She turned to Jared, then. “You’ve got four in the upper floors of the North building, two behind the dumpster, four each on both roofs, and three on the ground, on your ten, twelve and two. I’l stay here with Nina. You go clean house.”

Jared smiled and turned to me. “Hang on, honey. I’l be back in a sec.”

“Have a good day at work,” I smiled.

Claire tossed him a few more clips of ammunition, and then he leaned into me, his lips pressing hard against mine. “Promise me you’l stay awake.”

“I promise,” I whispered, and then he disappeared.

Claire was beside me in the next moment, and she immediately pressed down on the table cloth.

“Agh!” I screamed.

“You’ve got to keep pressure on that, dummy, or you’re going to bleed out before we get you to the hospital,” she barked, taking a few shots behind us with her rifle.

I closed my eyes and shook my head. “Bitch,” I said, laughing when Claire did.

“Open your eyes, Nina! You have to stay awake!” she yel ed, patting my cheek.

I widened my eyes and blinked a few times. “I feel nauseous,” I said, swal owing.

She looked down at my hand on my thigh, both covered in scarlet. “It’s because you’re losing so much blood. I’ve got to cover Jared, but you stay awake!”

Claire pul ed a hand gun from the holster on her back and shot several rounds, simultaneously whipping a rifle over her head and stabilized it on top of the remaining wood of our make-shift fort. Staring down her sights, her tiny frame jerked back with each shot as large brass casings flipped out and over, landing al around me.

“Your SIX, Jared!” Claire screamed as she took more shots with her rifle with one hand, and intermittently straightened her head to use her hand gun with the other.

The bul ets no longer showered the restaurant as they seemed to be mostly out in the street. Claire repacked her guns on her person and grabbed the back of my dress, pul ing me across the floor. She side-stepped down the hal to the kitchen in a crouched position, and I swal owed back the nausea as I noticed the thick trail of blood along the white tile behind us.

She propped me against a cabinet and appraised my condition. “Yikes, you’re real y pale,” she said, leaning back quickly to look down the hal and then righting herself to reload her firearm.

“I feel pale, thanks,” I mumbled, my eyes feeling heavy.

“Hurry up, Jared,” she muttered, wiping my bangs from my eyes. I noticed, then, that I was sweating, my wet hair matting against my brow.

The gunshots were quieting down outside, with only sporadic shots fired every minute or so. I began to shiver and Claire frowned, concerned with my diminishing state.

The waitress was curled up in a corner across from us. She looked at me with wide, terrified eyes, noticing my leg.

“It’s getting quiet,” I mumbled.

“That’s because Jared has taken care of most of the people shooting at us,” Claire said with a contrived smile.

“Where is Jared? Why isn’t he back, yet?” I struggled for breath.

“He’s coming. Just hang on, Nina,” she said, distracted as she checked the hal once again.

I needed a more specific time frame. Worried about how much longer I would have to fight to hang on, the question fel short. I looked around the room and it began to blur and spin.

“You’re losing too much blood. We have to move,” Claire said, pul ing me to the doorway. She peered out quickly before leaning back to speak to the waitress, asking her something in Japanese. The woman pointed and nodded, whimpering back an answer.

Claire smiled at me. “There’s a back door. We’l pick Jared up on the way…let’s go.”

“I’l be right behind you,” I deadpanned.

With her rifle in one hand, she tossed me over her shoulder with the other. As if I weighed nothing, she carried me down the hal , took a turn, and then stopped for less than a second before issuing a damaging blow with her foot to a heavy steel door.

I could feel the night air cooling the warm blood on my leg, and I breathed a sigh of relief that we had final y escaped into the al ey. We had almost made it to the street when Claire froze and lowered me to the ground.

“Rookie mistake, Claire Bear,” Grahm said, pointing his gun. His nose was stil taped from where she’d shattered it with her elbow.

“Awful y brave of you to come alone,” she smiled.

I had seen Claire’s smug expression before, but this time it was different. She had an edge of fear in her eyes. She knew that I was running out of time.

