Dylan didn’t want to think about Emma. Not here, not now. Not when this situation was way too close to the reason he’d lost her—a mangled car, fire, imminent death.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“In your wallet.” Amir coughed, and blood seeped from his mouth. “I see you…reading it.”
Amir’s breathing grew labored and wheezy. The whoosh and snap of a few residual fires filtered in from a distance. The clunk and grind of settling rubble bumped the night. But nothing else. No wind, no birdson
g, no barking dog, not one voice. Not a cry or a scream.
All forms of life incinerated.
All hope extinguished.
As silent as the dead.
So many dead.
This was how the end of the world looked. How hopelessness sounded. How utter despair felt.
Dylan picked up the radio. “Musaeda! Saeid alan!”
Silence.
“Musaeda. Saeid alan.”
The radio crackled. “Nahn qadimun.”
We’re coming.
“Oh my God.” A flash of relief took his breath. Into the radio, he yelled for them to hurry. “Eajal bsre. Eajal bsre.”
“Fifteen minutes,” the voice came back over the radio. Amir would never last.
Dylan slammed the radio against his forehead. “Fuck. I should have sent you with Ezra.” Dylan’s heart bled out through the soles of his feet. “That bomb should have hit me.”
“Damn right.” Amir’s voice faded another notch. “So, don’t you dare…waste this chance. You go home…where you belong. Find that girl…make your own babies. Stay with your sisters…fix your family.”
Amir’s lids fluttered. Tension eased from his muscles. His head tipped.
“Amir. Stay with me.” Dylan shook him. “Don’t you dare fuckin’ die on me, man.”
Amir grasped Dylan’s arm. “Promise me.”
“Fine. Fuck. I promise, okay?”
Amir’s grip loosened. A breath shuddered out of his lungs. And he went limp.
“Amir.” Amir’s pulse slipped away. “No! Amir!”
But he was gone.
Dylan dropped his head back and screamed. The sound was still echoing when he slumped against Amir and sobbed.
1
One month later
Dylan wandered toward the baggage claim area of Nashville International Airport with everything he owned in a single duffel.