Day 7
As they returned to the control room, they stayed close together, laughing softly, touching constantly. He spent the entire taxi ride – short as it was – with his mouth at her ear, murmuring sweet things. Getting out of the taxi, before she could open the door of the hangar, he pushed her up against it and kissed her, kissed her, kissed her until she was breathless. When they finally walked through the door, holding hands, Nairobi took one look at them and grinned broadly.
"So, did you have a good… talk?"
"Yes", Raquel smiled. "We really did."
"Best talk of my life", Sergio mumbled, then turned slightly red with an embarrassed grin as the two women laughed, and Raquel reached up to kiss him again.
Nairobi shook her head with an expression of amused satisfaction. "You two really are disgustingly cute."
"I know", Raquel said happily, not taking her eyes off Sergio, who was giving her a warm smile.
Nairobi snapped her fingers. "Hello, earth to the love birds. Not to burst your bubble or anything, but you still have a heist to run."
"Right", Raquel said, shaking herself and stepping away from Sergio, who cleared his throat and pushed his glasses up his nose.
"How did everything go, Nairobi?" he asked.
"Oh, fine", she said. "The cop gave me no trouble, she's still sleeping. But I don't know how the both of you haven't died of boredom yet, staring at these screens all day."
She saw them exchange a glance and she snorted. "Though I'm guessing you've found ways to keep each other entertained."
"Thank you for keeping an eye on things while we were gone", Raquel said.
"You're welcome", Nairobi said, getting up. "I'll get back to my presses now, you can take over again." Then she threw them a sharp look. "You are going to watch the screens, right? Or are you going straight back to kissing when I'm gone?"
"We'll watch the screens", Raquel assured her. "Don't worry."
"We can control ourselves", Sergio said with dignity.
"Hmm", Nairobi said, raising a finger in mock warning. "You better. Because if I die in a hostage rebellion because you two were sitting here making googly eyes at each other, I will come back to haunt you."
Sergio sat down at the desk while Raquel walked Nairobi to the entrance of the tunnel, where she gave her a warm hug.
"Thank you", Raquel whispered.
Nairobi chuckled and patted her on the back. "Anytime. I didn't get you two together only to see you fall apart now."
…
Raquel felt much better throughout the morning. Berlin's words still echoed through her mind sporadically, and she still felt a small stab of unease whenever she saw Sergio talk to Elena, but it was all much more manageable now. She decided not to bother him with her insecurities – not while they were running such a massive operation – not when they would be out of here in a few days and everything would change anyway. Once they started their lives together, they would soon enough find out if they were truly compatible, if they would have anything to talk about. She'd just have to wait and see, so she pushed her fears aside and focused on getting this heist done.
Sergio spent the entirety of lunch trying to persuade Elena to come over to his way of thinking, but to Raquel's delight, she wouldn't budge. After about half an hour, Sergio came over to her and sat down next to her at the desk, heaving a frustrated sigh.
"I just can't change her mind. She's so stubborn."
"Hmm", Raquel said. "Not unlike someone else I know."
He looked up in surprise. "I'm not stubborn."
"Hmm", she said again. "Why do you want to persuade her so badly?"
"Because I'm right."
"So?"
"I need her to see that!"
"Why?"
"Because… because then I've won."
"I don't think she's going to let you win though."
"Of course she won't let me, that's the challenge!"
"You're getting nowhere."
"I will! I'm sure of it."
"I think you should just give up."
"Never", he smiled. "There has to be a way in with her, and I'll find it."
"I see", she said lightly.
"See what?"
She grinned at him. "That you're not stubborn."
He laughed and leaned in to kiss her. Then he nodded at the radio and asked:
"How is Angel doing over there?"
"Okay", she frowned. "But this is the first time he's leading an operation like this and I'm afraid he'll want to prove himself. I think it's time we let him discover the house in Toledo so he'll be distracted for a few days. He has to feel like he's getting somewhere or he might do something stupid."
