you want this life is up to you, but it will be offered nonetheless.”
For a long moment the assassin gazed at him, as if searching for trickery. For spite. “Why are you helping me—again?”
“I need you healthy and alive to answer my questions.”
“Ask fast, because I plan to shut down my systems—permanently.”
“I’m afraid you’re too human for that now.”
The REEF tried to sit up but he grunted in pain. His eyes rolled back in his head, his body going rigid.
“Seizure!” Cavin shouted, but the Gatekeeper and the Handyman were already there. A mouth guard was thrust between the REEF’s teeth to keep him from injuring his tongue. The Handyman used his strength to hold the assassin’s still-powerful body in place until the convulsions finally passed.
Once more, he was unconscious. “He needs to sleep,” the Gatekeeper warned sharply.
“I must learn what he knows first.” Cavin had to find out who the woman was who’d argued with Jared. “The fate of Earth may depend on it.”
The Gatekeeper’s mouth stretched into an unhappy line, but she did as Cavin asked. This time it took more meds to awaken the REEF. When he finally regained consciousness, he opened his eyes for only a moment before squeezing them shut. “Still here, I see. With each seizure, I expect to die. Luck isn’t on my side.”
Cavin begged to differ, but he knew that if he didn’t ask his questions soon, he might forever lose the chance. Complicated as it was to explain, he took a few minutes to tell the REEF of his history with Jana, his reason for coming to Earth. “I didn’t know why they sent you after me, but I finally figured it out. Either they didn’t want me marrying Queen Keira or they didn’t want the queen marrying at all. Both point to turmoil in our government at the highest levels. I aim to exploit that turmoil to save Earth. What can you tell me of those who gave you the kill order?”
“It came via the Ministry of Intelligence, inserted anonymously into my internal command center. That’s all I know.”
“Yesterday, we powered up your ship. The display opened to a woman. Fit, long, brown hair, possibly brown eyes. She lost her temper not once but several times. Does that resemble anyone you know? REEF or human.”
“No REEF would be that undisciplined. And the description doesn’t match anyone with whom I have had official contact.”
“It remains a puzzle, then.” Cavin let out a disappointed sigh. “I want to know who she is.”
The Gatekeeper’s hand came to rest on Cavin’s shoulder. “You must let him rest,” she said. “I don’t know how many more seizures he can suffer before…”
“As many as it takes,” the assassin whispered hoarsely in English.
The Gatekeeper pursed her lips, her eyes shining. “No more of that. When you leave here, it’s going to be out that front door on your way to a new life.”
But not before Cavin and Jana took the next steps to protect the REEF from certain secretive elements in Earth’s government. A chance to open up REEF’s body and study his bio-engineering, even without his forearm gauntlet attached, would be a temptation they couldn’t resist. Luckily, Cavin and Jana had already come up with the perfect hiding place: with Jana’s sister Evie and her children in a place no one would ever guess—suburbia.
Three days later, in the family room at the Jasper ranch, Jana’s phone chimed. She ignored it. Dabbing her eyes with a tissue, she leaned into Cavin’s embrace as they watched old videos of Grandpa.
Jared sipped a scotch and soda as he offered up his shoulder as a mop for Evie’s tears. He didn’t mind. Comforting her kept him from getting choked up from the sound of the women in his family weeping. He was okay on his own or in the company of men, but put him around the crying women and he was done for.
A moment after Jana’s phone sounded, Cavin’s went off. He briefly met Jared’s questioning gaze before discreetly taking a look at the caller. Jana and Cavin’s burner phones were high-tech twins designed to keep the two most important people to Earth’s future tethered to world leaders.
Cavin had been airlifted by an unmarked chopper only that morning to and from the top-secret location in Nevada where they were nursing the badly injured ex-assassin back to health. Supposedly, the guy was on suicide watch. Everyone in the family had mixed feelings about that. Evie wanted him dead, and even more