"No!" Rebecca screamed, gathering Vakasa in her arms.
Davidson tore his eyes away from Vakasa and found a helicopter rising from behind the volcano. The Disciples' sniper hanging out the side, training for another shot.
Go to hell.
He brought up his rifle. He barely aimed. He let his instinct carry him. Let this one prayer be answered in full.
Davidson let loose the shot. It coursed upward, hitting the sniper's scope, shattering the tempered glass, then sliced through the sniper's eye. The bastard fell from the helicopter, dangling from his safety line. The chopper dragged him along the lava, then cut the line before it, too, was pulled into the magma.
The Disciples' sniper was finally dead.
That did not bring back Vakasa, though.
Brandt grabbed hold of the nearest shrub and pulled the statue they were riding on toward solid ground. Rebecca was putting pressure on the wound. It was bad. He had no doubt it was bad. But it had to be fixable.
He scooped them both up in his arms, lifting them from the onyx, taking them to higher ground. As soon as he set Rebecca down, she put her ear to Vakasa's chest.
"Start compressions," she said, breathing into the little girl's mouth.
Brandt did as he was told, giving five quick compressions, then pausing for Rebecca to give a breath. But in the next five compressions, he noticed that Vakasa wasn't breathing anymore. The blood was simply pooling by her. He felt for a pulse. None. He moved the fabric aside to find a mortal, a way-mortal, wound in her belly.
"Compress!" Rebecca demanded.
What would he say? No amount of CPR was going to bring Vakasa back. That had been a "shatter" round. The bullet had exploded inside of the girl.
"Babe, she's..."
His fiancee ignored him. Instead, she started doing the compressions herself, then breathing again for Vakasa. He tried to gently urge her away, but she shoved his hands aside. Davidson rushed over, but Brandt shook his head. The private sank to his knees, his head in his hands.
"Rebecca..."
"No!" Rebecca answered, shoving Brandt away. Why couldn't he see it? "She can heal herself."
Rebecca started more compressions. They just needed to keep her heart beating until they could get her to medical care. Then Vakasa would take over from there.
"Babe, no, she can't," Brandt whispered, holding his hands over hers.
Screw that. She kept up the compressions.
"She healed me," Rebecca stated, only stopping to give a breath. "She healed you."
Vakasa couldn't be dead. She just couldn't. But when Rebecca put her lips to Vakasa's, she could feel how slack they were. How the girl's body moved like a ragdoll's when Rebecca did compressions.
Tears burned hot down her skin. She couldn't give up. She couldn't lose Vakasa.
"You've got to let it go," Brandt urged, trying to pull her hands back from the girl. "You've got to let her go."
"No."
No. Rebecca couldn't and she wouldn't.
They all watched the monitors in stunned silence as Rebecca continued chest compressions and Brandt continued to coax her away from the girl. Thermal imaging showed Vakasa's bright-red heat signature cool to orange, then to yellow.
Bunny turned abruptly, trying to get a gun from Prenner's hand.
"I can't let you."
Fine. Bunny abandoned the quest for a gun and lunged at Emily. She grabbed the CIA operative around the throat. "How could you?"
The woman, though, only smiled sadly. "It was God's wish."
"God's wish?" Bunny repeated, clamping her fingers around Emily's windpipe. "If you hadn't-"
Prenner tugged on Bunny, trying to get her away from the traitor. "Can't let you do that, either."
Bunny stopped struggling against the lieutenant and allowed him to pull her back. "Guantanamo won't be good enough for you."
"Trust me," Prenner said, "she'll pay."
What exactly could Emily pay that would bring back Vakasa? Bunny spun around and faced the monitor.
"Stark, make arrangements to fly me there ASAP."
"With the eruptions and ash, it could be weeks before-"
"Get me there."
"Ya," Stark said, typing rapidly. "On it.
Bunny reached out and touched the screen. How could she care so much for a little girl she'd never even met?
God, how he wished circumstances were different, but they weren't. Brandt had been in the field way too long. He'd seen this type of injury way too often. He put a hand on Rebecca's back as she sobbed even as she continued CPR.
Lopez trotted up to them, a broad grin on his face, pointing over his shoulder. "Did you see that?"
Brandt gave a sharp shake to his head. The corporal's smile fell. "Oh shit."
"You two go find Levont."
"Levont?" Lopez said, his head swiveling. "Where's Levont?"
"Find out," Brandt growled. Davidson pulled Lopez up the hill. Although, Brandt didn't have much hope that the men's search would end any better than Rebecca's attempt at resuscitation.
"Hon," he said, putting his hand over hers again.
"She can do this," Rebecca choked out. "She's got it in her."
Brandt squeezed his fingers around his fiancee's. "She was just a little girl."
"Don't you dare use the past tense," Rebecca hissed.
"A brave, remarkable little girl, but a just a little girl."
Rebecca shook her head, but when she went to compress her arms, she gave out and crumpled against Vakasa. He pulled them both into his embrace. Rebecca's sobbing racked the both of them.
He leaned his forehead against Rebecca's and gave up the fight against his own tears, letting them flow down his cheek. They joined Rebecca's and, together, splashed down upon the girl they'd come to love.
CHAPTER 30.