"Alright", Sergio nodded. "I'll lead him to Toledo, then."
He picked up the phone and followed the script they'd prepared for this moment, gradually steering the talk in such a way that he could drop the name of the village nearest to the house into the conversation as if it were an accident. And sure enough, the moment he hung up, they could hear through Angel's bug that he ordered people to start researching possible locations near the village. Half an hour later, the house had been localized.
"Let's go!" they heard Angel say, and they grinned broadly at each other. That couldn't have gone any smoother, and now Angel would be completely out of their hair for the next two days or so.
An hour later, Angel and his team arrived at the house, and they listened closely, but it was clear that Angel suspected nothing at first glance. So Raquel left Sergio to listen to the transmission, as she went into the Mint to tell Monica and Denver the good news that Monica would be allowed to join the team.
…
Sergio was listening attentively to the transmission from Angel's bug. He wanted to know Angel's first impressions – if he became suspicious at some point, they needed to know it. There were many different voices coming through the radio – different people coming up to talk to Angel. But then one particular voice caught his attention.
"Hello Angel."
Angel's reply was polite but cool. "Hello Alberto."
Sergio looked up sharply. Was this… yes, it had to be.
"So you're in charge now?"
"I am."
"Well, tell me what we have here."
Raquel was climbing back up from the tunnel, and Sergio suddenly felt a surge of worry. He couldn't let her hear – the last time something had reminded her of Alberto, she'd had a panic attack. What would it do to her to actually hear his voice? As she walked over to him, he could think of only one thing. He switched the radio off.
"Why are you turning it off?" she said as she sat down next to him.
"I… there's nothing interesting to hear right now."
"I don't agree, I want to hear what proceedings he's using. Turn it back on."
He hesitated. "No."
She frowned. "Sergio, turn it back on."
"No, that's… that's not a good idea."
"Why not?"
He cast around for an excuse, but he could think of no good reason.
He sighed. "There's… someone there whose voice you might not want to hear."
Her frown deepened, but then comprehension dawned on her face.
"Oh. Alberto."
He nodded. "I'm sorry."
"I suppose it makes sense they brought him in. He's the best. I should have seen it coming."
"You don't have to listen to the radio over the next two days", he assured her. "I can do that. Unfortunately this radio doesn't have a plug for headphones, so you'll have to stay away from the desk so you won't hear anything, but you can keep an eye on the team and on Elena."
She was quiet for a moment, then she said: "No, I want to hear him."
"Raquel", he said carefully, "I don't think that's a good idea."
She swallowed but shook her head. "I want to hear him, Sergio."
He hesitated. "Really?"
"I'm already so limited in my movements in here, I refuse to stick only to the corners of the hangar for him. I won't let him limit me anymore. Turn it on."
"Are you sure?"
She steeled herself. "Yes."
Sergio held out his hand and squeezed when she took it.
"I'm right here with you."
She took a deep breath and nodded.
Very reluctantly, Sergio turned the radio back on, keeping his eyes on Raquel to see how she'd react. When Alberto's voice came out, she pressed her lips together and she held on tightly to his hand. As he saw her fight to maintain control of herself, Sergio felt a deep, burning sense of anger at the voice on the radio rise up in him – this man had hurt her, had hurt the woman he loved and she was still bearing the scars of that. His anger grew stronger as he saw how pale she became, as he felt her start to shake just a little, but he kept it contained, showing not even a glimpse of it to her as he softly said:
"It's okay. He can't hurt you."
"I know", she breathed. "I know."
She was clearly struggling, but to his relief, she showed no signs of breaking down this time. After a few minutes, though, he turned the radio back off.
"That's enough for now."
She relaxed, and he pulled her onto his lap and wrapped his arms around her as she curled up against his chest.
"That was so brave of you", he murmured against her hair. "I'm proud of you."
