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“If I wish to be? Are you saying—what are you saying?” My heart leaps in my chest as I wait for him to clarify.
I worked for Maxwell for almost ten years. In some ways, I’m as guilty as he is. I should be spending my life behind bars.
Logan speaks slowly as he lays out what this means for me. “There are only a handful of us who know you’re alive. You’ve done more to Maxwell than any of us could, and we are offering you freedom. You are not a prisoner, nor anyone’s puppet, no matter which choice you make. Your first option, once Waldo gives you a clean bill of health, is to disappear. We’ll grant you access to a new identity and enough of Maxwell’s money to live out your life away from everything. Our only requirement is no hacking once you’re out. You are completely off the grid. I mean not even an email address, and no connection to Cypher.”
Logan pauses to watch me. I shift my eyes to Jack, my gleeful smile meets his frown, and the kicker hits me. “But you? And Dana?”
“There’s the rub. You would lose contact with both. You would be free, but alone.”
Pausing to let the severity of the situation sink in, Logan takes a long look at me before continuing. “I’ll be honest. The second option is the one, I think, we all hope you’ll choose. We’d like you to work here, with us.” I lean back and cross my arms at the thought of being used again, and Logan keeps talking. “You’d be a full team member. You would have access to everything. Link’s specialty is in tactical and operations control. He doesn’t have time to manage most of our clients’ digital requests on his own. His team is good, but they aren’t at your level. You could still choose the first option at any time—no strings attached. Link has asked me to stress that he really wants you. He’s been working with his team to learn from your breach. They’ve already put new procedures into place because of you. He keeps running around saying ‘WWJD.’”
“What would Jesus do?”
“What would Jessa do.” Logan chuckles. “The guy is your biggest supporter. I’ve told him he’s not allowed to fangirl you until you’ve made your decision, but he asked me to tell you he already has a”—he holds his fingers up in air quotes—“badasscode name for you if you’re interested.”
Jack and Logan settle into silence while I consider what lies in front of me. Both options offer me the kind of freedom I never thought I would have. I have no need to keep my guard up anymore. I have no plans to put into action and nothing more to run from. As I let the depth of my possibilities sink in, Logan pulls me out of my thoughts.
“Look, we’re offering you a new identity, a paying job, and a new family: us. This compound is a one-hour drive from our base. As an added incentive, you’d have all of our systems at your disposal to begin looking for Dana in your downtime. I know a certain someone who is hoping you’ll stay and help him find her.” At the reminder of Dana’s connection to Grizz, I smile. “Jessa, I’ll leave you two alone to talk your options over. I just want to add—”
“Option two,” I blurt.
“What?” Jack perks up beside me.
I don’t think he was ready for such a quick response.
“Being without you and Dana is no freedom.” As I look at Jack, I see it written all over his face: relief. “I’ll go wherever you are, if you’ll still have me.”
“Are you kidding me? Of course I’ll have you. I want toor somethingyou so much right now!” Jack bursts out of his chair and slides onto the hospital bed beside me, prompting Logan to prepare to make his exit.
“I’m happy to hear this, Jessa. Jack, you have ten minutes alone before I tell Waldo you aren’t following his orders. Starting now.”
CHAPTER39
JACK
(ALMOST ONE YEAR LATER)
At some point, I died.
That’s the only explanation I have for the bliss that hits me every morning when I open my eyes against the bright morning sun to find Jessa curled against me. My arms and legs wrap around her, cocooning her close.
With one hand, I carefully reach over to the nightstand for the remote. Pointing it at the coffeepot near the door that leads to an outside sitting area, I press the power button, and the little green light comes on.
The sun shines in through the floor-to-ceiling window facing the water. The previous owners of this property paid great attention to detail.
Our new and very private home is situated on a small cape that juts out into a lake at the foot of a mountain. It’s only accessible by floatplane. We wake up to our own sunrise every morning and eat dinner on the other side of our cabin with a new sunset every evening.
It is important to me that Jessa has as much freedom as she can without making herself a target. While she wouldn’t be able to live in a bustling metropolis, she had her pick of many destinations.
When we came across this listing, her choice was made.
In the end, Jessa and I chose a hybrid arrangement with Cypher. During the colder months, Jessa works with Link’s team on his secure base. I split my time between Logan’s compound and hers.
When the snow melts, we will work remotely from our new cabin.
I chuckle every time I say that because everyone knows we’re pretty much going to take four months off together each year.
They know how to reach us if it’s important.