Grahm turned to me. “I told you I’d see you soon, Nina. Looks like I’m not even going to have to waste a bul et…you look pretty close to death’s door. Such a waste, too,” he said, clicking his tongue in disapproval. “I was looking forward to spending some time with you.”

I held myself up with my hands, but my arms were quivering from exhaustion. I struggled to keep my eyes focused, and my lungs were having a hard time feeling satisfied with each shal ow breath. Grahm was right, but I would fight it; I had to keep my heart beating to save Jared.

“If she dies, Grahm, I won’t kil you quickly,” Claire said through her teeth, her voice quivering with anger. “You wil suffer…for days. Maybe even weeks…Hel wil be a sweet relief compared to what I wil do to you.”

Grahm laughed, pointing his shotgun at me. “I could end her life right now, but I think I like watching you squirm while we watch her die.”

I coughed, and fel to my elbows, my palms flat on the damp pavement of the al ey. The nausea became more of a promise than a threat, and the sweat dripped from my hairline into my eyes. Grahm planned to hold us at gunpoint until my heart stopped beating, and Jared would soon become sick and die. The rage wel ed up inside me and I gritted my teeth in anger.

I looked up at the barrel of the gun. “I wish I could watch what she does to you, Grahm, you sorry sack of—,”

“Now, now…” he laughed. “Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?”

“Do you even have a mother, Grahm? Or did you just come straight from the bowels of Hel ?” I gasped, feeling my life slipping away.

Grahm cocked his gun. “You’re sassy, Nina. I like that. Maybe I wil show a little mercy…not real y my style, but I’l make an exception for Jack’s daughter.”

I shut my eyes tight and waited, but the end never came. When I looked up, Grahm stood with his back arched, his eyes wide and bulging, staring straight ahead. A string of drool fel from his mouth as he fel forward. Jared stood in his place with a bloody fist.

“Nice,” Claire said, lifting my limp body from the ground.

“I ran out of bul ets,” Jared quipped, taking me from Claire’s arms. We surged forward, taking off so fast I thought he had final y sprouted wings.

I tried to focus as he lifted me into the backseat of his Escalade, cradling me in his arms. Claire jumped into the driver seat. “Rhode Island Hospital is closer, right?”

“Yes!” Jared cried. “Go, Claire, Go!”

“I’m going to bleed on the seat,” I mumbled.

Jared laughed nervously. “I don’t care about the seat…you just stay with me.”

“I’m cold,” I whispered. My body shivered uncontrol ably even against his warm body.

“Claire,” Jared warned, holding me tightly against him.

“Two minutes,” she said as the SUV jerked with a sharp turn.

“She doesn’t have two minutes,” Jared groaned.

“Jared?” I cal ed into the dark.

I felt his warm hand on my cheek. “I’m here.”

“Jared?” I cried. I was so tired, and I was afraid. I didn’t know if I was strong enough to keep us both alive.

“I’m here, Nina. You stay with me, do you hear me?” I heard his voice break. “I’ve got plans for you.”

I felt the Escalade screech to a halt and the door flew open. Jared scrambled from the back, holding me tightly in his arms.

Jared yel ed for help, and then a large group of people surrounded me.

“Sir, I need you to put her on the gurney,” I heard a woman say.

I felt Jared’s warm lips on my forehead and his grip tightened.

“Sir!”

“You promised me,” Jared choked. “Keep your promise, Nina.”

Jared lowered me onto a hard mattress and his hand squeezed mine before he let go. “I’l see you soon.”

I searched for Jared’s face with my unfocused eyes as the doctor’s and nurses’ voices blurred above me.

“Jared?” I cal ed to him.

“You need to leave the room, sir. Sir? You’l have to leave!” I heard as I reached out for his hand with the last bit of strength I had left.

When I rose to the surface again, the early morning sun was peeking through the blinds. I looked over to my right hand that was tangled in Jared’s large, warm fingers. His head rested on the hospital bed beside me, his face stil and peaceful. It was such an extraordinary sight to see him sleeping, so I let him be. I sat completely stil , keeping my breaths even, watching the shadows dance down the wal with the rising sun.

