Code of Honor (Special Ops Book 7) (7 page)

“Let them hide this,” he said as he punched one key and off the information went. The lady on the monitor featuring CNN started reading what was showing up for her to read. She looked confused, as Abby guessed she would be since she was just talking about the upcoming UN meeting and now she was talking about murder, crooked politicians and a rouge Vice President Avery Flinch. The information Lilith had gathered was on the screen behind the woman until Rhys hit another button and made it full screen.

Abby looked at all the news monitors and realized it was the same thing blasting on all of them.

“Oh my God,” she looked in amazement.

“They can’t hide it anymore,” Lilith breathed a sigh of relief. “I didn’t know how to make this happen.”

“I did.”

“I knew you would. You were always too good at controlling things not to know how to do this.”

“Do you know who killed my parents? Is it on this chip?”

“Avery Flynn, before he was a murder covering VP he was a murder hiring governor, then senator.”

“So that’s it. It’s all on there. No game needed.”

Lilith shrugged. “Had I known how to contact Rhys I wouldn’t have needed the game. But you all are free to finish it. It was sold to you and I doubt your bosses are going to pull it—especially after this.” She pointed to the television screens. Abby doubted it too.

“Rhys, you do a heck of a job at hiding yourself.”

He shrugged. “A man learns how to disappear. Apparently you learned how to do it too. Pretty well I might add.”

“Yeah. I think I’ll stay dead though. It’s safer for me that way. Too many people on multiple bad sides wanted me dead. I get resurrected and next time they might just get their wish.”

Rhys nodded. “Then I’ll help you vanish this time. And Lilith,” he looked at her with a ferocious hint still in his eyes. “Get rid of the tattoo.”

“This is family inspired. I just can’t.”

“Then learn how to cover it up. You’ll never fully hide as long as they can see that on the underside of your wrist.”

She nodded. “Any tips on how to do that without a trace.”

“Yeah, I have some tips for you.” He shook his head. “Glad you’re still alive. And thanks for this.” He looked at the information still blaring from screen to screen. Apparently the media was  not going to be shut down on this one. They kept rolling; they kept giving commentary on what they saw coming in. Abby knew somebody would try to shut down the American stations blasting this soon, but that’s all they could do.

“How many stations are getting this?” Abby looked across the screens again.

“All of them. I cut into every show, from news to soap to cartoon for this. There isn’t a station anybody can turn to that’s not getting this. Now,” he stood and pushed back away from the computers. “I’m going to set this safe house to destruct when this feed finishes. The information has about five more minutes and this,” he tapped the computer, “has already been saved to various places. I’ll have one for you too, Lilith. But if you both want to keep living you need to grab your stuff and go. Abby,” he held on to her arm. “You’re still under my guard so you don’t leave this house without me.”

She nodded. “I don’t have anything I need to grab really.”

“Your books?”

“Um…no. Now that I know there are tracking devices in places I didn’t know about I’ll pass on that.”

He shrugged; taking hold of her arm the three of them left the building. Lilith got into her own vehicle after acquiring contact information on where to go to get in touch with Rhys so he could help her fade away and they got into his vehicle—a second one she didn’t even know he had.

They weren’t close enough to get hit by debris, but she could still hear the ricochet boom, boom, boom of the explosion.

“You like to blow stuff up don’t you?”

He chuckled. “I just like making sure all things are buried.”

“One boom at a time huh?”

He laughed hard as he kept driving away from the place where they were. It took a couple days but they landed in the Special Conditions headquarters in conference with Autumn. Autumn looked moderately pleased with the end game. But Abby had to admit her version of happy was finding out that she was clear to go back to work and to her life. Her next version of happy was hearing that her boss had agreed she could work from anywhere and that they were still very close to finishing the game. Now that they knew the ending they were going to do it.

“From anywhere, huh? I guess that means they think they’re safer without me there.”

Autumn nodded. “Probably, but you still have a job because you’re valuable. Use the anywhere status and find a new home too.”

“She has one,” Rhys said as he walked into the room. She hadn’t seen him since he dropped her off.

