Atlanta, Wednesday, January 31, 11:55 p.m.
“Why are we here?” Alex asked. “I thought we were going back to your house.”
“Here” was Leo Papadopoulos’s firing range. “Luke’s brother runs this place. He gives a discount to all Luke’s friends from the bureau.”
“That’s very nice,” she said. “So why are we here?”
“Because… Dammit, Alex, Sheila Cunningham was holding a gun when she died.” And he couldn’t get the picture out of his mind. “She never fired.”
“Like my mother,” she murmured. “Is it a woman thing?”
“No, men do it, too. It’s a training thing. When you get scared you freeze up. You have to have all those behaviors, those habits, ingrained. You do the same thing in the ER. When a crisis hits, you go into autopilot mode on some things, don’t you?”
“Some things, yes. So are you going to train me, Daniel?”
“Not in one day. But we’ll come back every day until either you’ve built up some reflexes or this is over and you don’t need it anymore.”
“Is this place always open at night?”
“No. Leo opened it up for us. He owed Luke a favor. I called Luke to ask if we could come by while I was waiting for the vet to see Riley.” That the vet believed his dog was suffering from being poisoned simply added to the fury churning in Daniel’s gut. He’d benefit from a little target practice himself. “Come on, let’s go.” He came around and helped her from the car, then took her satchel from the trunk. “You still can’t carry this around town, you know.”
She nodded. “I know.”
“But you didn’t say you’d obey.”
She smiled, though it didn’t reach her eyes. “I know.”
He shook his head and held the front door open. “Just go inside.”
Inside, Leo Papadopoulos stood behind the counter. “Danny! And who is this?”
Leo was a few years younger than Luke and just as popular with the ladies. “This is Alex. Hands off, Leo.” He meant it as a friendly jab, but instead it sounded ominous.
Leo just grinned. “Hell, I already knew that. Mama told me all about Miss Alex.”
Alex looked up at him. “And how does Mama know? She’s never met me.”
“Oh, she will, don’t worry.” Leo flashed a dazzling smile. “She will. You can go on back. Luke’s back there already.” Leo’s smile faded. “I think he had a really bad day.”
“Yeah, well, that’s goin’ around,” Daniel muttered. “Thanks, Leo. I’ll owe you one.”
Back in the range, Luke stood in one of the stations, his ears covered and his face creased in a feral snarl. Alex frowned. “What’s wrong with him?”
“Luke works Internet sex crimes. Lately he’s been on a child protection task force. He’s been deep into a case the last two months. It’s not looking good.”
“Oh.” She sighed. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s the job,” Daniel said with a shrug. “Yours, mine. We have to flow with it, and Luke will, too. Here, put these on.” He handed her goggles and earmuffs, then opened her satchel and examined her gun. It was an H &K nine-mil, small enough to fit her hand comfortably. “This is a good gun. You know how to load it?” When she nodded, he added, “You know how to load it fast?”
Her chin lifted. “Not yet.”
“We can work on that later. For now, shoot.” He handed her the gun and stepped back and watched. In the station next to Luke, she took aim and fired methodically-and missed the target each time. He found himself justifiably concerned… and undeniably aroused. It was a hell of a thing to watch a beautiful woman with a good gun. Especially one who’d told you that making love with you was her happiest memory. Especially when you’d thought the same thing. He frowned, concern overriding his arousal. Especially when she couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn.
Luke stopped to watch. “Don’t close your eyes,” he said.
She lowered the gun and blinked. “Was I? Well, that’s scary.” She blew out a breath and set herself up to try again.
Luke came over, his eyes full of questions. “How is she?” he asked, low so Alex couldn’t hear. The question made Daniel angry-not at Luke, but angry just the same.
“Given that in the last few days she found out her sister was gang-raped and that her mother was murdered, not too bad.” Luke’s eyes widened and Daniel filled him in.
“Shit. Well, how’s Riley?”
“The vet said he’ll be okay.” He studied Luke’s eyes. “So, what happened?”
Luke’s expression smoothed to one of careful blankness. “It all went down today. We got a fix on three of the kids we’d been tracking through that kiddie-porn site.” He fixed his eyes on Alex, who’d managed to hit the target twice. “We didn’t get there in time.”
“I’m sorry, Luke.”
Luke nodded again. “Two girls and a boy,” he said, his voice steady, but without any emotion. “Sisters and a brother. Fifteen, thirteen, and ten. Shot in the head, all of them.”
Daniel swallowed, able to picture it only too well. “God.”
“We’d missed the perps by at least a day. We shut down the site, but they’ll just reopen somewhere else.” He was staring into space now and Daniel didn’t want to think about what he was seeing. “I need a break. Chase said you had a shitload of names to go through to get a profile on this posse.”
“We can definitely use you.” He clasped Luke’s shoulder. “Do you need anything?”
Luke’s lips twisted. “A key to hell. There’s no other place bad enough for those guys.” A muscle in his clenched jaw spasmed. “I see too many faces in my dreams.”
The fury that roiled inside him bubbled higher. “I know.”
Luke turned, his eyes bright with tears. “I have to go. Leo says you can stay as long as you want. When’s the morning meeting for your case?”
“Eight,” Daniel said. “In the team room.”
“Then I’ll see you tomorrow.” Luke packed up his gun and ammo and was gone.
Alex lowered her gun and pulled the muffs from her ears. “He’s not okay, is he?”
“No. But, like you, he will be. Put those back on.” He stepped behind her and positioned her arms. “Aim like this.” He showed her, keeping his arms wrapped tightly around her. “Now squeeze the trigger and keep your eyes open.”
She obeyed, nodding sharply when her shot hit the paper target’s chest. “Aim for the chest,” she said. “More area, more room for error. I remember a cop once told me that when he brought a stabbing victim into the ER. Her husband had come at her with a knife. She had a gun, but she’d aimed for his head and missed.”
“What happened to her?”
“She died,” she said flatly. “Show me how again.”
So he did, holding her arms firmly in place. Her focus on the paper target was absolute as she emptied her magazine into its chest. But each shot pushed her body back against him, wreaking havoc with his own concentration. He made himself remember Sheila Cunningham, sitting in the corner, dead. Focus, Vartanian.
“Load,” he gritted, taking a step back as she followed his direction. Her hands were nimble and she completed the task more quickly than he’d expected. “That was good.”
She lifted the gun, but without his arm guiding hers, her aim was off and by the third shot she was completely off the target again.
“You’re closing your eyes again. Keep them open, Alex.” He covered her arms with his again, righting her aim. Accepting the torture of her body rubbing against his when she settled back into him and emptied another magazine. In the quiet, he shuddered out the breath he’d held. “Load, dammit.”