She simply nestled herself closer to him, and they stayed sitting like that for a little while. Then she said softly:
"Remember when I had that panic attack back at the house, because Berlin reminded me of Alberto?"
"Yes, I do."
She looked up at him. "You were so sweet to me then, too. Calming me down, staying with me, even though it was hard for you. You even hugged me."
He smiled at the memory. "That was the first time I got to hold you. It was the best feeling in the world."
"Really?" she smiled. "I thought maybe it made you uncomfortable."
"No", he murmured. "I never wanted to let you go again. And now I never have to."
She stroked his cheek, and he bent his head and pressed his lips against hers in a tender kiss. They kept kissing for several long moments, soft, sweet kisses as he held her close. After a while, he said:
"Can I ask you something?"
"Of course", she said, and he was glad to hear that she sounded completely normal again.
"Your ex-husband… how did he frame you, exactly? I know he planted drugs at your house that came from an evidence room at the police station, but how did he get those drugs?"
She got off his lap and sat back down in her own chair.
"Well", she said, "I can only tell you what was found during the investigation."
"What I'm wondering", he said, "is this: aren't there video cameras in evidence rooms? Wouldn't they have caught him stealing the drugs?"
She shook her head. "The cameras were hacked into from an outside source and the relevant material was deleted."
"What outside source?"
"Some hacker Alberto paid, probably. They were never able to track him down."
"But if there was no footage of you taking the drugs, how come everyone was so ready to believe you did it?"
"Ah", she said. "You see, you need a badge to open the door to the evidence room, so every entry is scanned and registered into the system. Alberto stole my badge and used it to open the door."
Sergio frowned. "Did people really believe you were stupid enough to use your own badge to open the evidence room with the intention of stealing something? Wasn't that a huge red flag?"
"No", she sighed sadly. "Because that's where he got really clever. He got the same outside hacker to erase the scan of my badge from the system, only he erased it badly, so the trace of it could still be uncovered with a little bit of work. That way, it looked like I'd entered the evidence room and tried to cover it up."
"Oh", Sergio said. "Yes, that would make you look very guilty."
"It did", she said drily.
He felt his anger flicker up again, stronger this time. This man had hurt her in so many ways, had done so many awful things to her, and yet he was out there, living his life as usual. It wasn't fair that he should have to bear no consequences whatsoever for his actions. No, it wasn't fair at all. He wished with all his might that he could do something about it, that he could somehow make it right for her.
She rubbed her face, then said: "Alright, we should turn the radio back on."
He nodded. "But you should go eat with Elena, stay away from here for a bit. Now you know that you don't have to avoid the desk if you don't want to, but I will still be the one actually listening to the transmission from now on, until Alberto leaves."
She shot him a look. "Thank you."
He smiled. "Of course."
She leaned in to kiss him, then got up and rolled Elena's chair towards the table. She bound her ankles to the chair first, then untied her hands so she could eat.
"So", Elena said, as Raquel sat down across from her. "That's how he framed you, huh?"
"You heard that?"
"Well, it's not like I was trying to overhear you, but I don't exactly have a choice in the matter." She shook her head. "That was clever of him. I always wondered how he did it."
Raquel looked up sharply. "You mean… you believe me?"
Elena nodded. "Yes. I never believed you were guilty."
"Why?" Raquel said, baffled. "Even my closest colleagues thought I did it, and you barely knew me."
"I didn't know you", Elena said darkly, "but I knew him."
"You knew Alberto?"
Elena sighed. "Yes. We used to work together."
"I didn't know you used to work in our district", Raquel said, surprised.
"I did. It was my first posting after I got out of the Academy. Almost fifteen years ago now."
Something in Elena's tone and expression made Raquel give her a closer look.
"Did you know Alberto well?"
"Not… not really."
There was something there, though – Raquel could feel it.
"Did you date him?"
"No, I told you I don't do relationships."
"Did you sleep with him, then?"
Elena shook her head. "No, but he did ask me out."
