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Not the three choices offered to Deidre. Not the career, life trajectory, romance opportunities.
Just be here.
Be here, where Mary’s exercise hobby allowed her to save those babies.
There must be something huge in those children’s futures—something Mrs. V. saw aligned in the stars that needed safeguarding by the universe.
And to save them, Mary would be the sacrificial lamb.
Chapter Thirteen
Halo held the mic button between his front teeth. He bit down to open the communication channel and spoke with exaggerated lips and tongue to make himself understood. “Subject descending.” Halo edged the unconscious woman down toward Gage, who had taken up the position in the fourth-floor window.
Feeding the line through his grip as smoothly as possible, Halo worked to keep the subject from beating into the side of the building.
Halo didn’t take the time to assess the mother’s condition as he'd packaged her up for this descent. With face and clothes black with soot, Halo couldn’t tell if she was breathing. But flames were quickly engulfing the wall that attached to the balcony. If required, CPR would need to be rendered on the ground.
Nutsbe was in his ear, giving directives. “Halo, hold, hold, hold. Gage, get out of there. Move down to Thorn’s window.”
“Halo. Holding.”
“Gage. Moving.”
Feet braced against the bars, Halo pressed into his legs, leaning back to keep the subject in place.
The warrior goddess didn’t hear any of that. She’d have no idea what was happening.
Right now, her focus had locked onto the flagpole she’d climbed up and was probably calculating the possibility of jumping for it.
The bravery of that woman. Just like his team, she had moved in for the rescue with no sure exit strategy.
But what else could they have done?
The children were alive. Possibly, the mother could survive, too, if they got her medical help right away.
They still had some time before they hit the kind of desperate straits territory that would necessitate the leap from burning platform to flagpole.
“Halo, the fourth-floor window is engulfed. I need you to get your subject up three feet to keep her away from the flame while Gage gets into his new position.”
“Wilco. Tell me when the subject is in a safer place.” Hand over hand, Halo pulled the mother back up the side of the building.
“Good. There. Hold. Be apprised, Gage is with Thorn on the third floor. You’ll need to lower the subject down to them. The lines are fire resistant, not fire retardant. Make it a speedy descent.”
“Not enough rope to get her two floors more down,” Halo responded with a saliva-filled mouth. With the mic between his teeth, it was hard to swallow. “Working the problem.”
He turned to the warrior goddess. “I need that rope you have around your waist.”
She looked down, put her hand on the line, and then looked over to where she’d tied in.
“I’m wearing webbing. Connecting two like ropes is better,” Halo said.
She focused on him, unblinking. There it was again, that crazy sensation. A connection like he’d never experienced before, though he had been in many a life-threatening circumstance with his Commando brothers. This was something new for him. It had a strength to it. A conviction.
And as those thoughts formed, the woman rolled her lips in and nodded. Then, she turned to untie the hasty from around her waist and then the subject’s line from the bar.
While she worked to release the knot, she had to be doing survival calculations. With the rope around her waist, she’d most likely make it to the flagpole. Without it, her chances of leaping, grabbing, and sticking were about zero.
Halo was very aware that he was asking her to take a risk that he wasn’t taking himself. “Only for a minute. I swear to you, I will get you down.” He desperately hoped that he could live up to that promise.