“I was in the neighborhood.”
“Seriously.”
“I told the CDC we had left somebody behind—close to where it all started.”
His response drained some of the excitement from her. “Oh.”
“And, we never finished our book.”
She raised her eyebrows.
“You know how I am about my TBR list.”
She laughed. “You don’t have a TBR list.”
“True. I have a To-Be-Listened-To list. So, I guess a TBLT list.” He feigned being deep in thought. “Just doesn’t have the same ring to it.”
“No. No, it doesn’t.”
“Anyway.” He held up the cell phone with the Audible app. “Shall we?”
“We shall.” She scooted over in the bed, making room for him. “I believe you know the drill.”
As he had done before, he lay beside Hannah, plugged one earbud in one of his ears and the other in one of hers, and wrapped an arm around her. The last time he had clicked play, the pandemic was still a brush fire in a remote corner of the world. The two of them had been only a couple of weeks younger, but it felt almost like a lifetime ago. Millen had grown up a lot in that short amount of time. He taken risks, handled new responsibilities, and learned what was really important. He wasn’t going to let her out of his sight. Not for a while.
“You know,” he said in a mock boastful tone. “I actually oversaw the first-ever patient recovery from X1-Mandera.”
Hannah turned to him. “Oh really?”
“Really. That patient turned out quite well. He saved you, after all.”
“Uh-huh,” Hannah said. She could obviously tell he was working up to something.
“I could extend those same services to you.”
“Oh, you could?”
“I could.” In a serious tone, he added, “Would you like that? Do you want me to stay?”
“More than anything.”
Chapter 134
The sun was rising over the island by the time Lin and Peyton reached the burned remains of the administrative building. The Citium search teams had brought out their fallen comrades and laid them out in a row, in body bags with clear openings at the face.
Peyton and Lin marched down the row, peering at the windows into the body bags. Near the end of the row, Peyton saw her father’s face. They had closed his eyes.
Lin Shaw knelt, unzipped the bag, and touched her husband’s cheek.
Peyton couldn’t remember ever seeing her mother cry. But in that tropical island forest, with the first rays of sunrise beaming through the tree canopy, Lin Shaw sobbed. Peyton realized it then: in some way, her mother had always expected her father to return. Lin Shaw had had one great love in her life, and she had never given up hope of being reunited with him.
Peyton understood that. Desmond was the only man she had ever truly fallen in love with. For the first time, she realized that she had always been waiting for Desmond to return. That’s why she had never moved on with her life romantically. Just like her mother had never dated after her father was taken from them.
With her hands still on William’s face, Lin said, “A long time ago, we bought burial plots in London. I’d like to bury him there. And I’d like for you, your sister, and brother to be there.”
Peyton nodded. She found it fitting. She knew now that her parents hadn’t fallen in love in London. That had occurred on the Beagle. But they had become a family in London. It was also where her father had been adopted, taken in, and helped to become the person he was.
Lin zipped up the body bag, composed herself, and turned to Peyton. “This crisis will soon be over. When that occurs, anger will replace fear. People won’t be focused on how to survive. They’ll want someone to blame—criminals to hang.”
Peyton instantly realized what her mother was telling her: Andrew was in danger. Peyton felt conflicting emotions. Her brother had created the pathogen that had killed millions. But he had been brainwashed to do it.
“I know what you’re thinking,” her mother said. “You should know this: Yuri Pachenko is a survivor. He was a young boy in Stalingrad when the Germans came. He survived by the strength of his mind. When everyone was dying around him, he learned how to manipulate people to his will. Every person has a breaking point, weaknesses—levers that can be turned.”
“What was Andrew’s?”
“Yuri threatened you.”
Peyton exhaled.
“And yours?”
“Andrew—and you. And Madison.” Lin paused. “If we give Andrew to the world, they will try him and kill him. Or imprison him. He isn’t completely innocent, but he’s not entirely guilty, either. When he realizes what he’s done, that weight will be a punishment more cruel than any the world could put upon him. What he needs now is to find his way back, to learn to live and love again.”
Charlotte, Peyton thought. Lin detailed her proposal to Peyton, then looked her daughter in the eye, waiting for her response.
Peyton nodded. “All right. I’ll do it.”
They rose and began walking away from the bodies. Lin spoke quietly.
“There’s something else. A month ago, someone located the Beagle. I don’t know how; I can only assume the location was somewhere in the most classified Citium files. Perhaps Desmond found it and told Avery. Or maybe she found it herself.”
“How do you know?”
“Rubicon sent a US Coast Guard icebreaker, the Healy, to find it. Conner sank the ship. I still don’t know where it is. I need you to ask Avery for the location.”
“Why?”
“Because of what’s on it.”
“Which is?”
“A conversation for another time, Peyton.”
They walked in silence again, Peyton deep in thought. Like a compass returning to true north, her mind always drifted back to Desmond. She feared the answer to her next question, but she had to know.
“Desmond’s not here, is he?”