Irrevocable Trust (Sasha McCandless Legal Thriller Book 6) (20 page)

The studio was so quiet she could hear the water from the Chinese restaurant on the first floor running through the pipes. Daniel stared off in the direction of the wall of mirrors, but she could tell he wasn
’
t seeing their reflections. He was absorbed in thought.

When he looked back at her, his face was serious.
“
Those odds suck.
”

“
Agreed.
”

She tried to speak lightly but her stomach was clenching.

“
And assuming you successfully disarm him, you aren
’
t willing to use the gun against him, right?
”

She arched a brow but didn
’
t answer.

“
Just checking.
”

“
That
’
s right.
”

He blew out an exasperated breath, ruffling his brown hair.
“
Okay. Put that down and let
’
s block it out.
”

She returned the knife to its sheath and joined him on the mats.

“
Your best, and as far as I can see, only advantage in gun versus knife is going to be speed.
”
As he warmed to the topic, he began to bounce lightly on the balls of his bare feet.
“
I think one of the police departments did a study and concluded that the average attacker could cover something like seven yards in a second and a half.
”

She grinned at his encyclopedic grasp of law-enforcement-related research. He shared her near-photographic memory. The only difference was that he used his to catalog combat and self-defense information, while she put hers to work filing away legal precedents and the facts central to various client disputes.

“
That
’
s fast.
”

“
It is, but you have to be faster. Assuming your fake military leader has any training, he
’
ll be following the rule of thumb that his zone of danger is twenty-one feet. He
’
ll want to shoot you at about ten yards out, if he can.
”

She focused on the details of what he was saying to avoid reflecting on the chilling larger topic.
”

“
Why ten yards?
”

“
Even someone with a lot of firearms training will be hard-pressed to get two rounds off in less time than it takes to cover thirty feet. You should ask Leo how fast he can draw and shoot his weapon with reasonable accuracy. It takes longer than you
’
d think.
”

“
I will. So let
’
s do this.
”
She rolled her shoulders and assumed a neutral position.

He tilted his head.
“
No, actually. I think the highest and best use of your time would be to spend it working on your speed, especially your fast-twitch muscles.
”

“
I
’
m pretty fast.
”

“
You are. But you need to be blazingly fast. You know what that means?
”

“
Not suicides.
”

“
Yes, suicides.
”

He gave her a look that shut down any objections she might have raised.

“
Fine.
”
She huffed as she walked to the edge of the studio, not even bothering to keep the sullen note out of her voice.

He ignored her pouting and focused on his stopwatch.

She dropped into a runner
’
s stance. The fingertips of her right hand grazed the end of the mat.

“
And
…
Go!
”

She pushed off with an explosive motion and sprinted to the far edge of the mat, touched it, turned and raced back to where she
’
d begun. She brushed the mat and turned again, this time running to the far edge of the second mat, repeated the touch-and-turn sequence, and ran back to the starting position. Her lungs were already burning. She worked up some saliva in her mouth, and raced to the edge of the third mat and returned. As she ran to the fourth and final mat, Daniel shouted,
“
Turn it on!
”

Turn it on? Did he think she was jogging over here?

She dug deeper and found a final burst of speed. She reached the edge of the mat and bent, her hand dangling loosely over the mat, then she turned and raced back to the start.

Daniel stopped the timer.

“
Not bad.
”

“
Not bad? How long?
”
she panted.

“
Doesn
’
t matter. You didn
’
t touch the mat that last time, so it doesn
’
t count. Do it again.
”

She stared at him as she sucked down great gulps of air. He was right, she had missed the mat. She
’
d hoped he hadn
’
t noticed. No such luck.

“
Get ready.
”

“
Now? C
’
mon, give me a minute.
”

“
No. Get on the line.
”

She bit her lip and dropped to a starting position. Her hair was heavy against her hot neck and she would have loved to take a sip of water, but she knew he was right. Shaving even half a second off her time could save her life.

