THIRTY
THE HELICOPTER LIFTED UP AND AWAY, A
little jerky at first, but Carlos quickly found his balance.
The first streaks of real light were swelling into
the eastern sky as the doomed city fell behind them. It
seemed so strange to finally be on their way, after
days of wanting it so badly, of working toward nothing
else.
"Nicholai's dead," Jill said, her voice cool and clear
over the headset. It was the first thing she'd said since
they'd taken off. "The Nemesis got him."
"No great loss," Carlos replied and meant it.
They fell into silence again, Carlos content to just fly
for the moment, give himself a chance to be still. He
was dog-tired and wanted only to get as far away from
Raccoon as possible before the missiles hit.
After a moment, Jill reached across and placed her
hand over his, and that was okay, too.
Jill held Carlos's hand as the sun inched slowly up
over the horizon, turning the sky magnificent shades of
pink and gray and lemon yellow. It was lovely, and Jill
found that, as hard as she tried, she couldn't feel sorry
that Raccoon was about to be dusted. It had been her
home for a while, but it had become pain and death for
thousands of people, and she thought that blasting it to
hell and gone was probably the best thing that could
happen to it.
Neither of them spoke as the sun continued to rise,
as the miles flew beneath them, forests and farms and
empty roads appearing fresh and bright in the gently
warming light.
When the sky flashed white and the sound wave hit
them a moment later, Jill didn't look back.
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