Chapter 242
760 Words
“Yes,” she said quietly. “My ex-husband isn’t a very nice guy and there was some… trouble at the beginning of the divorce. I bought the gun for protection.”
Sully stared at her, hard. The thought that her ex had done something to her that required Cordelia purchasing a firearm made him f*****g furious. Did he hit her? Attack her? Stalk her?
“Where is this fucker now?” he asked, his voice harsh.
She looked startled at his anger. “Jail.”
“Ah.” He calmed down marginally. “OK, then.”
“So, Cordelia,” Dallas said, trying to get the conversation back on track. “How good of a shot are you?”
“I’m not bad.”
Sully almost rolled his eyes. Cordelia was the Queen of Understatement, most especially so when it was her own skills or abilities that were in question. If she said that she was ‘not bad’ then he’d be willing to bet that she was actually ‘goddamn awesome’.
“You practice?” Dallas asked her.
“Never.” She shook her head. “I keep the gun locked up at home, and I take it out to the range maybe twice a year to get it checked over and to shoot a bit. But I don’t do anything on the regular.”
“Alright, then.” Dallas rolled his massive shoulders, trying to get rid of some of the tension he felt there; God, he hated this op and it hadn’t even started yet. “I want you and Sully to go out to the range today with your gun. Check it, make sure it’s OK, take some shots. Have Sully give you some pointers if he thinks you need it.”
She nodded. “Fine.”
“Anything else you want to ask me?”
“Not now.” She stood up. “I’ll take this file and read it through, make arrangements for my Mom to stay with Sean for a couple of weeks. If I think of anything else, I’ll ask.”
“Good.”
The men watched her walk out the door and they looked at each other. Sully had that look on his face, the one that usually meant trouble and Dallas sighed.
“What?” Dallas said. “What’s on your mind?”
“Why didn’t you tell me that Cordelia was qualified to carry?”
“When?” Dallas said, puzzled.
“Before Foxburg Falls. I said she couldn’t carry and wasn’t a trained operative, and you never corrected me.”
“I didn’t know then.”
“So how did it come up?”
“When I offered her the chance to train with Jack, and do more face-to-face work with clients and some field work as a profiler, I asked her if she was OK with gun training. It’s standard and it’s non-negotiable, and that’s when she said she was already a registered gun owner.” He shrugged. “It wasn’t required when she was the receptionist, but her role has changed.”
“I see.”
“Anything else?”
“Last thing: how are we going to get our guns and a briefcase containing a huge amount of cash on an airplane? We flying private?”
“You’re not. You’re driving to Kansas. It’s about twelve hours, which is one hell of a long drive, but you can do it in one day if you haul ass.”
Sully nodded. “Alright. That’s better for sure.”
“Damn right it is. You’ll take one of the work SUV’s since they’re all fitted with GPS trackers. We’ll know where y’all are every second so if things go bad, you get the hell out and away and hidden. We’ll find you and come and get you. I'll get the cash from the bank today, pull it out of the account that I've set aside for kidnapper negotiations, and I'll put a tracker on the suitcase, too.”
“OK, boss.”
“That’s it?”
“For now.” Sully stood up too. “I’ll get a few things done and take Cordelia to the shooting range.”
Dallas grinned. “Man, I’d pay money to watch that woman shoot a gun, I swear to Christ.”
“No kidding, right?” Sully shook his head. “What do you want to bet she’s great at it?”
“I ain’t taking that bet, man. I’d lose, as sure as the sun sets tonight.”
- Writer
