Page 30 of Fallout

She slid her chair back.

Simon tapped keys, inputting a command that would connect the WiFi to his VPN at Vanguard. The screen went black, and green text scrolled. He put in several more commands.

“Is it supposed to do that?”

He tapped the last line and hit enter. The screen reverted to the web browser she’d had up, and he sent the file to himself. Then, he disconnected it all from his system and made her machine forget anything happened.

Too bad he couldn’t do that with all his bad memories. And mistakes.

“Done.” He straightened. “Thanks for your help.”

“Uh…you’re welcome?”

He strode out of the bank and into the bright sun and the chilly breeze. The winter weather suited him best. Heat only reminded him of growing up in Malaysia. Peter had moved on and “found God” for real. Like they hadn’t found Him as kids? Simon had learned painful lessons on what God was like.

Peter thought he should travel a similar path. But no. Going back to God would feel far too much like revisiting the worst time in his life.

Not. Gonna. Happen.

He checked the footage on the tablet he had in his car, using a program he’d written to add clarity to a grainy picture. The same program that had allowed the Famous Ones to find Destiny and rescue her. Just not before the worst had happened.

He had to push it aside, though. He couldn’t change the past. All he could do was work to make the best future possible. For everyone.

No one could ask more than that.

Not even the Almighty.

THIRTEEN

It was past six in the evening by the time Jasper headed up the elevator inside Vanguard, this time to the penthouse. He’d helped Samantha get April settled in the tiny apartment a couple of floors below.

He’d called Destiny more than once, but she hadn’t answered. Hopefully, she’d rested. He texted her, asking if he could come and see her, and she’d had Susan at the reception desk provide him with a card to get all the way to the top floor.

At least she lived in a place that was secure.

When someone had been after Roxie, they’d targeted her house. The one she shared with Destiny. He’d helped protect both of them. Then, when she was in Africa…

He had tried not to be a stalker, but she hadn’t messaged him back in a few days. He’d gone to Simon and asked for her phone to be traced. That was when Vanguard jumped on the situation, tying it to local incidents involving militia.

The Famous Ones, whom he didn’t know hardly anything about, had been nearby, and they deployed almost immediately. They’d saved her life.

So when the elevator doors opened and he was faced with a group of women who could likely snap him in half, he smiled. “Good. I was worried she was alone.”

They collectively shifted. Like a military unit that lived together, trained together, and deployed together.

One had a phone out. Petite, with jet black hair, she wasn’t the kind you’d mess with. “Simon got a license plate.”

The woman closest to Jasper twisted around. “We have a lead?”

The petite one nodded. “Move out.” While the others grabbed bags and coats from the floor on either side of the hallway, she turned to him. “If you hurt her in any way, shape, or form, I will kill you.”

He blinked. “You think no one would notice if I disappear?”

She studied him. Yes, she could definitely kill him if she wanted to. “Who says you would disappear?”

They all headed out a side door. Down the stairs? He wouldn’t volunteer to walk all that way, but maybe they were making a pit stop on another floor and going down from there. Whichever it was, the whole place was a lot lighter without a crowd of deadly women milling around. They probably thought up crazy schemes when they didn’t have a case to occupy them.

Jasper shut the door to the penthouse quietly, easing it closed. But Destiny wasn’t on the couch. Or in the kitchen. He found a sparsely furnished office. Then, a bedroom decorated in a lot of white—not his thing, but it was classy.

---