Thunderstruck (Ramsey Security #1)

Holding back laughter, I do as I'm told while Troy stands stiffly six feet from me. Minka moves behind me and checks at how I have the gun leveled.

"You're aiming at his pretty face, but I want you to aim lower. You want to shoot at the largest section of a person. Aim for Troy's chunky middle."

Troy frowns at her, but I only smile. "I just enjoyed you naked. I know you're not chunky, so stop pouting."

"Yay!" Minka cries, mocking him with her fake frown. "Big pouting baby."

"When someone comes at you," Troy says, ignoring Minka, "you can't waste time aiming. I know that sounds wrong, but you aren't properly trained and wasting time trying to hit a specific target will make you vulnerable. You just aim at the largest part of the person coming at you and fire at it. Shoot as many times as you feel necessary."

Tears burning my eyes, I struggle against the panic rising inside me. "You were going to teach me to shoot."

"At the range but that takes time. Even if we could drive back and forth without concerns about them attacking, you'd need dozens of lessons to be ready to shoot confidently. This tactic will help you in a pinch."

Lowering the gun, I step back. "They're coming, aren't they? They'll come in here and kill us all."

"No," Minka says instantly. "They'll come, and we'll kill them all."

"You hope. You don't know though. I've brought the evil here, and it'll kill you."

Minka looks to Troy as if he has the power to fix my panic. He moves towards me and takes the gun from my hand. His arms around me do soothe some of my fear yet also reminds me of what I can lose.

"They're going to kill you," I whisper to him.

"No," he says with complete certainty.

Minka takes the gun while I sit next to Troy on the couch. He caresses my head pressed against his chest. His heart beats too quickly for him to pretend he's calm, Troy still manages to keep his voice steady.

"I love you, Darla," he says softly. "But you don't see me the way I really am. You look at Minka and me, and think we're good people who want to protect nice people like you. You're blind to the blood on our hands."

Frowning at him, I want to disagree. I've imagined him in his former life as a killer many times. I remain silent though because I desperately want to calm myself. The panic rises and falls inside me until I think I'll start screaming and never stop.

Minka sits across from us. "We're not so different than the men hired to take you back to Locke."

"Yeah, we're just better at our jobs."

"If he'd hired us, we'd already have you back to him."

"Why are you telling me this?" I whimper.

"So you'll see things clearly," Troy explains. "When those killers show up to start trouble, they'll face killers. We're not cops, and we don't care about the law. As much as I don't want to hurt innocent people, the people in this room matter more to me than a stranger. I'll do whatever the fuck I have to do to keep you safe. So when you think about Locke being scary, you need to remember we're scarier."

I look at Minka and then back at Troy. Despite what they say, I can't imagine them as the bad guys. When I think of them killing people, I assume their targets were bad people. Naive or not, I refuse to think of these two people as monsters.

My silence leads Minka to go check the cameras. She's tense but hides it better than Troy. His body remains tight, and his heart beats too quickly. The hard thumps remind me that even these professional killers worry about what's coming.

I suspect they're not really as scared of the bad guys attacking as they are of how I'll respond. I'm weak and easily frightened. Tears still wet on my cheeks, I promise myself I'll be ready when Locke's men attack. I'll do as I'm told, and I won't freak. As I did on the day I ran from Mister Pain, I'll remember to be Darla rather than Rose.





42


~~~

Darla

Storm Brewing

Downloading the Tom Petty song The Waiting, I set it on repeat while working on my puzzle. Troy smiles, but Minka doesn't. She claims Tom Petty's voice gives her menstrual cramps. I offer her some Midol and keep listening to the song.

An hour later, no one can take another chord. I turn off the music and eat chicken fried rice at the table with Minka and Troy. They take turns checking the security camera, and I imagine strapping on the bulletproof vest Minka brought to the apartment.

We play Uno for over an hour until Minka forfeits. "I've never played cards for this long, and it's a frigging kid game."

Troy studies me holding dozens of cards, and then he looks at his handful of cards. "You win. Can we stop?"

"No."

A long minute passes while Troy stares into my eyes begging for the game to end. The entire time I struggle not to laugh. Finally, I grin, and he knows I'm messing with him.

Troy stands from his spot on the couch and leans over to kiss me gently. Minka stretches nearby.

"I don't want to cramp your love life but leave the bedroom door open. If there's trouble, I don't want to waste time worrying if you can hear me."

"Sure, boss. Anything else you want to put your foot down about?"