Code of Honor

by Capri Montgomery

  “He’s here,” his words confirmed her fears.

  “How,” she whispered as if whispering would keep them hidden.

  “I don’t know.” He uttered words in a language she still didn’t understand. Clearly he didn’t want for her to understand them. “He tripped one of my sensors on the property line which triggered one of the cameras I have hidden. He’s good, but he missed my security—so far anyway.”

  “And if he figures it out?”

  “Then he’ll figure out how to cut us off. Right now he’s moving toward us.”

  “Should we leave?” He lay atop her, still covering her as if he were shielding her from bullets.

  “Too risky. Plus I need to get this guy. He won’t give up. If I don’t take him down he’ll keep hunting you.”

  “I get it, but what about capturing him and getting him to tell us who hired him?”

  “Men like him don’t talk, not even under torture.”

  His voice told her he knew of what he spoke. He had said this man was like some younger version of his skills so of course he would know how tough he was, how determined he was, and how mulish he could be when it came to going out his own way. Besides, capturing him would probably just end with him finding a way to escape and come back for them. “So two of us against one of him should be winnable right?”

  “Correction, one of us against one of him. You’re sitting this one out.”

  “Hey! Partners, remember?” Now was not the time for him to go all primeval caveman on her. They were going to get this guy together.

  “Not in this. You can’t win this. Stay put, stay low, and stay out of my way.”

  She would find righteous indignation but the man was right. She couldn’t win with this guy. He had already proven that. “Okay, but if you go down and I think you need help I will get up and help.”

  He snorted but gave what she thought to be the okay grunt. Well too bad if he wasn’t okay with it because he had to know that she was not going to lay low and let him get killed. If he died she would die here anyway so why rest on her haunches and watch him need help without getting up to give him the help he needed? No, she was going to help, if and when he needed it. Until then she would stay out of his way the best she could.

  She knew he would have to remove himself from on top of her body at some point, but that didn’t mean she was glad that he did. Not only did she miss the feel of the heat of his body pressed against hers, but she also missed the idea that the longer they stayed that way the longer the danger stayed away from them.

  “Stay on your belly and follow me.”

  Yeah, so she wasn’t trained for this but it wasn’t all that hard to stay behind him. When he got her to the island stationed in the center of the room he told her to stay there before he crawled away from her. Okay, so maybe she was getting a lot afraid now. She had passed a little afraid a long time ago, but this was out the stratosphere of fear. She liked it better when he was right beside her, but she did understand. It wouldn’t make sense for them both to get caught by this guy while hiding behind the same temporary safe zone. She figured he planned to be positioned and ready for an attack. She just had to stay put until he needed her.

  Maybe he wouldn’t need her. He and this guy had the same type of training so maybe, just maybe, he could end this by taking the guy out sooner rather than later. She could hope so anyway.

  She heard the creaking of the front door; this was something Rhys had said he orchestrated to have the advantage of early warning. He had also left the alarms on, but had set them to silent. He had told her he had a way of getting warning, but that didn’t mean he wanted the guy after her to know he had already been alerted.

  She understood everything he told her the other night. She understood that this guy didn’t know who he was about to come up against and the less warning he had to Rhys’ expertise the better the advantage. The last thing Rhys needed was for this guy to think of not so ethical ways to making the attack—not that there was anything ethical about his actions in the first place.

  She stayed put until she heard the sound of fist connecting with flesh. She got on her knees and peeked around the island to see Rhys and Psycho Underwear guy, that’s what she was calling him now since she didn’t know much more about him or how much of what she had seen of him had been reality, punching each other. No, that wasn’t punching it was pounding and this guy was giving just as good as he was getting. The problem was this guy wasn’t trying to win this with any hint of fairness. His lack of nobleness in the fight didn’t surprise her. A noble minded man wouldn’t go on the hunt for an innocent woman and then try to rape her and kill her all at the same time. No, this guy was unadulterated evil and she doubted that any hint of goodness was within him. A man like that wouldn’t fight fair.

  He picked up the adobe floor vase and smashed it over Rhys as Rhys was trying to pull himself off the ground. Oh no he just didn’t, she thought as she bolted out of her hiding spot and headed for him. he heard her. She wasn’t going to be able to jump on his back or give a blitz encounter. She was going to have to try to fight him again. She knew he was stronger, faster, more skilled in ways that she wasn’t, but she was trained. She was a fighter and she wouldn’t go into that dark night without breaking parts of him in the process.

  One kick to his shin gave her leverage to put her foot hard against his nose. If only she had stilettos on right now she could have taken out an eye. No, she was barefoot as the cliché river duck and while she had drawn blood she hadn’t hurt him enough. He looked pissed and he gave her the hand on hand to prove it.

  She worked swiftly, but she missed the punch that connected with her gut which left her open for the one that smashed against her cheek and knocked her into the table as she fell to the ground.

  She thought she was for sure about to die but when she was able to look up she saw that Rhys had rejoined the fight and this time he was not aiming for hand to hand war. He was aiming for a hand to hand kill and he got it. One sharp thrust of his hand into the back of the guy’s neck snapped bones. She could hear them breaking and she could see the life escape out of him as he fell to the floor.

  Rhys was on his knees beside her so fast she could barely fathom a coherent thought as he pulled her to her feet.

  “Are you hurt anywhere other than your face?”

