Page 21 of Breaking the Code

I chuckle. “Probably.”

He growls. The frustration is evident on his face. “What do you fucking want if you’re not going to kill me?”

Gazing at him, I watch sweat break out on his upper lip and forehead. The light in the room catches the sheen, glinting off the moisture.

“I never said I wasnae gonna kill you. I said I wasnae gonna kill you for what Buchanan did.”

The wobble o’ his chin gives him away. The trepidation is clear in that wobble and in the tremor in his hands.

“Why would you want to kill me?”

“Vengeance.”

“For what?”

“For all the lives ye have ruined.”

I let loose my axes, swinging them with fervor. Light sparks off the metal carvings. The glint flickers in his eyes just before the blades sever his head from his body. A thud sounds as it hits the floor. The shock at his imminent demise freezes on his face.

I step over the mess, shaking my head. “I really should nae have done that,” I say aloud.

Rounding the desk, I pull open all the drawers, searching for as much info as possible. There’s not much, but it’s too much to carry. I gather everything I can find and load it in Lionel’s car. Shoving Rupert to the passenger seat, I move the car around to the back o’ the warehouse.

I pull Rupert out o’ the car, bringing him into the building with me. I dump him on the floor o’ the office with Lionel. A deep sigh fills my lungs, pressing my ribs outward.

A quick walkthrough o’ the warehouse turns up nothing but a means to an end. I drag a propane tank from one o’ the forklifts back to the office. Picking the guns, keys, and identification off the bodies I’d dropped, I open the valve on the tank and walk away.

At the exit near the office, the one the smallish guy left through earlier, I turn back to the office. I can smell the gas in the air.

“Rest in Hell,” I condemn as I lift the gun I pulled from Rupert and squeeze the trigger.

Time slows as I watch as the bullet pierces the tank. The explosion knocks me back into the door. The heat and fire roll through the building. I shove myself through the exit, racing to the car.

Dropping the car into drive, I push the accelerator to the floor, speeding away just as the other propane tanks in the building go off. The blast rattles the car and the inferno that engulfs the building mushrooms into the air in the rear-view mirror.

That was too goddamn close!

I can hear Simon yelling at me from the grave. He’s not fucking wrong. He rarely ever was.

CHAPTER SIX

TAVISH

Two years ago - Age 23

Code races across several screens. Screens I’m always searching. Thankfully, Owen and the others in the order have no clue what is on these screens. They think everything I do, everything I am, is for the Order.

They couldn’t be more wrong. I only do what I must and even then I only do it by half measures.

This has been my life in the years since my father was killed. Watching the glow flash through the dark room as images and videos are scanned. Searching for information online about the Order. Finding the things Owen tasks me with finding.

And Samuel.

The thought of that man makes me ill. I do what I have to, to survive, but…

I pull myself away from those thoughts and focus on what’s right in front of me. I scan the code and look for the information I need, but the binary isn’t what has my attention.

It’s him.

---