“This doesn’t make sense.” Howard Holiday folded his arms and waited. Times had changed since the last time he has seen this man, much less took orders from him.

“She is my only weakness. She has absolutely no idea anything is wrong and I would like to keep it that way. The Omega Team is already working my situation and I assured them that my daughter did not need to know about this.  I explained that I had already made arrangements to provide her with a body guard for the next two weeks.” Retired General Ryan Craig hadn’t lost one edge since his transition from military service to politics.

“You know that I’m not in the Marine Corps anymore and I’ve applied for a job at The Omega Team.” Howard considered this a moment. “You aren’t giving me my recommendation unless I do this, right?”

The General shrugged. “I’ve made several mistakes in my life, Holiday. What I did to you and Phoebe was one of them. I don’t trust any other man with the safety and care of my daughter. If you keep Phoebe occupied for the next two weeks while this situation is handled, then I will not only give you a glowing recommendation, but point out that you were my choice to handle her while they handled me.”

“What exactly are they handling? It’s Christmas. You are expecting me to meet your daughter at a ski resort for the holiday. What happens when this goes wrong? We both know you haven’t told her you won’t be there, and I know for damn sure you didn’t tell her I would. So how do you see this playing out?” It took a lot to hold back the word sir at the end of that.

He had called this man sir for many years when he worked for him. He didn’t work for him anymore unless he took this assignment, but the part of Howard that wanted to see Phoebe was also the part that knew she would never forgive him for choosing his career, under orders from her father, instead of her. Maybe she was right not to forgive him. He had excelled in the military, but suffered in his personal life. A fact he realized when he was up for the next promotion and decided it was no longer worth it. There was more to life than the military.

Retired General Craig stood steely eyed and silent for a long moment while he considered his answer. “I have some information some unsavory people want. Let’s just leave it at that. The less you know, the less I have to worry that if something happens to me they will seek out…”

“They will seek out anyone and everyone they believe you may have given the information to and that might happen no matter what. You know this. You knew this when you attained whatever it is you know. You never put her first in your entire career in the military and now you have a chance to retire, go fishing, spend time with your daughter, and you get involved in this political circus and wind up with whatever it is you know, and she is still the only one to pay for it.” Howard would never have said that before, but he didn’t care now. He hated this man for what he did to Phoebe and for convincing him all those years ago to do the same.

“You love her.” It was a statement of fact and it hung there between them without response until he continued. “Take care of my daughter Holiday. By any means necessary, you keep her at that resort and you keep her safe. You will put her first, you always did.”

“I failed her.” It was never a lawful order and they both knew it. The man could not tell him who he could nor could not see, but the threat of stalling Holiday’s career if he continued to see Phoebe was enough back then to sway Holiday to break up with her. He never expected it to haunt him like it did. As soon as she was out of his life, he understood how much she meant to him.

“Don’t fail again.” He handed him an envelope and turned away. “Two weeks, Holiday. Whatever it takes, you have to keep her off the radar, off the grid, for two weeks.”

Howard wondered just how much his new employers knew about the General’s plans. He would make the call to Athena and Grey when he left this meeting. He had other recommendations, and while this man’s would have been an important one, he suddenly felt like asking for it had led Retired General Craig to the Omega Team which he was now employing for his own purpose rather than giving a stellar recommendation. 

***

Howard arrived to the ski resort, which actually turned out to be a remote cabin in the woods, and began the process of disrupting access to the outside world. He set up the equipment in the small attic and then situated his surveillance gear in a closet before removing the handle and putting tape over the door to make it appear useless. He had his watch, which could access the cameras, receive messages, and even act as a phone if necessary, but he hoped it would not be necessary. He was already happy and worried about the amount of snow being dumped on the place. He was happy because it would be a great excuse for why nothing was working, but worried because Phoebe had not arrived yet. He looked at the watch and understood why; she wasn’t due for another three hours.

He looked out the window and wondered how he was going to go get her if it came to that. All of his super-secret security shit handled, he made himself useful in the kitchen. They had enough food for a month and a box of meals ready to eat stored in a trunk should that month come to pass and they still needed to be here. He was not sure two weeks was going to be enough. None of it made sense to him.

The call to the Omega Team had verified that they knew the man had a daughter, but he had lied to them and told them she was out of the country. They were not happy with the lie, but Athena assured him that sometimes people are afraid of telling their family when they are in trouble so it could still be his way of trying to protect her, after all, he did make arrangements for her safety.

It didn’t add up to Howard. He used a decent chunk of the money he was given as payment on extra gear to protect this place. Seeing Phoebe again might have him on edge, but when he explained to Athena the entire history, no holding back truths, she had agreed the extra precautions made sense and they would keep digging to see if there was anything new to worry about. As he continued to work on the meal for dinner, Howard thought about every escape plan available should they need to leave by vehicle, by snowmobile which he had strategically hidden, or by foot which he really hoped was not the case. The alternative, the attic had a secret room, but that was where all of the gear was so there would be no hiding the truth from her then.

He wasn’t sure he wanted to hide the truth from her now. As he debated it, the motion detector went off and his watch buzzed. He looked at it, then out the window where minutes later he watched her pull up in a luxury SUV. Her father spared no expense as a means of making up for his shortcomings. Over the years Phoebe had turned those things away. Howard tried not to smile as he wondered if she had started to take them after their breakup. Then he frowned wondering if he had been so easily replaced by things.

His entire body sizzled with anticipation.