How a Dying Woman Rewrote Her Epilogue

The search area was enormous.

Fleming soared through the night sky, carefully adjusting his altitude to a level that was both safe and gave him a clear view of the chaos below.

He knew Elodie well. In a crowd, she'd stand out she always did-so if she was down there, he'd spot her quickly enough.

Smoke still drifted up from the ground, making it hard to see. Fleming frowned, dipping a little lower for a better look.

Adrian's voice crackled in his headset. "Fleming! Are you out of your mind?

There's been no order from command! You'll be held responsible if you keep this up!"

They were military, after all-discipline was enforced with ironclad rules, and following orders wasn't optional.

But tonight was different.

Still, there would be consequences for acting on his own.

Fleming scanned the ground with laser focus.

He felt strangely detached about the risk. He knew exactly what he was doing.

After all, Esmeralda had made herself clear...

He wasn't going to overthink it.

life, any disciplinary action seemed

since Elodie was a national treasure in her field-there was no way command would

doesn't matter,"

land the chopper. Only then did he ask, "You're doing this for Lucy, aren't you? I've seen it for a long time now-Lucy cares about you, and you always

Esmeralda's

the way of following

Fleming didn't answer.

didn't think the

gaze sharpened, locking on to

tongues of fire, he spotted a car racing down the road. The headlights illuminated

sharp eyes caught a figure in the

later, the passenger rolled down the window and looked straight up

A signal.

exceptional-better than most. In

Jarrod. Elodie's husband.

told him

and Jarrod were likely

flicking on the

about to descend

it was a domestic model from Elodie's own

Jarrod swerved toward the chopper, catching

Jarrod made a sharp gesture, signaling him to hold off and motioning for