When the sun lit up the room, Jared stirred. His eyes blinked and he lifted his head, looking up at me.

“Good morning,” I smiled, running my fingers through his tousled hair.

“You kept your promise.”

“I always keep my promises,” I said, arching my back against the bed, wincing with the pain that ensued.

His face tensed. “You had me worried there for awhile. We lost you a few times.”

“Real y? I feel cheated. I don’t remember a single white light. My life didn’t even flash before my eyes.”

He pressed his lips together. “Leave it to you to joke about dying.”

“Are you okay? When that happens and they bring me back…that doesn’t hurt you at al , does it?”

“Don’t worry about me, I’m fine,” he shook his head both in answer and in disapproval at my question.

“How’s your shoulder?”

“Good as new,” he said, making a show of patting the point where the bul et had entered.

“Yeah…I think my leg is going to take longer than your shoulder to heal.” I looked down, seeing the thick layers of gauze wrapped around it.

He nodded, but his face was pained.

I touched his cheek with my fingers. “What is it?”

Jared shook his head, trying to keep the corners of his mouth up. His smile faded to a compressed frown and his eyes glossed over.

“Jared,” I said, trying to think of something comforting to say. I couldn’t imagine what he had gone through, letting someone else try to save my life.

He sucked in a breath and held my hand against his cheek. “I thought I lost you…,” he cried, his eyes closed, “...I thought I lost you.” His voice was agonized, and he groaned as he buried his face into my stomach.

I rested my hand on his head, unsure of what to say. He sucked in another quick breath and wrapped his arms around my hips, pul ing me gently to him.

He kept his face hidden against me. “I didn’t know what I was going to do…I begged Gabriel to take me at the same time. I didn’t want to live a single second without you.”

He lifted his face to meet mine, his eyes moist and red.

“I’m fine,” I smiled, sweeping his cheek with the back of my fingers.

Jared wiped his eyes and sighed. “This isn’t how I wanted to do this, but it wil do.”

I watched him with confusion as he leaned down to pick something off the floor. He sat up and placed a petite box on my lap.

It was a takeout box from Blaze on Thayer.

I giggled. “Sweet potato fries?”

Jared smiled. “Sweet potato fries.”

“For breakfast?” I asked, lifting the lid. It was empty except for a smal black box. I looked at Jared, and felt my eyebrows shoot up. He lifted the box and held it in front of me.

“Open it,” Jared whispered, wiping his eyes again.

I careful y lifted the lid, revealing a golden band. A large diamond sparkled in the center.

I gasped and looked at Jared.

“I exist for you. And I live for you. And I live to love you,” he paused. “Marry me, Nina.”

I looked back at the ring, and a broad smile stretched across my face.

Jared watched me as I stared at the glittering diamond. “Wil you marry me?”

I looked at him, tears overflowing my eyes. I nodded emphatical y and laughed. “Yes.”

Jared’s smile matched mine, and he took the ring from the box and lifted my hand, pul ing the silver band from Corn Island off, and slipping the delicate gold band onto my finger.

He stared at it for a moment in awe, and then leaned forward, touching his lips to mine. I wrapped my arms around his neck, crying tears of pure joy.

Jared smiled, triumphant. “We didn’t have to get through the nightmare to get our miracle. You, Nina….you’re my miracle. It’s always been you.”

Epilogue

I subdued my laughter while Jared washed the paint from his hair in the kitchen sink. He’d just finished rendering the bul et hole above the stove invisible; it was the last item on his list of things to remove, replace or repair since Shax’s visit just two months before.

Jared was covered in ivory specks, and I found it amusing that he was so graceful and agile; yet he couldn’t seem to pick up a paint brush without half the bucket inexplicably appearing al over him.

“What?” he asked, smiling as he scrubbed his hair with a towel.

“You look good in Honeysuckle Beige. I think it’s your color,” I giggled.

Jared tossed the towel onto the counter and walked to the couch where I rested. “How’s the leg? Need anything for the pain?” he asked, crouching beside me.