Chapter 30

The buzzingof my phone jars me awake. I grab my phone and am disappointed when I realize it's not the alert I set up, so I'd know when Draven landed. Instead, it's a message from Zayn asking for an update. Sighing, I roll out of bed and head into the other room.

I drop my phone on the desk, then move to the kitchenette Draven installed. He'd said something about convenience, making it more likely I'd eat something other than junk. I don't know what the man's hang up is about food and sleep, but he harps on it all the time. Since I've fallen hard for the man, I just roll with it.

I grab some water and decide to heat up one of the meals Draven prepped for me before he left. Just as I reach for the handle on the fridge door, a notification sounds on the alert I have set. Spinning on my heel, I race back to the screens.

My eyes scan the incoming info quickly. I finally have the confirmation I need. With each page I skim, the bud of hope that popped up blooms into a fucking botanical garden of elation and I yell, "Booyah, baby!"

I throw my arms in the air, my back arching as I spin in place. The spinning turns to dancing when I flip on the music. I bebop around the room in time with the beat.

"I found your ass, Elijah Monroe! You and Samuel can get fucked because the Society is coming for you!"

I grab the comms unit and shoot off texts to Everly and her men and to Zayn and his partners.

SECURE: T

Found him!

Messages pour in, praising me for the work I've put in. All of it makes me giddy with excitement, and I wiggle my happy ass back to the fridge with my tablet in my hand. I grab a container from the fridge and pop it into the microwave.

While the microwave buzzes and spins, I stand at the counter, going through the images thoroughly, making sure I've memorized it all.

"You've gotta be kidding me?" I ask no one.

There's no fucking security.

None.

Nada.

Nil.

Zilch.

"Are they fucking stupid?"

I chuckle. This will be like shooting fish in a barrel if I'm right.

The microwave dings and I plant my happy ass on the couch, going through cameras in the area to confirm the lack of security. I can't find a single camera inside the building. The ones I find in the area are all on the same network, but it's not a private one, and the cameras aren't facing the way they'd need to be for them to be used to surveil the building.

Pulling up thumbnails of all the video feeds, I go back over the footage for the last few weeks. There's activity in the area that is indicative of the Order's type of business. First there's the semis and box trucks and then the luxury sedans and SUVs roll are rolling in. All the fancy pants vehicles coming and going all at once.

"Are they operational enough to be running an auction?" I murmur around the food.

The camera angles fucking suck because I can't get a single usable image on any of the drivers or see if they have any passengers. Growling, I keep shoveling food in my mouth as I rewind and go frame by frame on the cars that arrive and leave as if they are coming in for an auction.

Owen always held them at the Order's headquarters, but since we blew it to smithereens, this must be where they're holding them now.

I chuckle. Those filthy rich assholes probably aren't too happy with the lack of amenities in the warehouse. When Owen hosted an auction, there was caviar and champagne and waiters in next to nothing serving canapes on silver platters. To go from high class to the dregs of society has got to be hurting their bottom line.

SECURE: E

It's time. You ready?

Jumping up, I send off a reply before ditching the last of the food in the trash. I drop the container in the sink, then race through a shower and getting dressed. Before heading to the weapons room, I grab all my gear.

Walking into the weapons room, Everly and her men gather, pulling out gear and dropping it on the table sitting on one side of the room.

"Where's Zayn?" I ask, taking up a spot on the other side of the room.

"On his way," Everly says.

When everyone is gathered, I connect my tablet to the monitor hanging on the wall.

"So, this is the last known location," I say as I throw the images up on the screen.

Zayn and the others move closer, and I let them in on the best part.

"Apparently, the guy thinks he's invincible, or at least untraceable, because I can't find any information on security."

They all turn and look at me, and I smile. "Total dumbass," I say.

Chuckles and snorts fill the room. I join them as I give them the last piece of intel.

When things quieten, I continue, "And this is everything I could find on him." More images fill the screen and I say, "I'll be sending all this to your devices."

All of them crowd around the screen and it makes me bonkers. If they would use the devices and tablets that I've provided them, they wouldn't need to be packed together in front of the monitor like sardines. Shaking my head, I continue going through the information.

When I'm through, I lock my tablet and turn off the monitor while waiting for further instructions.

"Thank you, Tavish," Everly says before she turns to West and Nova, informing them they're both staying at headquarters.

Oh, shit!

My eyebrows hit the middle of my forehead. That's going to go over like a box of rocks. Sure enough, Nova refuses to stay behind and demands to go. As all of them argue back and forth, I step back out of the way. The lot of them can be hotheads, and I have no desire to be caught in the middle of a bunch of pissed off assassins.

