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Jonas paid no attention.

He pulled out the syringe, sparing only a single,ferocious glare for the woman next to Bethan. He would deal with her later, in whatever time he had left.

But something happened to his hand as he lifted it. It was like there were suddenly two of them.

He thought,This is how it ends. This is how it goes.

But he shook it off, fumbling to get the syringe into position—

Bethan’s hands were moving then. He would recognize her touch anywhere. Her hands were on his, keeping him from administering the antidote while everything was dimming all around him.

And her gaze was cool, green, and the only thing he ever wanted to see. The last thing he’d see, he thought, and he was okay with that.

“Stop,” he told her, though his voice sounded far away. “I’m trying to save you.”

“Too bad,” she replied.

And he knew he was dying because though her voice was thready, she sounded... amused?

He tried to make sense of it, but he couldn’t seem to focus past what he already knew. What he was here to do.

The antidote. Her. That was all that mattered.

“Jonas,” she said, his name like a bright, happy thing in her mouth. He wanted to take that with him. “I’ve already had the antidote. I’m fine.”

She pulled him closer, smoothing her palm over the inside of his elbow, and then she smiled. He would do anything for that smile.

When Blue laughed, it occurred to him that maybe he’d said that out loud.

Jonas felt a sharp prick in his arm, then a kind of buzzing sensation that spread out from the point of impact.

Bethan leaned closer, gripping his chin in her hand, so the only thing in the world was her face. Her gaze. Her. “I know you’re going to hate this, Jonas, but I just saved you. Again.”

Twenty-five

Things got very official, fast.

The authorities—city, state, and federal—were deeply unamused with the day’s events. Bethan and Jonas were placed under strict quarantine. The CDC descended and, forewarned about the escape from their previous quarantine, treated Bethan as if she’d been incarcerated.

“This is like prison,” Bethan complained to one of her nurses, a solid week into her quarantine, which had so far involved parades of doctors and long stretches of boredom and inactivity.

“You’re not dead,” the woman replied serenely. “I’d focus on that.”

Both Sowandes were also detained. Tayo was in a different hospital, where a team of specialists had fought day and night to save his life, and were optimistic he’d make a full recovery. Iyara, on the other hand, didn’t require hospitalization—but several levels of law enforcement and government were deeply interested in talking to her.

“It turns out she’s her brother’s research partner,” Isaactold Bethan, having somehow finagled his way past all her levels of security to stand there at the foot of her bed on the last day of her confinement. And apparentlyhedidn’t have to wear a hazmat suit. “She doesn’t have any official degrees, which is how she flew under our radar, but she’s his level if not higher. They do the work together and publish under his name. They never expected anyone to go after both of them at the same time.”

“She was supposed to kill me.” Bethan remembered that expression in Iyara’s eyes. How close they’d stood, with that clock above them all the while. She’d been so sure it was counting down to her death. “And he wanted to listen while she did it.”

Isaac nodded. “She convinced Carter that because of South America, she wanted her revenge on you. I don’t know how she made that sound reasonable, but he believed it. Let’s face it, he would kill anyone. For fun.”

“What’s going to happen to him?” she asked, though even thinking about that vile man made her feel sour straight through. He’d been at her sister’s wedding, plotting this all the while. She felt violated in retrospect.

“There are a number of agencies and individuals interested in the man formerly known as Judson Kerrigone,” Isaac said with an edgy sort of smile. “And not in a way he’s likely to enjoy.”

Bethan shared that smile. “It couldn’t happen to a nicer person.”

She didn’t ask about Jonas.