Nick didn't look any less horrified. "You-you switched?" His Adam's apple bobbed.
She smiled, looked down. Frank's heels had stopped drumming against the slate floor. His legs twitched once, twice, and then he was still.
"Our DNA is kept in numbered vials in a carousel, so we simply gave Frank's computer the wrong number. So, he-"
Nick held up a big hand. "Do I want to know?" He looked down at the dead man at his feet, looked back up at her. "No," he said decisively. "I don't want to know. Is this the last of the bad guys?"
"The very last," she reassured him.
"You're not going to run off again and put your life in danger?"
"No. Definitely not. And I wasn't in danger. I knew he didn't have my DNA. Felicity and I tracked him giving orders for the wrong vial. And I had backup."
From a corner, Jacko lowered his pistol and gave a salute off his forehead. Then like smoke, he disappeared.
Nick turned back to Kay and blew out a breath. Punched a number on his cell. "Yo. Mancino. Another guy down, the head honcho, I think. Yeah, deader'n dirt. No, I didn't gun him down. Kay scienced the shit out of him."
Kay laughed. She felt light, free.
Nick just stared at her, breathing heavily. He glanced sideways, slid a linen napkin from a crystal napkin holder on the table.
"What are you doing?"
Nick kicked Frank's body out of the way and kneeled.
"Kay Hudson. Will you do me the honor of marrying me?" She gaped. He took her hand and slipped the crystal napkin holder on her left ring finger. It was so huge she couldn't close her hand. "If you're married to me, I have the right to keep you out of danger, yeah?"
"Uh, yeah." She blinked. "I guess."
His chest heaved. "Marry me. Please. Say yes. Before my head explodes and we have two dead bodies on the floor."
She felt even lighter, as if she could float away.
So this was what happiness felt like.
"Yes," she said softly.
The End