"Oh", Raquel said. "And?"
"I said no. He didn't like that."
"I'm sure he didn't."
Elena's voice was full of disdain as she continued: "Men who hit their wives often have very fragile egos. So he wouldn't let it go. He kept asking, over and over again, until I dreaded having to go down to forensics."
Yes, Raquel thought, that was Alberto. Never taking no for an answer.
She shook her head. "He shouldn't have pressured you like that, especially since you were still so young."
Elena seemed to hesitate, and Raquel frowned.
"That's not the whole story, is it?"
Elena took a deep breath, then said:
"One day, I went down to forensics and he was the only one there. He… he immediately started asking me out again, and he was very charming at first."
"I'm sure he was", Raquel said, feeling a twinge of unease.
"But when I kept refusing, he became a lot less pleasant. He was saying I wasn't being fair to him, I should at least give him a chance. He was sure he could change my mind. He kept… he kept coming closer to me and I kept backing away until I had my back against the wall."
Raquel's unease deepened as Elena paused for a moment. Then she went on:
"I tried to get away, but… but he pushed me against the wall." Elena was frowning now, clearly struggling with the memory. "I was a police woman, Raquel. I'd just gone through training. I thought I could defend myself. But he was police too, and… and I couldn't get away. He was so much stronger than me. It was… the most awful feeling of helplessness."
Raquel nodded – yes, she knew that feeling, god, she could still feel it in her bones.
Elena looked up. "And then he kissed me."
Raquel's feeling of unease turned into dread. She'd gotten to know Elena a little over the past few days, and she had a feeling of what had happened next.
"What did you do?" she whispered.
Elena lifted her chin. "I punched him in the stomach, of course."
Raquel closed her eyes. Fighting back was the worst thing she could have done – Raquel knew that all too well.
"And then?"
"He hit me. Right across the face."
Raquel felt nauseous – she knew what came after that first slap. But then Elena said:
"And then a colleague walked in." She shook her head. "Honestly, I don't know what would have happened otherwise."
Raquel nodded, relief flooding through her. "He could have really hurt you."
Elena looked up at her, and there was a glint of steel in her dark eyes.
"Oh no", she said coolly, "I meant what would have happened to him. I had my hand on my gun when old Martínez walked in. I would have fucking kneecapped him if he so much as moved in my direction again."
Raquel had no doubt that she would have.
"So what happened then?"
"I got out of there as fast as I could. I got into my car and drove – I had to get away from there. It wasn't until I pulled up in front of my house that I realized I should have gone straight to the office to report him. I knew I should drive back. I knew I should go to my boss and make an official statement."
"But you didn't", Raquel said softly.
Elena pressed her lips together and shook her head. "I didn't."
"You thought they wouldn't believe you."
Elena nodded. "It was a classic he-said she-said. By then, the handprint on my face had already faded, so I had no evidence. I wasn't shaking, I wasn't in shock, and I knew I wouldn't be able to cry when telling the story – in short, I was completely unbelievable as a victim. Martínez, on the other hand, wasn't much of a witness: all he'd seen was me reaching for my gun. And I knew what happened to 'difficult' women on the force. Whether you're believed or not – you get shifted to the side, always overlooked for promotions. I had ambition. I wanted to reach the top someday. So I asked for a transfer and I kept my mouth shut."
She shot Raquel a guilty look, but Raquel shook her head. "You don't have to explain yourself to me, Elena. I know all the consequences women face in that position."
"I told myself he'd just been angry because I'd punched him – I told myself he'd never actually hurt someone under normal circumstances. But he did. He hurt you."
Raquel was experiencing a lot of conflicting emotions. "And you've been feeling guilty about that?"
"That's… that's part of it, yes."
"There's more?"
Elena sighed. "Don't you realize, Raquel? When you were tried for drug possession, you tried to tell people Alberto had framed you. You told the judge about the domestic abuse. If he'd believed you, that would have been a major discrediting factor for Alberto. But the judge didn't believe you. Why not?"