“Where have you been?” She stood up and went to him, wrapping her arms around him and he wrapped one back around her.

“I had a Vice President I had to see.”

Autumn chuckled. “Uh huh. I don’t need to know more and neither does she.”

“What?” Abby looked between the two of them.

“The former VP had a heart attack last night,” Autumn eyed Rhys. Rhys shrugged.

“Fear has a way of doing that to a coward.”

“Wow,” Abby looked between the two of them. This entire place was more than she could have imagined and Rhys was just…wow. “So I have a home huh? Where is this home?”

“With me,” he said firmly as he took her arm in his hand. “Autumn, don’t call me for protection duty again. That’s not my thing.”

“Oh, but you’re so good at it, Rhys.”
“I mean it Autumn,” he said as he strode out the room. Abby felt the need to walk faster just to keep up with him as she heard Autumn laughing as they left. Something told Abby Rhys really did mean it.

“Your first and your last, huh? There’s something really special about that.”

“That it is,” he said. “My first, my last, and my only. You and I have a life to build together and I am going back to what I do best—exposing lies.”

She nodded. “You are really good at that. From what I hear this country and beyond are still talking about this non-stop. But you’re good at protection too. Thanks for saving me, Rhys.”

“Thanks for saving me, Abby. If it weren’t for you he would have killed me.”

“I guess we saved each other. That’s what people do when they love each other right?” Did she feel nervous about declaring love for a man she barely knew? Yeah, she felt nervous, but she also was sure. There was something about this man that captivated her, something she had never felt before and something she wasn’t willing to let go of ever.

“Yep. That’s what people do when they love each other.” He wrapped one arm around her shoulders pulling her flush against his body as they walked side by side into their future. Together they were unstoppable. With his skill and her fact checking and design capabilities she was thinking maybe a career expansion was in order for her. Together they could put a lot of bad guys behind bars one game at a time.

“So we’re partners, right?”

“Abby,” he growled and shook his head.

“Partners, Rhys. Together we could make a lot of magic.”

“In the bedroom and out of it,” he admitted. “Yeah, but you need more training. Keep your day job for a while and I’ll get you there.”

“Your apprentice, huh?”

“Something like that. Now, about working from anywhere…”

“Where did you have in mind?”

“Some place warm, some place sandy, some place…well, let’s just say you’ll see it when we get there. I hope you didn’t have anything in your place that you wanted to keep other than what I had Autumn pick up before I brought you here.”

“You had my stuff picked up?”

“Picked up, searched thoroughly and loaded.” He pointed to the silver and black Ford F-250. “Can’t have you bringing dead agents to my home now can I?”

She laughed. “That was not my fault. By the way, what happened to Lilith?”

“She went back into the grave. I’m sure she’ll like her new resting place.” He winked at her.

“At least she’s going to be okay.”

He shrugged. “As okay as anybody with her history can be. She’ll always have to look over her shoulder, to be sure somebody doesn’t recognize her, but with what I gave her she should be able to hold out. Plus she’s been out there dead for a long time. I think she knows a thing or two about staying that way. Now she can try to keep it that way above ground on a daily and not just above to make contact with people helping her on her mission. She’s done with that now anyway. The woman needs more sun.”

Abby laughed. “Oh Rhys, this is going to be so much fun.” She fastened her seatbelt and watched the view around her pass one mile at a time. Wherever he was taking her was fine with her, so long as she was with him she figured they could do anything together. Who knew one video game could change her life? She smiled as she looked over to the man who was now a forever part of her life. Oh yeah, she was definitely going to love this new partnership thing.

~ On The Horizon ~

You’re free to check out. You’re free to leave, but whether or not you do it breathing is a different story. In this upscale hotel checking out takes on a whole new meaning. Our leading lady is finding out there are some things you just don’t want to see, and some things you’ll never forget. The last book in the Witness Protection segment is
Kill List
. This longer book is a multi location story that follows a special ops Marine whose sister was murdered and the woman he has to protect from the assassin who is after her. Can she survive? Find out in
Kill List
coming in 2015.