Free Second Chances by Andrea Speed, A.B. Gayle, Jessie Blackwood, Katisha Moreish, J.J. Levesque

May morning nearly ten years ago. Using his talents and skills to protect the interests of himself and his friends felt good, even managing to push aside the angst that would come later when he let himself think about Gil kissing Miles.
    If only I had just poked around in Vale’s computer systems I might have saved us all a lot of trouble
, Lyle thought to himself. He’d still been trying to live a quiet life then, though. Passing through without drawing attention had become second nature to him since he joined the witness protection scheme. Over the years he had learned how to turn a blind eye to a lot of stuff in an attempt to stay as safe as he could. This time had been different. This time there had been Gil.
    The memory of their date, that damnably awkward conversation about his gender reassignment, their lovemaking–all that meant that the scene between Gil and Miles cut deep. I should just delete it and hope for the best.
    Gil was so patient, persisting with me, not letting me go. Once he knew, once he understood, he took my current body in his stride. Then, when he and Miles came to me for help, I set aside my own rules. Stupid.
He shrugged mentally.
I could be staying here, oblivious and content, near to Richard’s remains.
    That’s going to be the hardest thing to accept in all of this, leaving Richard behind.
Lyle had scattered his husband’s ashes here, in this small town he would probably never see again. The place held memories of their life together, which was why when he’d seen the advert for a trainee mortician job he’d pounced on it.
Too perfect. I should have realised. Just like Gil.
    Lyle satisfied himself that the recordings were safely stored, as well buried as one of Vale’s enemies, but that he would still be able to get to them if he needed to. Then he shut down the house systems for a final time, making sure that the data left behind would be utterly useless and meaningless to anyone who might end up trying to unravel what he’d done on his last morning here. He really was
that
good, better than Eidolon realised, better than the FBI realised too. He chuckled again, contemplating the idea that if he ever was really up against it he could always offer to re-write the Bratva’s systems for them so that no-one could ever do to them what he and Richard had managed to do to the Italian Mafia.
    That reminded him, he would need to strip some of the gear from the house to take with him. Would he be able to get it past airport security?
Then again, they aren’t likely to be taking us out through JFK…
    Moving around without disturbing Breslaw was not easy. Lyle understood the man would be a light sleeper, being in his line of work. One of the things a woman learns, though, is how not to wake others, and once upon a time he had been good at it. He gathered his tools and quietly went about acquiring the parts he would need to set up surveillance at key points on the island once they got there. They made it look stupidly easy to bug a place on TV shows, but there were some items that Tyler had made sure were hidden more deeply, and he would need those bits too. Eidolon were not going to have this all their own way, he didn’t trust them enough for that. He’d been running long enough to know who his friends were, and this organisation wasn’t anywhere near making that list. Lyle figured that Eidolon might well search their bags, but there were places to conceal the small components he needed. The rest he could order in once they got there, using various excuses based around the ‘rescue work’ and general ‘home improvements’.
    It amused Lyle to find himself stripping parts out of sex toys in order to conceal the bits and pieces he needed. Eidolon might wonder at his collection, but they were unlikely to know the difference between one set of electronics and another, at first glance anyway. There’d be an element of luck involved too, but he couldn’t control that. If all else failed he