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“So, when they got in, you slipped out.” Crew nods.
“No. Not quite. I got out before they regained control, then moved closer because I could hear them talking.”
“You what?” Creed curses.
“I know, I’m sorry, but I didn’t know if it was you all coming for me.”
“Did you see who it was?”
I shake my head. “No, I didn’t get close enough. But I recognized his voice. It was the main boss. Or the Boss Man, as we all referred to him. I have no idea what his real name is. The orderly had told Emma he was on his way. I think that’s why she did what she did.”
“How did you get out before they got in?” Salem asks, rubbing Aries’s back.
“They didn’t know the override code.”
“How is that possible?” Hawk asks.
“Because somebody changed it without telling anyone.”
“Then how did you know it?” Zig asks.
“I remembered something Cooper said to me the day he left me behind.
You might not need it today or tomorrow—maybe you’ll never need it at all—but if you do, if you find yourself locked down, then the 8-digit key is home. Do you understand? Home, not the house—your heart.”
“What the fuck?” Slade frowns.
“Apex?” Astrid asks.
“It’s not eight digits,” Jagger murmurs.
“Oh yeah. I don’t get it then.”
“I almost didn’t either, and I wouldn’t have if it weren’t for my time in the war room looking over case files.”
“What was it?” Creed rubs his thumb over the back of my hand.
“72677487. It’s the numeric version of Scorpius, your codename. Apex was just a place. You guys are my home.”
“Why would Cooper do that? I’m so fucking confused,” Jagger growls.
“He cared about you. He was your Penn Travis, after all, and someone once told me that not everyone is all bad or all good. Even bad men can do good things occasionally,” Greg tells me with a small smile.
I lean back and nod, filling them in on everything that happened afterward—from making my way to the safe house to blowing it up.
“I’m glad you made it home safely, Avery,” Astrid tells me gently.
“Me too,” Salem agrees. “I’m sorry about James and Emma.”
“I don’t know what to say to Bella. She knows. She had a vision. But I just feel so guilty.”
“It wasn’t your fault,” Zig tells me.
I open my mouth to argue but snap it shut when he gives me a hard look.
“It wasn’t your fault, Avery. It was because of the boss, not you.”
“You’re right, but she told me—” I snap my mouth shut, remembering one more piece of information I need to give them.
