Page 82 of Fallout

“We need to get in therenow.” Jasper turned to the front door, feeling as much fear for the people inside as he felt leaving Destiny. They were good people, the kind who worked every day to make Benson a better place to live.

A place where innocents didn’t have to worry about a criminal kingpin.

Agent Veers said, “Might want to stand back.” His tone was laced with amusement.

Jasper took two steps, and the house ignited. Windows blew out with a fireball. The door exploded, flung out, and nearly hit him. He flew back with the force of the blast. The door clipped his boot, turning his ankle an odd direction.

He slammed onto the ground, and everything went black.

THIRTY-SIX

Destiny had lost track of Richard a while back, after she’d seen him shaking hands with the guy who ran this entire fancy campus medical center. Evidently, it was more than one building, and they had a more remote residential building in the mountains.

Now that she had seen images of it, she knew that enrolling his wife in their program wasn’t anything like locking her away in a scary facility. Mental health had come a long way. She might even feel like she was at a high-end resort.

The Famous Ones had been in and out, and they were texting her. She got the impression they wanted to be inside talking to her rather than on guard duty, but they were doing their job on a rotation. Allyson came in now and took the spot beside Destiny with a huge Frappuccino that looked yummy.

She eyed Destiny. “No caffeine for you.”

“Don’t remind me.”

“Good, then let’s talk about Jasper.”

Destiny pressed her lips together. “There’s a criminal mastermind in Benson trying to undermine Vanguard at a time when the company has never been more vulnerable, and you want to talk aboutJasper?”

A couple of Vanguard staff members glanced over.

Most had gone back to the office after she’d told them what Richard had said. They were determined to shore things up, make sure everyone was good. Cover all the things Simon usually took care of, except that he’d been kidnapped by that same guy.

“You’re spinning out.” Allyson sipped her drink. “Calm down, honey.”

“Did you just tell me to?—”

Allyson chuckled. “Maybe you do need caffeine. It might calm you down.”

“Simon is?—”

“I’ve got some friends out looking for him.” Sip.

“What friends?—”

“They’ll find him sooner or later. Plus, there’s theseotherfriends, and they can find him in different ways. Like online.” Sip.

“You guys are insane.”

Allyson smiled. “Thank you.”

“That wasn’t a compliment.” Her phone buzzed. Multiple notifications showed up. Destiny scrolled through them. “EMS is pulling people out of the house they believe the kingpin owns.”

“Marcus Harper?”

Destiny didn’t have time to ask how she’d put that together. The Famous Ones hadways. They got the job done, and she didn’t ask how because it was better to not know. “So far, they have only minor injuries. One broken leg. One concussion. The FBI’s tactical team was in the house when it blew, but after they figured out they couldn’t get out, they knew something was going to happen. They found the explosives, and their guy outside was trying to get a door or window open somehow.”

“So, no one is dead? That’s pretty good.” Allyson slurped her drink. Her smart watch buzzed, and she looked at the screen. “Huh.”

“Anything you wanna tell me?”

“Maybe later.”