As we approached the compound, we didn’t see any signs of life, which somehow scared me worse. I leaned away from the trees, as if Henri’s men were waiting there, ready to jump out and shoot us. I had seen evil in my life, but usually it was in plain sight—most often right on top of me, pushed inside me, with its hand fisted in my hair. It was the quirk of cruel lips when my teacher met my father at parents’ night and told him how well behaved I had been. I wasn’t used to this subterfuge, to shadows that moved and sounds without a source, and I found I did not like them.
Which was confirmed when we heard the squawk of a handheld radio nearby, and I almost squeaked in response. Luke pushed me back into a corner, then Major covered us both, like shields made of flesh and bone. The other two men were entering at a different entry point on the perimeter.
The guys slowly came closer, and I could see the red light of a cigarette. I watched the light bob in his hand, bouncing with his step.
We were not actually hidden from sight, tucked against a cutout of the building. If it were broad daylight out, we would be completely visible. But our dark clothes melded with the shadows, and so we would be missed. Probably. Except I was the only one who could see the guys and the red pinprick of light.
Luke held his body against mine, his arms holding me in, his breath light against my ear. Major was holding him in, facing me, with his breath brushing faintly against my other ear from over Luke’s shoulder, so it looked like we were getting that threesome after all.
The two guards were maybe five feet away from us. If the guys noticed us, if they shot at us, Major and Luke could be dead before either of them realized they were exposed. Would they even hear anything? A slight scuff in the gravel as one of them raised his gun to aim. A high-pitched whine as the bullet zoomed near. Or maybe they’d just go down. One minute giving full-body hugs, the next—lights out.
I had known we were risking our lives here. That was what euphemisms like fighting chance and get your hands dirty really meant, after all—kill or be killed. So aside from the abject terror, I was feeling very suave and sexy about the whole thing. I had actually been shot before. Had Luke or Major been shot before? I didn’t know. Which meant I might have been the badass of the group, even if I didn’t get to have an earpiece. I did, however, have my gun in a holster at my side. That had been Major’s last stand. I could come, he agreed, but I had to be armed.
I liked him better after that.
I watched the guys come closer, drawing crazy red circles in the dark, like some sort of screen saver reenactment. My heart pounded; my throat was dry. My breathing sounded like a racehorse, and I thought they must have heard it. They must have seen the whites of my eyes, because Lord knew I was staring, frozen, unable to blink or look away. The two men in front of me were crouched over me, shielding my body with theirs, but I felt protective of them.
“Shhh.” A breath of a sound. Luke’s hands ran down my arms, softly, lightly.
I didn’t need his comfort. I needed him to stay alive. I should tell him to stop, but I was petrified, about to break down bawling, so I just stood there and shivered as Luke pressed a kiss to my temple.
“Almost,” he said, so quietly I almost couldn’t hear him. Just the sound, like a hiss but soothing. Almost what? Almost over, I guessed, but it wasn’t. This was only the beginning. We weren’t even inside yet.
“Hey,” the smoker said, waving his cig. “When the fuck do we have to get back?”
“A few minutes.”
“I’m so tired of that shit. At least out here, I can breathe.”
More waving of the red light. I was like a cat with a laser pointer, watching with bated breath.
The other guy coughed pointedly. “Maybe you can, but I can’t breathe for shit with all this smoke in the air. Jesus Christ, put that thing out.”
“Fuck you. Maybe if you had a drag, you’d stop being so uptight.”
“Excuse me if I don’t want to get my ass chewed out today.”
“Yeah, yeah, or maybe you’re looking to get a piece of ass. The amount of fucking time you spend with that girl. You probably spend half your paycheck.”
“Do I complain about where you stick your dick?”
One red circle, another. “I’m just saying this for your own good.”
“Yeah, well, for your own good, put that fucking light out. If someone sees us, we’ll get docked for being unsafe. And you’ll be paying me back for it.”
A snort. “So you can spend it on, what’s her name, Candace?”
The red light lifted. The guy took a long drag, then blew out just as slow, taking a final hit.