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.

any disciplinary action seemed

treasure in her field-there was no way command

matter," he

land the chopper. Only then did he ask, "You're doing this for Lucy, aren't you? I've seen

swayed by Esmeralda's announcement that the

nothing stood in the way of

Fleming didn't answer.

didn't think the question even deserved

locking on to something a few

fire, he spotted a car racing down the road. The headlights illuminated the windshield, making it shine like a

caught a figure in

later, the passenger rolled down the window

A signal.

exceptional-better than most. In that instant, he recognized

Jarrod. Elodie's husband.

told him Jarrod would be

and

reacted instantly, flicking on the aircraft's signal

about

already recognized the helicopter for what it was a domestic model from Elodie's own research base, with

toward the chopper, catching

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