Page 90 of Protecting his Secrets

Malachi groaned and rose, rubbing his hip where he’d bashed it going down. He raced over to Nick. “Areyouokay?”

“Fuck, how did they know?” He looked through the window, squinting.

“I managed to send Felix an email.”

Nick stared at him for a moment. “You’re going to give me a heart attack every day, aren’t you?”

Malachi grinned. “Maybe.” He kissed him. “Let’s get you unlocked.” He went to turn, but Nick said his name again, the cuffs rattling when he reached for him and was stopped.

“Stay with me, sweetheart. You don’t need to see that. I can wait for reinforcements as long as I need to with you by my side.”

****

Reinforcements hadn’t taken long, and someone brought the keys over. By the time Nick was out of the cuffs—with red, painful gouges in his skin from where he’d tried to get free—someone had draped a cover over Jacobs, shielding Malachi from the vision of him dead. He wasn’t sure if he needed to see it, but he acquiesced when Nick said he didn’t.

Nick slid his arm around his shoulders and steered him towards the bedroom. After encouraging him to sit on the bed, Nick crouched in front of him. “How are you feeling?”

Malachi exhaled, long and loud. “Less shaky than I was. I’ve got a headache, though.”

Nick brushed his fingertips across his forehead, and Malachi could feel a bruise already forming. Having a gun-shaped bruise on his forehead was going to look wonderful. He shook his head,silently reprimanding himself, because at least he was alive. At leasttheywere alive.

“Talk to me, sweetheart,” Nick said, squeezing his hands. “What’s going through that clever brain of yours?”

Malachi scoffed. “I’m not feeling particularly clever. I didn’t even check the peephole before I opened the door. That was stupid.”

“Should you have checked the peephole? Yes. Would the result have been different? No, I doubt it because Jacobs would have found his way into the place some other way. And if he’d found a different way in, we’d be dead because he would’ve shot us on sight due to the amount of noise he would’ve probably had to make. You actually saved us.” Nick smiled. “How the heck did you get that email out?”

“When you started asking him questions, and he looked at you, I switched to email and sent one. It only said—”

“Nick’s home. Hostages,” Felix said, entering the room with a grim smile. “Best email I’ve ever received. How are you feeling, Kai?”

“Shaken, but I’ll be fine. Who was the sniper? I’d like to thank them for the countdown.”

Brett entered behind Felix. “Someone who prefers to remain anonymous. But I’ll pass on your thanks.”

“It’s okay,” Felix mumbled, glancing at Brett before looking at them.

“Felix…”

Felix smiled and shook his head. “It’s about time I stopped hiding, Brett. That sniper would be me.”

Nick stood, stared at Felix and said, “All those times…?” Felix tensed but nodded. Nick pulled the man in for a hug, and the expression on Felix’s face was nothing short of flabbergasted. “I can’t thank you enough for every time you’ve done it. Ican imagine how difficult you found it. Why…? Never mind. It doesn’t matter.Thank you.”

Felix nodded. “You’re welcome.” He pulled away and smiled at Malachi. “Chin up, yeah?”

Malachi nodded back. “Thank you.”

The strain on Felix’s face was easy to see, and Brett could see it, too, by the deepening lines on his face as he studied the man. Malachi probably had as many questions for Felix as Nick did, but in the end, it was nobody’s business but his. It was obviously something he didn’t want to talk about, and they would respect that.

Felix left with a wave, and Brett watched him before turning back to them. “I saw what you wrote on the laptop. Is that really what he was saying?”

“He was almost fanatical. Brainwashed. It’s like he had no concept of why someone wouldn’t want to go into the army.” He shrugged.

Brett closed his eyes, resting his head back against the doorframe in an uncharacteristic show of tiredness. “Some people don’t understand, no matter how many times you try to explain it.” He pushed off the doorframe. “Get some rest. I want you at Sec HQ tomorrow morning, bright and breezy.”

“We’ll be at Malachi’s if you need us.”

Brett nodded and disappeared. Malachi exhaled again.

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