Raquel suddenly felt cold. "Because he had no priors."
"Exactly", Elena said bitterly. "If there had been any previously reported instances of violence on his part – even just one – it's quite likely that the judge would have believed you about the domestic abuse. That would have spoken to Alberto's character, and suddenly you accusing him of framing you wouldn't have seemed so far-fetched anymore."
She took a deep breath and when she looked up at Raquel, there was something almost pleading in her eyes.
"I thought about testifying at your trial, Raquel. I really did. But who would have believed me? It was fifteen years ago, and I never reported it. I… I thought it wouldn't make a difference. I never thought they'd convict you and… and I was still afraid it would impact my career." She bent her head. "I'm so sorry. I should have at least tried. When I heard they'd actually convicted you… nine years… I… I felt terrible."
Something suddenly dawned on Raquel.
"Oh. So that's why you offered to help me when you found me here."
"Yes", Elena said quietly. "I know nothing can make up for what I did… or rather, didn't do. But I thought if I could help you, that was the least I could do."
Raquel considered her for a long moment, processing what she'd just heard. Then she said:
"First things first: I don't blame you for not reporting him."
"But if I'd reported him, that would have gone on his record and you might never have married him."
"It doesn't matter", Raquel said softly. "I can't blame you for being scared they wouldn't believe you. I can't blame you for not wanting to ruin your career. I can't blame you for not foreseeing that he would go on to beat his wife all those years later. And I certainly can't blame you for not reporting him, when it took me a year and a half to do it myself."
"I still should have testified for you", Elena whispered.
"Well", Raquel said. "About that. Really, I need to thank you."
Elena looked up. "What do you mean?"
"If you'd testified, that might indeed have swayed the judge, and then I wouldn't have been convicted. Then I wouldn't have been sent to jail."
She suddenly smiled. "Then I wouldn't have met Sergio."
Elena looked at her in disbelief. "You're not saying…"
"Yes, I am. Being sentenced to jail is one of the best things that ever happened to me. If I could do it all over again, I wouldn't change a thing."
Elena was shaking her head. "Seriously? For him?"
"He's the love of my life", Raquel said simply. "Every part of my life, everything I've been through, has brought me to the people I love. My marriage brought me my daughter, and my conviction brought me to Sergio. I have no regrets. And you shouldn't either."
Elena gave her a careful look. "What are you saying?"
Raquel paused, then said: "I forgive you."
"Are you serious?" Elena whispered.
"Yes", Raquel nodded. "When you're a woman in this world, there are moments when you're forced to make impossible choices. In hindsight, it's easy to see what the better path would have been, but how could you have known it at the time? So I forgive you. I do." She gave Elena a closer look. "And I give you permission to forgive yourself."
Elena lifted her head, and it looked like a heavy burden was falling off her shoulders.
"Thank you", she said, and there was just the slightest tremble in her voice. "Thank you for saying that."
Raquel regarded her for a moment, then she smiled.
"I'm sorry we never got to know each other sooner, Elena. Before all of this mess."
Elena smiled back, a genuine, warm smile. "Yes. Yes, I would have liked that."
Raquel hesitated, but she couldn't resist trying where Sergio had failed.
"Why don't you come over to our side, Elena? You know we're not bad people. Help us get away safely, and we'll give you a cut of the money."
Elena grinned. "Nice try, Raquel, but I still don't agree with what you're doing now. I regret that we're on opposite sides of this, but that doesn't change the fact that we are on opposite sides."
Raquel laughed as she got up from the table. "Fair enough. I have to admire your moral backbone."
Elena looked up at her earnestly. "Once I arrest you, though, I'll help you as much as I can."
Raquel chuckled as she kneeled to tie Elena's hands again. "That's very optimistic of you, because it doesn't look to me like you're arresting anyone soon."
