I don’t like the idea of Adelice running around risking her life if we aren’t sure Cormac is there,” Erik says. He’s finished with my arm and he squeezes my hand before he starts on Jax.
“It’s a suicide mission any way we go about it,” Falon says. She sounds like this barely bothers her. “You two need to say goodbye now.”
I know I’ll probably never see Erik again. I know I’ll probably die today, but I don’t need Falon to point that out at this moment.
“Falon,” Dante says in a low voice. It’s meant to be a warning but she rolls her eyes.
“What good does it do to lie to them or give them false hope? Let them have a minute alone.”
“There’s no time for that,” he says.
“There’s never any time for that,” she says. She turns on her heel and walks out of the room and that’s when I realize what’s bothering her. She isn’t as doom-and-gloom as she pretends to be. She’s angry with Dante, because it’s too late for them. They’ve spent too long fighting instead of taking a moment to be together.
“You know,” I whisper to Dante, “she’s in love with you.”
“Falon?”
“You didn’t realize that?” Erik asks.
“I don’t assume everyone is in love with me,” Dante retorts, bu
t his eyes dart toward the door.
“Go on, idiot,” I say, and Dante rushes out of the room.
We have minutes left to live a lifetime. We should make every second count.
TWENTY-FOUR
WE HAVE TO LEAVE TO MAKE THE rebound into the various sectors as quickly as possible, but Erik catches my arm and pulls me into a dark hallway, away from the people rushing to make the final arrangements.
“I have to go and get these people out of this sector before Cormac terminates it,” he says.
There are tears pooling in my eyes, but I blink them away.
“This is not goodbye, Ad.” He cradles my chin and forces me to look him in the eyes.
“You don’t know that,” I say.
This was a possibility. But now that we’re facing it I can’t quite catch my breath. The more I look at Erik, the more scared I become. What are the chances that we’ll both come back from this? I only got him back yesterday and now I’m losing him again.
I run my fingers along the faint scar where he applied my veil. “‘Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds,’” I murmur faintly, recalling his favorite sonnet. “I love you.”
“I love you,” he says with a smile, “‘even to the edge of doom.’”