"Tavish," Everly calls my name and when I look at her, she says, "Restrict their access."

"Full restriction?" I ask.

"No. Just elevator access will be fine."

I do as I'm told. "Okay, done," I say once West and Nova's access levels have been switched.

Nova asks what's happening and I go back to my intel, blocking out the continuing argument at least until I hear them yell, "Wait! He gets to go?"

Wait! What?

I don't go out in the field. Never. Ever. I'm not a Ghost. I'm not trained.

Nova shouts, "Are you fucking kidding me? This is complete bullshit!"

I couldn't agree more.

Nova storms out and West grumbles at Zayn about not giving them a heads up before he follows Nova.

This isn't fucking good. This isn't good at all.

Minutes later, I'm climbing in the back of a van with Zayn, Everly, Damon, Rayth, and Killian. Everything in me is screaming ABORT! Yet there's no pause button. This isn't a video game. This is real life and Daddy is going to whip my ass until I'm black and blue. He made me promise I wouldn't do something like this without him.

Yet here I am.

Rayth says, "Almost there."

My anxiety ratchets up a dozen or so notches.

"Everyone clear on the plan?" Everly asks.

I'm not sure what plan they"re fucking talking about. I don't remember a discussion or a planning meeting. I just remember being told I was leaving the mansion and going out into the field. I don't know why the fuck I needed to be here. Everything I do for the Society can be done remotely. As in, not the fuck out in the field. I don't even have a gun. And even if I did, I wouldn't know how to use it.

Fuck! This is bad. This is very, very bad.

The others are talking about kissing and making up and offering advice to Zayn on how to get back in Nova and West's good graces.

I mumble, "Candy is always a good option. I'd say chocolate, but that shit's nasty."

Zayn laughs. "You just want to add to your stash. Besides, what do you know about relationships? In all the years I've known you, you've never exactly seemed the dating type."

My face gets hot and I look back at my laptop.

It's kinda hard to date when you"re a sex slave.

Swallowing, I focus on the screen in front of me. That's my comfort zone outside of the cocoon Draven creates for me. So I ignore the creepy feeling of being watched and make sure I have the security feeds loaded and that everyone is ready to go.

When the van rolls to a stop, Rayth says, "Alright, everyone ready to do this?"

I nod along with everyone else, but no, I am not ready to fucking do this. Whatever this is.

Zayn and the others pull on their masks, then Zayn says, "Let's fuck him up."

I watch as they pull together the rest of their gear and put in their earpieces. After I do the comms check I could've done from my computer desk, they move out of the van. They're crazy if they think I'm going with them, so I stay put. I'm not leaving this fucking van unless I absolutely have to.

I check the security feeds. "Okay. I'm still not seeing any security, but keep an eye out just in case." Tapping a few more keys, I check a couple more things before giving them the go ahead. "Going dark. I'll be able to hear you if you need me, but don't say anything else unless it's necessary."

Everyone agrees and they head out to follow whatever fucking plan they put together that I fucking missed. I really wish I had my stash of junk food now. That would really help my anxiety.

Minutes pass and things seem to be going fine until I hear, "Could use some backup."

Scanning all the feeds, I see Zayn drop to his knees, surrounded by the police. A couple of the cops swarming the room and the one in the room is familiar to me. They'd been on Owen's payroll, and it seemed like Elijah had roped them into his game plan.

"On it. Rayth, you're the closest. But be careful. The place is swarming with cops now."

Rayth responds, but I don't have the time to keep up with what's going on with them because there's movement on one of the other cameras.

Pulling that feed up on the screen, I watch as a car comes speeding toward one of the other warehouses. It's not close, a couple of miles away, but it's moving fast. Usually, the area is deserted. That car shouldn't be here. When it stops, I shake my damn head.

You've gotta be fucking kidding me.

Nova and West climb out of the car and head into the building they've parked in front of.

How the fuck?

I don't know how they managed to get out of the mansion. I double checked their access before we left because Zayn wanted to make sure they stayed put. Reaching for my tablet, I check the feeds from the mansion and find the culprit easily. Fucking Calista let them out.

So much for keeping them safe.

Before I can warn anyone, Everly's voice filters in through the earpiece.

"Everything okay?"

Rayth responds so I flip back the feed showing them. "No. We found him, but they've got Nova and West somewhere."

Everly gasps, "Fuck. How? Doesn't matter. Tavish, we're coming out now. Get their location."

I respond, "You got it, boss," and send the information to Everly's device.

"What a fucking clusterfuck," I whisper, taking a deep breath and dropping my head into my hands.

The back doors of the van burst open.

"There you are."

To be continued…

Breaking the Code concludes in Escaping the Code