universe who liked her just as she was. She had found her life partner, her mate.
I love him.
I love him so much.
It was that love she had for him that spurred her into action. She had one final act of courage left in her.
She put the bomb and gas canister on the floor. The timer had ticked down to twenty-eight seconds. It was now or never.
Crying and shaking, she marched to the broken door and gritted her teeth as she pulled it shut. Her bloody feet slipped on the slick floor as she tugged with every bit of muscle she had. It slid into place, and she reached for emergency lock handle. She had just started to push it down, irrevocably locking herself inside when someone appeared in the small window there.
“Brook!” With panic in his eyes, Cipher slapped the window with his bare hand. “Brook! Open the door! Now!”
She stared up at him, taking in his handsome face and committing it to memory. Those dark eyes, the strong line of his nose, his square jaw. She wished more than anything that she could kiss him one more time. She wished she could hold his hand and tell him how much he meant to her.
Praying he would understand her actions as a vow of love, she forced the emergency lever down all the way. It locked with a clang, and he reacted with shock on the other side of the door. He started to beat on the glass. “Brook! No! No! Open the door! OPEN THE DOOR!”
She placed her dirty, bloody hand on the glass as if to stroke his face. With tears clouding her vision, she said, “I love you.”
His eyes widened, and he touched the glass where her fingers were. “I love you.”
Crying harder now, she nodded and stepped away from the door. Unable to look at him a moment longer, she turned her back and ran. Her gaze flitted to the timer on the bomb. Thirteen seconds.
She scrabbled over the bins of medical waste and reached the emergency ejection button. Not allowing herself to hesitate or second-guess her decision, she lifted the clear cover and pressed it. It took more force than she had expected, probably to make sure it was never hit accidentally, and then it locked into place. Instantly, the emergency lights in the room shifted to red. A ringing alarm sounded.
I don’t want to die.
She wanted to live. She wanted to grow old with Cipher. She wanted to experience all the wonderful delights the universe had to offer.
As the venting doors started to hiss behind her, her focus shifted to the broken hyperbaric chamber. An idea struck. If it still sealed, she might be able to survive the explosive depressurization. Maybe. Possibly.
It’s a chance.
She ran toward it, clambering over the medical bins and stabbing herself on discarded needles. She didn’t care. She ignored the pain. It didn’t matter. Nothing mattered except getting into that chamber.
She hefted the lid and scrambled inside, grabbing the handles on the inside of the lid and tugging it closed. She slid one lock into place, sealing the lid, before the venting door was blown from its hinges.
She was thrown forward in the chamber, smacking her head on the clear lid. Screaming with fear, she moved the second lock into place as the chamber started to skid across the floor. Medical waste bins whizzed out of the hole and into space. The bomb and gas canister flew by the chamber and bounced off the frame of the missing door before being sucked out into the cold emptiness.
Then the chamber was flying. She screamed again, even louder, and wondered if this was it. Something slammed into the chamber from behind, probably another piece of discarded equipment, and she rocked forward and barely avoided knocking her face on the lid. She started to panic as a strange sensation gripped her lungs.
There’s no air.
I’m going to suffocate.
Chapter Twenty-One
“Brook!” Cipher beat his hand against the window as she turned away from him and scrambled over the medical waste bins to the emergency ejection button. “BROOK!”
When he tried to grab the handle, strong arms wrapped around him and jerked him away from the door. He kicked and snarled, trying to free himself as another set of arms grabbed him. “Let me go! Fucking let me go! Brook!”
“It’s too late!” Raze shouted, holding him back from the door with Venom’s help. “It’s too late.”
“No! We can get the door open! We can get her out!” He