him—
trying
to save him—only a few minutes ago when she’d tackled him and slammed the door. At least she’d gotten a little taste of life before going toher death. Of heroism, even. A taste of being something more than a slug or a gnat or a flea.
If there’d been more time, there was so much she would have wanted to say to Gideon. But there wasn’t more time. Gideon was burying his face against her collarbone, and counting off under his breath, “Three, two, one …”
Tessa threw her arms around Gideon and held on tight.
CHAPTER
15
Zero,
Tessa counted off in her mind. She flinched, expecting explosions and flames and everything falling in on her.
Nothing happened.
Um … zero … now?
she thought, still flinching, still holding on to Gideon for dear life. It figured that Tessa was so pathetic that she couldn’t even time a countdown correctly, that she finished with her noble, dying thoughts too soon and had to have one of her last thoughts be,
Um
.
Still nothing happened.
Tessa relaxed her flinch a little and tilted her head back. She could see the sunlight still streaming peacefully in through the window, lighting up the gold in Gideon’s hair.
He was still holding on to her, still sobbing against her shoulder, “My fault, all my fault …”
If there’s anything left of us to find after we’re dead,
Tessa thought,
people will think this is so romantic, us dying in each other’s arms.
But it wasn’t actually romantic. It was awkward and uncomfortable and slightly embarrassing to be lying there like that, Gideon blubbering out his apologies.
And somehow Tessa had stopped believing that they were about to die.
Tessa pushed gently against Gideon’s chest, pushing him away.
“Um, Gideon?” she said hesitantly. “Do you think maybe you might have been … wrong?”
He stopped apologizing and lifted his head and looked at her, confused.
“Look,” Tessa said, pointing toward one of the windows. “See any bombs?”
Gideon stared at her a moment longer.
“But—”
He shook his head and scrambled up, back into the pilot’s seat.
“You must have been wrong about the target’s location,” Tessa offered. “You were in a hurry. It’s easy to make a mistake at a time like that.”
“I was trained,” Gideon said through gritted teeth, “to never make mistakes.
Especially
not when I’m in a hurry.”
He was back to typing and tapping. Tessa crouched beside him and watched. The computer seemed to have gone into sleep mode, but Gideon brought it back to life. He froze the picture of the blips of light and the bombs falling over the
X
,and then he clicked on the
X
to get exact geographical coordinates. Then he moved that picture to the side of the screen and called up another image: the start of the video Tessa had first seen on her own computer in Gideon’s room, the one showing the bombs falling over the marketplace, with the mothers and children and babies dying on the ground. He froze this image as well and circled the numbers at the bottom that Tessa had ignored before. She stared at the numbers now and figured out what they were: the geographical coordinates of that bombing.
“That was why I needed to watch the video before, back at my mother’s place,” Gideon muttered. “I needed to memorize the coordinates.”
“Okay, okay, maybe
this
place and
this
place are the same,” Tessa argued, pointing at each side of the screen as she studied the numbers. They were identical. “But you must be wrong about where
we
are.”
Gideon opened up a smaller portion of the screen, and typed in
Give exact coordinates of this plane.
A lengthy string of numbers showed up on this portion of the screen. Gideon circled all the numbers and enlarged them, stacking them one on top of the other. All three sets matched exactly, down to five decimal places.
“Satisfied?” Gideon asked in a harsh voice.
Tessa shook her head. She touched the dotted lines frozen mid-fall from the blips of light
trying
to save him—only a few minutes ago when she’d tackled him and slammed the door. At least she’d gotten a little taste of life before going toher death. Of heroism, even. A taste of being something more than a slug or a gnat or a flea.
If there’d been more time, there was so much she would have wanted to say to Gideon. But there wasn’t more time. Gideon was burying his face against her collarbone, and counting off under his breath, “Three, two, one …”
Tessa threw her arms around Gideon and held on tight.
CHAPTER
15
Zero,
Tessa counted off in her mind. She flinched, expecting explosions and flames and everything falling in on her.
Nothing happened.
Um … zero … now?
she thought, still flinching, still holding on to Gideon for dear life. It figured that Tessa was so pathetic that she couldn’t even time a countdown correctly, that she finished with her noble, dying thoughts too soon and had to have one of her last thoughts be,
Um
.
Still nothing happened.
Tessa relaxed her flinch a little and tilted her head back. She could see the sunlight still streaming peacefully in through the window, lighting up the gold in Gideon’s hair.
He was still holding on to her, still sobbing against her shoulder, “My fault, all my fault …”
If there’s anything left of us to find after we’re dead,
Tessa thought,
people will think this is so romantic, us dying in each other’s arms.
But it wasn’t actually romantic. It was awkward and uncomfortable and slightly embarrassing to be lying there like that, Gideon blubbering out his apologies.
And somehow Tessa had stopped believing that they were about to die.
Tessa pushed gently against Gideon’s chest, pushing him away.
“Um, Gideon?” she said hesitantly. “Do you think maybe you might have been … wrong?”
He stopped apologizing and lifted his head and looked at her, confused.
“Look,” Tessa said, pointing toward one of the windows. “See any bombs?”
Gideon stared at her a moment longer.
“But—”
He shook his head and scrambled up, back into the pilot’s seat.
“You must have been wrong about the target’s location,” Tessa offered. “You were in a hurry. It’s easy to make a mistake at a time like that.”
“I was trained,” Gideon said through gritted teeth, “to never make mistakes.
Especially
not when I’m in a hurry.”
He was back to typing and tapping. Tessa crouched beside him and watched. The computer seemed to have gone into sleep mode, but Gideon brought it back to life. He froze the picture of the blips of light and the bombs falling over the
X
,and then he clicked on the
X
to get exact geographical coordinates. Then he moved that picture to the side of the screen and called up another image: the start of the video Tessa had first seen on her own computer in Gideon’s room, the one showing the bombs falling over the marketplace, with the mothers and children and babies dying on the ground. He froze this image as well and circled the numbers at the bottom that Tessa had ignored before. She stared at the numbers now and figured out what they were: the geographical coordinates of that bombing.
“That was why I needed to watch the video before, back at my mother’s place,” Gideon muttered. “I needed to memorize the coordinates.”
“Okay, okay, maybe
this
place and
this
place are the same,” Tessa argued, pointing at each side of the screen as she studied the numbers. They were identical. “But you must be wrong about where
we
are.”
Gideon opened up a smaller portion of the screen, and typed in
Give exact coordinates of this plane.
A lengthy string of numbers showed up on this portion of the screen. Gideon circled all the numbers and enlarged them, stacking them one on top of the other. All three sets matched exactly, down to five decimal places.
“Satisfied?” Gideon asked in a harsh voice.
Tessa shook her head. She touched the dotted lines frozen mid-fall from the blips of light
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