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.

human life, any

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

doesn't matter,"

Lucy, aren't you? I've seen it for a long

he'd been swayed by Esmeralda's announcement

in the way

Fleming didn't answer.

he didn't think the question even

locking on to something

the road. The headlights illuminated

a figure in the

rolled down the window and looked straight

A signal.

was exceptional-better than most. In that instant,

Jarrod. Elodie's husband.

hadn't told him Jarrod would be

Elodie and Jarrod were likely

flicking on the aircraft's signal

about to descend

the helicopter for what it was a domestic model from

Jarrod swerved toward the chopper, catching

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