  Hurt? Sure. “That punch to my stomach hurt, but nothing’s broken and I’m almost positive of that.” She flinched when his fingers touched her chin. He wiped blood away assuring her that the twinge of pain really was a split lip she was starting to feel as the adrenalin was starting to go from boiling to simmer. He wiped more blood away from her forehead which told her she must have cut her forehead or the widow’s peak area of her head when she hit the table.

  She hadn’t heard the noise like he had. He had a weapon pulled from his boot so swiftly and her pushed behind him just as swiftly. She had to try to stable herself not to fall down again.

  The tension in his body was the tension of a man, lethal, ready to strike and kill. She noticed when his body went from kill first ask questions later to assess and then kill status.

  “Lilith? You’re dead.”

  She peeped around him. The woman was very much alive. Her hair was short, shaved closer to her scalp but still very feminine.

  “Rhys,” she smiled as she looked at the dead body on the floor. “Not dead, just in hiding for a very long time. They tried to kill me.” She lowered her weapon and put the safety on before putting it away. Rhys didn’t put his away but he did lower it.

  “The same people who killed your parents tried to kill me. If it wasn’t for the “terrorist” they sent me in to kill I would have died. He saved me.”

  “A terrorist saved you?” Abby asked as she stepped from behind Rhys.

  “Yeah, he wasn’t a terrorist. They set me up.”

  “For the kill,” Rhys nodded. “You die, he dies and they don’t care. He wasn’t a threat but they would see that everybody th
ought he was and that he killed you.”

  “Yeah. After he got me back to fully living status he helped me find out what happened. He helped me piece things together, but I knew when the names started hitting Congress and Senate level that I couldn’t just come back.”

  “The game,” Abby looked at her with wide eyes. “It was you,” she gasped.

  “Yes. I found a man who wanted to help, a man who knew the hell our government could create. I gave him piece by piece not fully trusting him, but not willing to drop the ball here. He was my only choice and your company was the only one I knew could get this game out there. I figured somebody would find out about it. I figured somebody would either smell a conspiracy and start blabbing about find out the truth online, or that somebody in Deep Six would recognize the family and then tell you,” she looked at Rhys. “I figured you were the only person who could get justice for your family and try to get these dicks put in the grave or behind bars. But the more time passed the less I was thinking this was going to work. Especially with the VP being one of bad guys here.”

  “He said it went to the Whitehouse, but he didn’t say he knew who it was.”

  “He didn’t know, Abby. I didn’t tell him. I just told him it went to the Whitehouse. I told him I would give it to him. I set a date and time for him to get something from the hiding place I was to tell him about. I got worried when he didn’t make contact.”

  “He was killed.”

  “I found that out. I activated the tracking device I put in the notebook he gave you.”

  Abby’s eyes shifted over to the floor where her now butterfly decorated covered book lay. “Tracking device?”

  Lilith smiled coyly. “That piece of glass gem has a precious little something from me to you.”

  “I checked,” Rhys said.

  “It was inactive until I hit the switch. You wouldn’t have seen it. I’ve been dead for years, Rhys; I figured out how to stay that way while getting the information I needed and finding the people I had to find. Unfortunately it’s how he found you.” She pointed to the man on the floor. “He must have been monitoring the area for the signals these devices put off and my activating it led him right to you. I guess he was close, but he didn’t know just how close until I hit the switch. I’m sorry, but I had to find her. the people helping me died and I needed to make sure I didn’t cause her death. I also needed to make sure the game got out there. But now…well, it’s gone beyond that.”

  “We can still put it out.”

  “Oh your company will put something out, but anybody who knows about this,” she wiggled her ring finger. “well, they’ll be dead before the truth can get out. You’ll need to go into deep cover.”

  “The hell she will.” Rhys growled. “You’ve got an MC in that thing?”

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

  “Microchip,” Lilith nodded affirmatively.

  “Then we’ll get it out. As you know, Lilith, I know how to blitz attack in more than just a physical nature.”

  Abby watched as the woman pulled the ring off and gave it to Rhys. She watched as Rhys popped the stone out, removed the chip and tossed the remaining contents of the ring onto the floor.

  “Come with me,” he walked in a steady stride toward the door making sure Lilith stayed on one side and Abby on the other.

  They came to a closed door with what she thought was an air conditioning and heating controller but found out the second Rhys finished punching in numbers that it was a code for the wall to shift sideways, opening and showing another hidden room.

  The computers were self evident. The man had so many hidden talents she just couldn’t wrap her brain around the mystery of Rhys. At least he had let her see what he really looked like and all she could say was that he looked more Columbian than he knew, but good Lord the man was gorgeous in her mind. The red hair was hot too. Of course he wasn’t looking the same as he had last night now. It was as if he put his disguise on each morning just in case they had an encounter. She figured he must have used something that this Lilith woman knew about because she had recognized him right away. A previous disguise she would say.

  He sat down at the computer and tinkered until the screens came to light. He silently tweaked and operated while she stood beside him and Lilith stood more at a front angle. Abby figured Lilith understood the need to give the man his space. She figured all operations people must have known to stay out of the side range and never get behind the person. She, on the other hand, was a woman he fully trusted and when she was going to walk away he had put his hand out and grabbed her wrist to make her stay so she stayed.

  “What are you doing?” Abby saw the codes blitzing across the monitor. He chuckled as he hit another button and the television screens came to life. There were ten stations with various news sources from America to England to Japan and beyond.

  “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 st
uff 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.”