Not joy, not triumph, just the immense weight of what almost happened settling into their bones. Agent Brooks climbed up last, peeling her mask off with a tired sigh. “We’ll contain it,” she said. “We’ll clear the space and investigate who was using it. But you two…” She offered the faintest, rarest smile. “…you made the right call.”
Daniel let out a shaky breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. Megan pressed the back of her wrist to her mouth, eyes bright with the kind of fear that only arrives after the danger has passed, the delayed understanding that it could have gone so much worse.