…
Several hours later, Elena came out of a daze of boredom to realize that there was some sort of commotion around the tunnel. White male, late twenties, dark hair, she noted automatically as a new figure emerged from the tunnel. Then the newcomer heaved something out of the hole in the ground and Elena's eyes went wide. It was a large roll of bills, all fifties, tightly compressed. They were starting to move their money.
"No", she heard Sergio say to Raquel, "we won't load it until the last day."
"Why not?"
He glanced over at her.
"Because once we bring in our… means of transportation, we'll have to blindfold Elena so she doesn't see it. I'd prefer it if we didn't have to keep her blindfolded for another four days."
Thanks, Elena thought. All things considered, he wasn't the worst psychopath she'd ever met. No, that honor went to the next person coming through the tunnel with another roll of money. Berlin grinned and waved at her, and she gave him her dirtiest look. Jesus, she'd never met anyone who rubbed her up the wrong way this much.
"Alright", Raquel said. "I suppose we can load all of it in a few hours, so we can do that the last day. Where will we stock it all in the meantime? It's going to take up a lot of space."
Sergio gestured towards the corner of the hangar behind Elena. "Berlin? Let's put it over there."
Berlin sauntered over to her with a grin. "Let's get you out of the way, princess."
She felt a strong urge to back away from him, but unfortunately her options were rather limited in that regard – even though her ankles weren't tied, her wrists were tightly bound behind her back and attached to the chair.
"Don't touch me", she warned him sharply.
He took hold of the back of the chair and rolled it towards the chain link fence that separated the different parts of the hangar. He put her in front of it, then came around and crouched down in front of her. She tried to fight down her disgust as he put a hand on her knee and grinned up at her.
"Don't touch me", she repeated in a low voice, but he didn't remove his hand.
"I have a proposition for you", he said. "Why don't you come with me when we leave? We'll buy a tropical island somewhere, just the two of us."
"God", she said, wrinkling her nose. "That sounds absolutely horrifying. Now take your hands off me."
"Just imagine it, Inspector… Spending our days underneath the palm trees."
"I hope a coconut falls on your head. Now take your hand off my knee."
"Or what?" he grinned, not moving his hand.
She regarded him for a moment, then braced herself and kicked him sharply on the shin.
He jumped up, inhaling sharply, but then immediately recovered and laughed.
"You're feisty. I like that."
This time, he crouched down next to her so she couldn't kick him again, and he put his hand on her elbow, smiling. She was bound so tightly that she couldn't shake him off, and she was getting really fed up with him.
"Go away, Berlin."
"I stand by my proposal. Just think it over."
He reached up a hand and slowly brushed an escaped lock of hair behind her ear, a gesture so creepy it made her shudder. Okay, that was it. She'd had enough.
She sharply turned her head. "I'm not the first woman you made that proposal to though, am I?"
He froze.
"Yes", she continued. "I talked to that poor girl when she came out. I know what you did to her."
His smile had faded now. "Our relationship was consensual."
"Really?" Elena scoffed. "I suppose that's why she was crying and shaking when she told me about it."
She leaned closer to him, as much as her ropes would allow.
"Is that the kind of man you are? Forcing yourself on women who can't escape? Does it get you off that they have no choice?"
She could see that he was getting angry, but she wasn't scared of him. She continued:
"And then you delude yourself into thinking she actually likes you. So let me make one thing very clear Berlin: I don't like you. You disgust me. You're a sadist and an egomaniac and a rapist. You take advantage of those who are weaker than you and you call that honor."
She pulled back to give him a look full of disdain. "But you have no honor. You're a bastard and a coward."
He jumped up, took her by the shoulders and slammed her backwards against the fence. She gasped as a sharp piece of wire cut her hand, but she gritted her teeth so he wouldn't notice as she looked up at him and said acidly:
"Is this how you're disproving my point, huh? I take it back now, you're quite the gentleman."
The next moment, Raquel was there, pulling Berlin off of her.
