The key turned in the lock, and the door swung open. Bruised and battered, she walked into the dark apartment and collapsed on the couch. Months of planning and work had finally paid off tonight, and now she was emotionally and physically spent.

Her only concern now was what had happened to her partner. She had lost track of him in all the chaos, but the whole building had collapsed, so he must have succeeded. They had agreed to meet at this safe house, so all she could do was wait.

Her phone beeped, a video message. His face appeared as soon as she tapped on it.

“Hey you. We’re about to get started, and I wanted to send this out before it was too late. My hope is that I’m there to stop you from seeing this.” He forced a chuckle.

“We both now this is a one-way trip. If you are seeing this, it means you made it out alive. I’m glad. And I’m sorry I didn’t.” He took a deep breath.

“My real hope is that I say something to you now, before we begin. I want to tell you we don’t have to do this. I know we both want these bastards to pay, but I don’t think it’s worth our lives anymore. These last few months, I’ve gotten to know you, and I would rather live with you than die to kill them.

“I know how selfish that is. We started all of this to make sure they can’t do to anyone else what they did to us. You want revenge. You deserve revenge. I did too, back then. But now… I don’t know how to ask you to give it up.

“See? Selfish. Probably selfish to send you this message. But if I don’t manage to be selfish enough to say something now, I’m at least selfish enough to want you to know that I love you. Don’t worry, I know you don’t feel the same. But at least think of me fondly.”

The message ended. She sat in the dark with tears streaming down her face. Then she threw the phone against the wall hard enough to hear something break. “Asshole! Why didn’t you say something!”