Page 90 of Lethal Weakness

“What is that?”

“OxyContin.”

“No thanks.”

He shrugs. “The pain will hit you soon now that your adrenaline is dropping. Rotate acetaminophen and ibuprofen.”

“I’ll take you to Avery.” Jack leans in to lift me, but I stop him.

“I’ll walk.”

“Linden–”

I look at the black mask resting on top of his head. “Everyone has been lying to me. Everyone.” I look at him pointedly. “I’ll never be able to thank you enough for saving Avery, and me… But I still don’t even know who you really are, and I’m too broken inside to care to find out.”

He drops his head and nods. I stand as tall as I can, fighting the agonizing pain in my leg, and shuffle towards the hallway.

“Cut him some slack. Secrets keep us from getting killed.”

I turn my head to see who spoke, but nothing tells me who it was. They’re all looking, but I can’t see their mouths to get a read on them.

“Secrets keep loved ones from being killed,” the skull mask says. I can only tell because the voice is distinguishable.

“That’s why we don’t have any loved ones. Connections are a weakness,” the guy in the white mask says, finishing their uplifting speech.

“Come on.” Jack ushers me down the hall at a snail’s pace, and we pass a room with a wall full of computer equipment and another wall covered in weapons.

“Oh, my God.” I can’t believe I’ve been living next door to this entire time and didn’t know. No wonder he didn’t care that I lost his gun in the tall grass. He has dozens.

He opens the door to his room after punching in a code and lets me walk through ahead of him.

Avery is curled up in the center of the bed under a mountain of blankets as Barney sings on the T.V. The sight sends me to my knees as I buckle onto the mattress.

My baby.

I crawl to her, wrapping her in my arms as gently as I can.

“She was brave. I hated to leave her in here alone, but I knew you didn’t have much time.”

I feel softer now that we’re in this room alone, away from prying scary men. Even though I know now that Jack is one of them. He was my man in the mask all along.

“Thank you, Jack,” I say, admiring my sleepy girl. As angry as I am about everything, he saved us.

“Don’t thank me yet.” I glance up at him, and he continues. “I’m getting these guys into the mansion to finish this op, but I have a feeling that we won’t find the Scotts.”

“You think they ran?”

He nods. “It’s no longer safe for you here, Linden.”

I stare at him blankly, but my mind is already sprinting. Where can I go? What do we do?

“You and Avery need to go to a safe house until the Scotts are eliminated, and I know for sure they are no longer a threat to you.”

“I don’t have anywhere to go,” I admit.

“I know. But I do.”

“What? You’re taking us somewhere?”