Lose Your Breath (Detectives Kane and Alton)

Epilogue

Washington, DC

Now

Dave Kane wiped away a tear running unashamedly down his cheek, the emotion he’d kept deep inside spilling out as he adjusted the potted rosebush he’d laid on Annie’s grave. Red rose petals spilled over the grass mound like confetti as he straightened and placed one hand on the ice-cold marble headstone. Always on alert, Wolfe had waited some ways away as he’d crouched down and told Annie about his new life, about Jenna, and his plans for the future. It was something he needed to do, although achieving it had been a security nightmare. One hint of him being alive and he’d be hunted down and killed. Ninety-eight H might be officially dead, but terrorists had eyes everywhere and had access to technology that could break his cover.

As the cold wind brushed his cheek and the fall leaves rolled across the lawn, he recalled the day he’d married Annie. It had been a time filled with great joy and terrible sadness. His sister’s murder had rocked him to the core, but Annie had been his strength and he’d promised her they’d marry and he never broke his word. She’d healed his grief and given him purpose. Their life together had been the fairy tale he’d never imagined possible, but he’d lost her. He’d been alone for too long, and had to move forward. He’d risked everything to visit her grave but it was worth it. Of course, he’d always imagined he’d be the first to die and the thought of Annie living alone for the rest of her life had troubled him. His heart ached as he remembered kissing the wedding band after slipping it on her finger and asking for her promise to find another if he died, only to have her do the same. The vision of her glowing face that day filled his head with a beautiful memory and replaced the death mask that had haunted him for so long. She’d always be with him, locked inside his heart, but it was time to keep his promise to her and move on. He traced her name on the stone and swallowed the lump in his throat. “Goodbye, Annie.”

As he walked away, the sun broke through the clouds and a wide blue sky opened up as if guiding him home to Black Rock Falls, and the future awaiting him.