Angelo wasn''t known for being merciful but this time he decided to be nice and let Avery rest by taking over her food deliveries to Leah. She didn''t see the woman for two weeks.


    In that time she had gotten a rather vague update from Angelo that all of the scientists and their families were being taken care of but didn''t get details until she was chatting with Leah, who knew much more about it than she did. The perks of being the one in charge of the money, she supposed.


    "If I know anything about Nn he''s very angry right now," she confided in a low voice as she watched her children y with the kic sand Avery had brought from the living room. "Especially since there isn''t anything that can be done about it.


    "Angelo was very thorough. There hasn''t been so much as a peep in the news about what happened. Nobody connected three randombs being destroyed in one night in different states at all but I bet he knows there''s someone gunning for him.


    "Not knowing who will drive him crazy. That might make him sloppy, which will be our best chance to take him down for good. At this point it''s only a matter of time. Especially since we''re already working on our next n."


    What a callous way to talk about your husband! Though Avery couldn''t me her. What little she knew of Leah''s marriage did not sound happy.


    She didn''t even want to think about the next n. At least they wouldn''t be as rushed and she wouldn''t have to worry about it until after the month of January was over. Angelo had promised.


    "He won''t be able to retaliate," she said confidently. "You''re right about that. You can''t retaliate when you don''t even know who you''re up against. All he can do is try to put up more security measures. But even the best security can be broken into with enough nning and manpower."


    "Speaking of manpower, you were amazing! I can''t believe you destroyed all three of thosebs back to back by yourself," Leah said in awe.


    Avery shrugged. "It was no big deal."


    "It was though! I could never do what you do."


    "It''s more my dad''s suit than me. I''m just the pilot. Anybody could do it with a little practice. I''m just the one the biometrics are programmed to. You give me far too much credit."


    "And you give your far too little," Leah insisted. "Every time you go out you''re putting yourself on the line forplete strangers. Just because you think it''s the right thing to do! There''s a heart of gold underneath that suit and it''s all you."


    Avery thought she might cry. People didn''t tell her things like that very often. Was this what it felt like to be a hero instead of a viin? The only other people who appreciated what she was doing where the insulin delivery recipients and she hardly ever ran into them. Most of what she did was thankless.


    Thankless and degrading. The man she loved thought she was a bad person for doing it. That hurt more than she could say.


    "You better quit while you''re ahead so I don''t cry," Avery told her.


    rm shed across Leah''s face. "I''m sorry! Did I say something wrong? I appreciate everything you have done for me, especially letting me stay at your apartment and—"


    "You said something right. It''s me who''s wrong."


    Leah seemed confused by this. "How are you wrong? What you''re doing is technically illegal but people like Nn need to be stopped. If you won''t do it who will? Did someone say something to you? Because you can''t listen to them!"


    Avery wished she could. That her convictions would be enough to counteract what Christian thought. She had tried her best to push off any negativity from him because he didn''t know or understand what she was up to. It had worked for a while but the closer they got to the wedding she became more terrified of losing him if he found out the truth.


    The worst part of all of this was that she couldn''t talk to a single person about it. No one else knew both her and his secret identities. Angelo might actually kill her if he knew she was nning on marrying Mercury.


    "I''m fine," she said in a way she hoped she was reassuring. "Just being down on myself. Don''t worry about it, Leah. I shouldn''t have said anything."


    "…are you sure?" the older woman askedpassionately.


    Avery gave her a brave attempt at a smile. "Yeah."


    Leah sped her hands suddenly and whispered, "It''s okay if you''re not. You''re allowed to have a hard time, you know. Goodness knows I am. I''m trying to be grateful I''m alive but it''s warring with the part of me that hates being locked up with my children and never getting a break. The homeschooling andck of exercise other than Just Dance is driving me crazy!"


    She couldn''t help but let out augh. She couldn''t even imagine being stuck in a stranger''s apartment after losing her lifestyle and being on the run. Leah had an rmingly good attitude about the whole thing.


    "I''m so sorry! Do you want me to bring you guys more to do?"


    "It''s alright. The best thing you can do for me is destroy Nn so we can step foot outside again. Just keep doing what you''re doing."


    Avery nodded, a lump in her throat. There were a lot of people depending on her. She couldn''t be down on herself just because Christian—who didn''t have all the facts—would never support her if he knew.


    "I will. I promise. I''m going to make it so the three of you see the light of day again."


    She had to do this for a lot of people. Those who had died. Those who wanted to live. Nn Hunsacher and his cronies had destroyed a lot of lives. There was no bringing back what was lost but things could be made better for those who were left behind.


    Freedom. Real freedom. Freedom to live without being controlled from the shadows. Freedom to not have to choose between going into debt or getting medical treatment.


    This was why Avery did what she did. She couldn''t lose sight of that and be selfish. If it came down to the wire…if she had to choose between being Nox and being with Christian…she was going to have to break her own heart and choose the former. Her convictions may have been shakentely but this reminder of why she did what she did had helped strengthen her resolve.


    Of course, she fervently hoped it didn''te to that. That she could fulfil her mission and live happily with him for the rest of her life.


    She owed it to her dad to see his wishes fulfilled but didn''t she also owe it to him to be happy? She was sure that was what he had wanted for her. He had loved her so much!


    Avery sighed. This sort of thinking never got her anywhere. She should just take Leah''spliment for what it was and keep moving forward. No need to get overly emotional about anything else in the process.


    ===


    Nn Hunsacher very angry about what was going on. Furious, in fact. He had realized someone was out to get him as soon as the secret room containing the mind control files had been destroyed. The problem was that he didn''t know who had done it.


    The amount of infiltration required to pull that off was mind-boggling. When he went looking for the only people who could have been involved to interrogate them he realized that a few had gone missing. Vanished off the face of the earth. He was up against someone truly formidable if even he, with all of his resources, couldn''t find them.


    Controlling a country from behind the scenes took a lot of work. He had so much to oversee that it wasn''t possible to notice patterns before then.


    After it happened he looked into who might have done this…who had been causing trouble in other business interests of his…but there was too much to sort through. That was the problem with owning virtually everything.


    How was he supposed to find any sort of pattern when he owned everything from healthcare to agriculture to the national power grid? Too much happened in all of those sectors on a daily basis!


    He tried to focus his search in New York after that at the very least because that was where the room had been. He had people wading through all of his holdings there and wasn''t able to find anything conclusive before another very simr bombing happened in a factory all the way across the country in California.


    No evidence left behind. Nobody saw iting. No video proof. Just like the first time. It was the exact same MO.


    The guards from both ces (before they were fired and cklisted from all Hunsacher Inc.panies) said they were spared from the st by someone in a ck suit with a robotic male voice but the details were hazy. The same person had to be involved!


    But where were they? <em>Who</em> were they?