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As he approached her, she shook her head. “I’ll stay here. There’s no need to be careful about what you say. You all can speak freely. Please, don’t tiptoe on my account. I can handle it.”
Nobody said a word. To make her point, she made her way to a sofa at the back of the room with the twins and made herself comfortable. Still nothing. Most went back to whatever they were doing but did so quietly. They were protecting her.
“What are you doing here? Are you crazy?” Doc Mendoza called out, watching the doorway. “You should be resting.”
Rainy watched as Relay limped into the space, arm wrapped around her abdomen, clutching her side, face covered in healing bruises and lacerations from the explosion and attack she had endured just days before.
“Seriously,” he scolded, approaching her. “Where’s your IV?”
“I took it out. The pole was too clunky to bring with me.” She shrugged and instantly winced, regretting the motion as she moved toward Rainy.
“That’s how we managed your pain and administered the antibiotics so all your wounds don’t take a turn,” he said. “It was helping you heal.”
“I’m good, Doc. If it gets bad, I’ll pop a Tylenol,” she said. “I need to be here.”
“Shit,” he muttered under his breath as he helped her take a seat on the sofa with Rainy. “If it gets bad, you get me. I’ll give you something for it. You sit here. Don’t move, got it?”
“Whatever you say, Doc.” She smiled as he walked away, shaking his head and cursing about difficult operatives.
Relay reached for Rainy’s hand. “Have they told you anything?”
Rainy shook her head, refusing to let her brewing emotions overtake her.
“Okay. Since I’m sitting this one out, I’ll sit with you and walk you through everything.” Relay squeezed her hand. “Deal?”
“I’d like that very much,” Rainy admitted. “I think I already know… They won’t say it, but I think…”
Relay bobbed her head. “I think you know too. I’ll start with what I heard come over the comms. I’ve had them on in recovery so I can keep up with everything and jump back in as soon as Doc lets me. You want to stay in here, or do you want to go upstairs where it’s more private?”
“I think I need to be here,” Rainy said, her eyes dancing from screen to screen. “I feel like I do.”
“Understood,” Relay said. “If that changes, you let me know.”
Ayelish and Ashlyn were next to rush into the Lair and quickly startled when they saw Rainy and the babies, which was quickly followed with what looked like relief. Hen had mentioned that they were on their way to her apartment with Killion –– they’d probably been concerned to find it empty, given what was happening around them. The two women checked in with their significant others, Wit and Hen, then returned to the back of the room, where they remained with Rainy, helping with the twins and offering support.
That was another clue. Support. Everyone was concerned about Rainy. They still hadn’t told her anything, though the images crossing the screens were very telling, Relay confirming every detail… each of those details fracturing her heart a little bit at a time.
Over a handful of hours, the information remained the same. There was an explosion in the little neighborhood market across from Watermark –– the one Killion was headed to for diapers. It was currently a pile of fire and rubble, and Killion was still unaccounted for. It wasn’t clear whether the explosion was from the inside or the building had been hit from the outside with some kind of air assault. They’d eventually get to those details, but it was looking for survivors for now. The rest would come later. Her heart continued to crack a little more with each update and tiny detail.
It had been an hour, maybe more; it was hard to track since the rescuers had managed to tunnel their way inside what was left of the market. As Keepers came and went from the Lair, they pursued leads, others took calls, and some sat silently waiting, just like she was, as the intensity grew. Patience was thin to begin with, but now it was completely worn, and everyone was on edge as they did all they could do at this point… wait. That was the most painful part.
The air shifted and moods fragile when a team of rescuers could be seen rushing to the entrance of the tunnel they’d made early in the night. Light could be seen growing brighter from the tunnel –– rescuers were coming out and Rainy held her breath waiting to see Killion walk out of the rubble, stubborn as ever, and push his way through the crowd back to her across the street at Watermark.
She’d moved to the edge of her seat and silently prayed as a rescuer appeared from the opening. One, two, three of them. They could see Cane rush to the opening, watching inside as more were about to exit. He’d been the only member of the family down there all night, the one representing them all, out of the way, while rescuers did their job. His patience had clearly worn too as he was noticeably swaying back and forth, anxiously waiting like the rest of them.
The light around the tunnel grew bright again from the headlamps on the rescuers' helmets leading them out. This had to be it. This had to be Killion’s grand exit. Three rescuers were out, and from what she could tell, only seven went in.
The scene grew chaotic as police officers grabbed Cane and held him back. He tried to break from their clutches but couldn’t. Something was wrong. Something was terribly wrong. The world grew still and silent. Everything moved in slow motion. It was like watching a movie, and the peak of the plot was coming to fruition, and everything moved in pieces, slowly, choppy as the heartbreaking punchline was delivered and brought a person to their knees.
The first set of rescuers emerged, carrying a black body bag between them. Death toll: one. Rainy watched Cane grow more aggressive, jumping, trying to loosen the grips of the officers holding him. Friend of BK Security and C.T.’s love interest approached Cane and waved off the two officers while she stood with him, holding his hands, and the last two rescuers walked out with another black body bag. Death toll: two.
Cane fell to his knees on the screen, and Detective Payne knelt with him as she pulled her phone to her ear and looked at Watermark like she was looking right into the camera straight at them. C.T.’s phone rang, and he held it to his ear without offering a greeting. He only listened. His stare turned to Rainy as his phone fell from his hand and hit the ground, and tears ran down his face.
Finn picked up the phone and began to speak, but Rainy didn’t hear a word he said –– she didn’t hear anything but a high-pitched ringing in her ears and the thud, beat after beat, of her heart pounding out of her chest. Finn fell over the table, bracing himself with his elbows, and buried his face in his hands while his body quaked with emotion.
Wit landed a hand on C.T.’s shoulder while Hen flanked him, arms crossed, and Wit began to speak. Once more, there was no making out the words, just the flood of emotions. When C.T. nodded his head, he finally broke his stare, and his head fell back as the two brothers’ heads dropped in defeat. Hen’s hands went to his hips as his body sagged, and Wit pinched the bridge of his nose, his head shaking in utter disappointment. C.T. went to Finn and said something in his ear that alerted him to the women sitting at the back of the room.
Rainy slid off the couch to her knees when Finn went to Ayelish and Ashlyn and her own brothers were coming straight to her. She held her hands out, waving her arms and shaking her head, refusing to hear whatever message they were trying to deliver. She heard a pain-filled, guttural scream over the ringing and heart pounding in her ears. It was savage and raw. She looked around the room, and everyone’s tear-filled eyes were looking back at her. Because she was the one screaming on the floor where her brothers took to their knees and met her, holding her, comforting her, trying to console an inconsolable pain. Her chest tightened, her head spun, and her world was suddenly numb.