Undisclosed Location, Israel Three Days Hence Davidson held Bunny's hand as their turn came to view Vakasa's coffin. It was a simple ceremony. A simple grave deep in the desert. Only they would ever know where the unmarked grave lay. Bunny had made sure that Stark blanked out all satellite feed of the area.
Lying in the wooden coffin, the little girl looked like she was just sleeping. That if he reached out, he could rouse her. That he could wipe the guilt away for not saving her. For not seeing the sniper. For not being fast enough.
Bunny must have read his scowl and squeezed Davidson's hand as she put a lily inside the coffin. Davidson put his own hibiscus next to Vakasa. It was the only thing he could remember about his own mother. How she smelled of the pink flower. It seemed a fitting tribute to the little girl who had saved them all.
Lopez followed. There really should have been two ceremonies today. One for Vakasa and one for Levont, but Lopez refused to declare the point man dead. "We need our drummer" was the only thing Lopez would say on the subject of Levont. So, for now, the point man was only MIA.
The corporal placed a carnation in the coffin. He leaned over and whispered, "Don't worry, RJ will know all about you."
It shouldn't have been like this. It shouldn't have been just them here. There should have been heads of states and a sea of people to grieve Vakasa. But that was kind of the point, wasn't it? Her secret needed to be buried with her. The world would never know the spark of her smile.
Then a bright light flashed in the sky. Davidson shielded his eyes against the glare. Was that a satellite falling from space? As the fiery object streaked overhead, commemorating Vakasa, Bunny nudged him.
"I think you're really going to like Stark."
Brandt wrapped his arm around Rebecca's waist as they approached the coffin. She seemed strong and all, but his fiancee had sat shivah for the past seventy-two hours. Rebecca hadn't left Vakasa's side for three days. Although, Brandt wasn't so sure she was actually mourning rather than she was hoping. Hoping against hope that a miracle really could happen and Vakasa would awake.
This morning, though, Rebecca seemed clear-eyed, not arguing or fussing when he reminded her that if they wanted to honor Jewish tradition, they would need to bury their little girl today. She'd just nodded and headed off for a well-deserved shower.
Now, though? To see Vakasa in that coffin? Brandt wasn't sure how Rebecca was going to hold up. He guided her forward, but she sidestepped him.
"Let me go last," she requested.
He didn't argue as he stepped up to the pine box. He wished he had something more to give the child than a yellow jessamine, the official flower of South Carolina. He wished he could have shown her his hometown. Brought her into his family. He'd had so many wishes for her, but this flower would have to do.
Brandt was about to move on, but the rabbi stepped forward and handed him a red rose along with a note. Without another word, the rabbi turned and walked back toward the waiting cars.
Opening the note, Brandt almost dropped the card. It was signed by Vanderwalt. The bastard hadn't even bothered to show his face after the girl's death. Probably just as well since Brandt would have shot him on sight. He was about to crumple the damned thing and kick it across the desert, until he read the man's words.
I would do everything differently.
Why the hell did tears spring to Brandt's eyes? Vanderwalt didn't deserve his forgiveness, but Vakasa would have wanted it that way. She'd already forgiven the MI-5 agent with her "aloha." So alongside his jessamine, Brandt put the rose and the note.
He moved aside as Rebecca approached. She seemed to want a moment alone, so he turned to look at the others as they grouped to the side. Bunny seemed five years older than the last time he'd seen her. Lopez was telling a story about Vakasa, making both Bunny and Davidson smile. Leave it to Lopez to lighten the mood.
A rustling behind him drew Brandt's attention. What was Rebecca putting in the coffin?
"I thought you said the flowers would be enough?"
Rebecca shrugged. "Just a few tokens," she said as she reached down and gave Vakasa a kiss on the forehead, then laid a lotus blossom on her bright-orange dress.
Brandt guided her away. There was no need for her to see the coffin lid nailed down. It was time to move on.
Rebecca leaned her head against the SUV's window as they bounced their way out of the desert. Rebecca kept her eyes glued on the fresh burial mound until she could not longer make it out in the distance.
Her eyes were dry for the first time in days. Maybe her tear ducts had just given out? Or maybe she was ready to say good-bye.
"Lopez, where are you taking us?"
"I know we are bummed and all, but you've got to see this." He drove them up a low hill, then parked the car. "Come on," he said, getting out.
They followed him the rest of the way to the plateau. Rebecca's feet stalled. The volcano that had erupted in Shiloh stood starkly against the dawn. Over the past few days, a weather front had moved in, bringing with it rain and cold air. The volcano's sides had cooled rapidly, transforming the orange magma into slick black volcanic glass. Not just that, but gold etched its surface. The veins running throughout the slope, glistening in the early morning light. Most remarkable of all, the Black Madonna statue, half-buried in volcanic glass, stood almost as a sentinel.
"They're calling it a miracle," Lopez said, nodding to the growing crowd at the volcano's base.
Brandt pulled Rebecca close, kissing her on the top of her head.
"That it is," Davidson remarked.
The others moved to get a closer look, but Rebecca stayed in Brandt's embrace. He turned her toward him, tilting her chin to him.
"Marry me."
Rebecca sniffled, grinning. "Of course."
"No," he said. "Right now." He tossed his head toward the volcano. "I don't want to wait. I don't want to go another minute without us..."