Page 63 of Honor Code

It didn’t take long.

He found his buddy standing over the body of another mercenary. Like the bald guy, this one also had his throat cut and was bleeding out on the forest floor.

"Good hit," Phoenix commended. "Two down, one to—" A scream turned his blood cold. "Ellie!"

They charged back to her position, diving for cover as bullets tore through the foliage. Each thud of a bullet against the trees felt like a hammer on Phoenix's chest.

"Hold fire!" Phoenix shouted, raising his rifle. His voice was steady, but he couldn’t still the frantic beating of his heart. "I'm coming out."

Boomer melted into the underbrush like a shadow, while Phoenix slowly stood, gut wrenching at the sight of Ellie kneeling before the gray-haired merc, a pistol to her head. Her eyes were wide with terror, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Lose the weapon."

Phoenix complied, tossing his rifle aside, feeling a pang of helplessness as it clattered to the ground. Even though Ellie was whimpering, he kept his eyes glued to the merc’s. One sign that he was going to pull the trigger, and he’d attack—to hell with the consequences.

“Let her go,” he rasped, his voice barely concealing the fury bubbling beneath the surface.

“Sorry, can’t do that.” Phoenix knew that already, but it had been worth a shot.

“Who hired you? Was it Xonex?”

He sneered, “What do you care? You’ll be dead in a minute.”

“Then why not tell me? Satisfy my curiosity.”

A snort. “A group called Gilded Futures. I don’t know who they are, only that they pay well.”

Gilded Futures, he’d never heard of it, but Ellie obviously had. She gasped, her hand flying to her mouth, her eyes wide with shock and recognition.

“I see you know them, sweetheart.” The merc traced Ellie's face with his gun. She flinched, squeezing her eyes shut, but somehow managed to keep it together.

Two shots shattered the tension. The merc crumpled forward, his grip on the pistol slackening. Ellie scrambled away, her breath coming in ragged gasps.

Phoenix surged toward her, gathering her into his arms. "I've got you. It's over." She clung to him, her body trembling with great sobs. She’d been through so much. He held her tightly, feeling the warmth of her tears soaking through his shirt, as Boomer emerged from the shadows, his face a mask of grim determination.

“Thank you.” Phoenix’s gaze locked on Boomer’s. He’d saved Ellie’s life, and probably his too.

His friend nodded. “You’d do the same for me.”

He would have. That much was true.

Ellie gasped and spun around. “Boomer! You’re alive. Oh, my God. You’re really alive?”

He chuckled, the sound almost foreign in the tension. “Yeah, although at one point I didn’t think I was going to make it.”

“How did you?” Phoenix asked. “I saw that bomb go off. I thought it was game over.”

“It was a directional charge, rigged to blast upwards to target the structure. That's how I managed to escape the worst of it,” he said. “Not to get too technical, but when the charge blew, I threw myself behind a bulkhead. The force was massive—enough to knock me out cold, but the bulkhead shielded me from shrapnel and the worst of the shockwave."

“You’re lucky you didn’t drown,” Ellie breathed, her voice a mix of awe and concern.

“The cold water hit me like a wall, jerking me back to consciousness. I floated, disoriented, until I grabbed onto some debris.”

“How the hell did you get here?” Phoenix asked, still holding Ellie close as if she might disappear if he let go.

“The other lifeboat was still intact,” he said. “Or mostly intact. I plugged a few holes and rowed here. I knew the island was only a couple of miles out, I’d seen it from the chopper on the flight over.”

“Amazing,” Ellie breathed. It was good to see her smiling again, even if it was small and fleeting.

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