"Berlin, I told you to leave her alone!"
He immediately slipped back into his usual charming persona, his self-control back in place.
"We were just talking, Lisbon", he said smoothly.
"That's not what it looked like", Raquel said angrily.
"Don't worry", Berlin grinned. "I think she likes it rough."
Raquel gave him a look of outrage, then said: "You know Berlin, you shouldn't be allowed to interact with women at all."
"Oh", Berlin said, giving Elena a cool look. "She's not a woman. She's a cat."
"Why don't you go make yourself useful instead of insulting our prisoner?" Raquel said heatedly.
He shot Elena one last, long look, then walked away. Raquel kneeled down in front of her.
"Are you okay?"
"Yes", she said with dignity. "I'm fine."
"I won't let him come near you again."
"I'd appreciate that, yes."
It wasn't until Raquel walked away that she realized there was blood trickling down her hand. She opened her mouth to call Raquel back, but then she froze. She was still pressed up against the fence from when Berlin had slammed her into it, and now she started exploring the wire links with trembling fingers. Yes, there it was, the sharp piece that had cut her. She remained motionless for a while, observing the people walking back and forth, but they were busy moving the money and they weren't paying her any attention. Slowly, carefully, she positioned her wrists so her ropes were pressed against the sharp piece of wire, then she started making tiny back and forth movements so the wire started cutting into the rope. There was almost no chance that this would actually work, but it was a chance anyway, a chance. It would take forever, but if they left her here long enough, Elena thought, assuming a bored expression as behind her back she kept grazing her rope past the piece of wire again and again… it just might work.
…
Raquel was looking at the pile of rolled-up bills in the corner of the hangar with a feeling of deep satisfaction. It was all coming together now.
"Are you sure you don't want some of this?" she called out to Elena, who was sitting a little further along the fence.
"Quite", Elena said shortly.
Raquel shrugged and turned back to the money. This was only the first part, there would be much more to come, but it was late and the tired team was returning to the Mint to sleep.
"I'm going with them for a moment", Sergio said, walking over to her. "I need to talk to Berlin."
"Alright", she said. "Can you ask Nairobi if she wants to come over for an hour or so? I'd like some company when you go to bed."
"Sure", he said, wrapping his arms around her from behind so they could look at the money together. "It's really happening, Raquel. Soon we'll be out of here."
Yes, she thought. Soon this would finally be over and their new life would begin. It was so close now, so close she could almost taste it. She turned around in his arms and tilted up her face to kiss him.
"Thank you for being here", he whispered. "I couldn't have done this without you. We're a team, you and me."
"Yes", she murmured back. "You and me. Always you and me."
He gave her one more kiss, then he let go of her and followed Denver down the ladder.
Raquel sauntered over to the screens, but there was nothing interesting to see there. She flipped through the channels for a minute or two, then got up again and walked towards their sleeping area with the vague thought that she wanted to wash.
When she passed Elena, she suddenly said:
"Raquel?"
"Yes?" she said, stopping in front of Elena's chair.
Elena was looking at her with a strange mixture of regret and determination.
"Once I get out of here… run, okay?"
Raquel frowned. "What?"
Suddenly Elena jumped up, her hands loose somehow, and in a flash, she'd grabbed Raquel's gun from the waistband of her jeans. Instinctively, Raquel grabbed at it, and for a moment, they struggled over the gun, both trying to get a firm grip on it.
"Raquel, don't!" Elena yelled, but it was too late.
Raquel's fingers slipped and hit the trigger, and the gun went off with an ear-splitting bang.
Time slowed down. There was a hot, burning pain in her shoulder as she staggered backwards, then fell to her knees, dazed, her ears ringing. She looked down and there was blood – a lot of blood – too much blood. She slumped sideways to the ground and as the edges of her vision went blurry, she realized vaguely that she was going into shock. The last thing she saw was Elena running for the door. Then there was only darkness.