Helen

"It was only a matter of time," Emily sighed.

Fear prickled the back of his neck. "Do you think she's really gone?"

Emily seemed confident that she was.

There was nothing left to see in the cave. Helen had left the little they'd given her behind.

They emerged back into the daylight. Emily could hardly walk. He dragged her along with him as he tried not to cry.

Helen was gone. They'd failed their mission; they were unable to follow their one directive.

Emily was right when she said he was making a mistake by not getting rid of her the very first time she alerted him that something was wrong. Now she was unleashed and it was his fault.

They slowly walked back to the cottage. Aidan headed straight for the radio. He contacted the necessary people, said the code he needed to in order to alert them that Helen was on the loose. The man on the other end cursed and then their connection ended.

Emily was waiting for him with two glasses of whiskey. She stared out of that horrid window and shook her head. "It really is the ugliest island, isn't it? Why do you think she waited as long as she did to break free? I mean, I know she waited until we were distracted but I still don't understand."

He remained silent. He didn't have any of the answers she was looking for, and he couldn't even make guesses.

They both sat up and waited—waited for Helen to return or for their bosses to come get them. Or kill them. Emily was convinced they'd want to exterminate them. Aidan told her she'd watched too many movies, but secretly he wondered if they would.

A helicopter arrived the next morning. A man neither of them recognized came off the plane. He carried a gigantic suitcase. He said nothing to them as he walked past their fatigued bodies into the cottage.

He looked around and pressed his lips into a firm line. "We are settling your contract. You are both being paid what you have earned up to this point. And I have another nondisclosure agreement for you to sign."

"Where is she?" Aidan asked.

The man said nothing.

"We'd like to know," Emily added.

His eyes narrowed. "She is no longer your concern. Thanks to your negligence and unprofessionalism, she is out there doing whatever she pleases. All I can tell you is that we are making every effort to locate her."

The rest happened very quickly. They both signed their agreements and finished packing up. The helicopter deposited them on the mainland, and the man said nothing to them as they parted ways.

They would have to take a plane home. Aiden bought tickets and got a cab to drive them to the airport. Though he had spent two years separated from people, it didn't take much for Aidan to adjust.

When it was time to board, Aidan guided Emily on line.

If he was being honest with himself, he felt he'd wasted the past couple of years. He hadn't made an impact, he hadn't forgotten his daughter, and he hadn't even been able to do his job right.

They sat on the plane and waited. It felt like purgatory. Aidan thought that if he could go back he would have done things so differently. He would have kissed Emily within the first few days of meeting her. He would have listened to his gut and exposed Helen and her creators to the world as soon as possible. He would never have become complacent. He would never have let the grief he felt for his beautiful daughter get twisted into the ugly mess he found himself in.

"What are your parents like?"

Aidan looked at Emily, surprised for a moment that she was sitting next to him. "Nice. What is your fiancé like?"

She pursed her lips. "Arrogant."

"Do you love him?"

She offered him a sad smile. "What do you think?

"Will you go to him when we land?"

She played with her buckle. "I don't know what to do anymore. I know it's over but it doesn't feel that way. Part of me still feels trapped in that horrendous cottage back on the island."

He knew exactly what she meant.

"I miss my daughter," he blurted. "I went to island to forget but it didn't work. I only made things worse for myself."

"I'm sorry. Do you want to talk about it?"

He shook his head. "One day."

There was an announcement requesting everyone take their seats and buckle themselves. The flight was uneventful, which freaked Emily out. She kept saying Emily was going to show up at any minute. She never did.

When they landed, they took another cab to his parents' house. Emily hummed a tune he didn't recognize.

"I loved when you listened to music, you know. It was the only time you were almost happy."

She found his hand and squeezed. He lifted their hands to his mouth and kissed her wrist, inhaling the delicious scent of her skin. Sunlight shone down upon them and Aidan wondered if this was what it felt like to be free. They couldn't really have a happy ending, could they?

Eventually they pulled up to their destination. His parents' house hadn't changed much since he left it. He wondered if they would be surprised to see him, if he should have called.

They knocked on the door but there was no answer, so Aidan opened it and walked in. It was dark and quiet inside; his parents weren't home.

"Probably out shopping," he said to Emily. She smiled.

Then it happened. It was as if everything was in slow motion. Emily's mouth fell open and her eyes widened with horror. Aidan turned around to see what she was looking at.

A figure appeared and sauntered across the living room.

There would be no opportunity to run.

Emily screamed.

Helen.