XI

Fifty-thousand feet in the air was a terrible place to try and make an escape. It wasn't a bad place to build an escape plan, though. Jericho didn't fear getting arrested or going to prison. His lack of a real identity would help with a lot of legal matters. The only thing they could charge him with was what happened in St. Louis, but nothing else. Of course, the one time he wasn't in full control of his actions.

The secret identity not only protected Jericho, but also protected those close to him. Not family. He didn't have that anymore; not officially. But there were people in his life he did need to protect. Namely Rich Weaver and the employees of Cherry Vale. They had no idea they worked for a guy like him. Rich probably knew his boss wasn't entirely honest about things, but he had no idea what the Advantage Treatment was.

There were other people that needed protection as well. The clients. The people so desperate for restitution and retribution that they sank a whole lot of money into Jericho's services. For as much intimidation and trickery as he used on them, it was all for their benefit. If he went down, which at this point seemed likely, they needed to stay hidden. But Jericho wasn't worried about them. Not yet anyway.

When Nashida grabbed him, he used the name Jericho. One of a thousand code names he'd taken over the years. Sure, it was his favorite, but the man called Jericho officially died more than a decade ago in Kabul. The only people that even knew that name were old co-workers. That meant the leak had to come from Blackfire. Maybe the Prince himself. Of course, if the Prince wanted Jericho gone he could send a hundred mercs to his doorstep. It was a lot less work than all of this chicanery, which wasn’t the Prince’s style. This was one of a thousand questions that needed answering when he eventually got out of this.

And there was no doubt he was getting out of this.

He just needed to figure out how.