“
Go!
”

She ran.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Sasha carried the last of her bags up the steep stairs leading into the rented Victorian. Leo reasoned it must have been the one filled with dozens of pairs of ridiculous high heels. She seemed to be struggling under its weight, but he knew better than to offer to help.

She didn
’
t take kindly to any gesture that might be interpreted as questioning her strength. And, more relevant here, he
’
d made the mild observation when she was packing that she probably didn
’
t need to bring quite so many shoes. She hadn
’
t responded verbally, but he could still feel the sting of the death-ray that had shot from her eyes.

No, this was not a time for chivalry; this was a time for self-preservation.

She passed him on the stairs empty-handed, on her way back to the car for another armload.

“
Where
’
s Java?
”
he asked.

“
He
’
s under the couch. All the noise is scaring him. Naya
’
s going to try to lure him out with some milk. All that
’
s left is the coffee grinder.
”

“
I
’
ll get it.
”

She turned and offered him a genuine smile.
“
I don
’
t think so. That
’
s my favorite wedding present. If you drop it, I
’
ll have to divorce you.
”

He laughed, more at the humor in her green eyes than at her lame joke.

She stopped.
“
I know this kind of sucks, but we can make the best of it.
”

“
I know. You
’
re like cheese.
”

“
Pardon?
”

“
Cheese. Everything
’
s better with cheese. And everything
’
s better with you.
”

She rolled her eyes and continued on her way. He thought her step seemed a little lighter.

She was right. They could make the best of it. It might even be fun. They
’
d enjoyed babysitting her nieces and nephews.

Living with six kids would be just like babysitting for a few hours. Or maybe not.

He walked through the front door of his temporary new home with his arms full of bags and stopped just inside to survey the damage. The place looked like a Toys R Us had exploded.

He exhaled slowly and caught Cole
’
s eye.

“
Can you give me a hand with this stuff? There
’
s more out on the porch.
”

Cole nodded and untangled himself from his youngest sister
’
s grasp. She was wrapped around his neck and back. He deposited her on the couch and trotted out of the room.

“
Good thing you
’
re here,
”
Cole said.
“
Naya seems to be at her limit.
”

Naya, her head under the couch, apparently still engaged in her cat-retrieval efforts, yelled,
“
I heard that.
”

“
See?
”

Leo clasped the boy
’
s shoulder in solidarity. Sasha in a bad mood was like a storm. Naya in a bad mood was like a tropical superstorm.

As soon as they stepped out on to the porch, the boy
’
s face grew serious.

“
It
’
s also a good thing you
’
re here because I need to talk to you. Both of you.
”
He jerked his head toward Sasha, who was approaching them with a two-hundred dollar burr grinder lovingly cradled in her arms.

“
What
’
s going on?
”
she asked, taking in the boy
’
s somber expression.
“
Is Java stuck?
”

“
No. Listen. I didn
’
t want to worry Naya but while you were gone, she ran out real quick to get some groceries.
”

“
You guys are out of food again
already?
”
Sasha looked personally affronted that her provisions hadn
’
t lasted longer.

“
Yeah, anyway. She
’
d been gone a while and the doorbell rang. I figured her arms were full so I opened it and
—”

“
You
opened
it?
”

The boy
’
s eyes widened at the note of squeaky outrage in Sasha
’
s voice, and he looked at Leo for support.

“
Um, yeah. I know I should have confirmed it was her first, but I didn
’
t. Okay? Anyway, it wasn
’
t Naya. It was some dude holding a clipboard and a package.
”

“
A delivery person?
”

“
No. I mean, not like UPS or Fed Ex. He wasn
’
t wearing any kind of uniform, so I got kind of nervous. I started to close the door on him and he reached out real fast and caught it. He knew my name
—”

“
Which name?
”
Sasha asked.
“
Did he call you Cole or Clay?
”

“
My name
’
s
not
Clay anymore.
”
He forced the words out between clenched teeth.

“
Okay, sorry. Go on.
”

“
He asked if I was Cole Bennett. I said
‘
who wants to know?
’
He didn
’
t say who he was or what he wanted. He just asked if I was eighteen years old and I said no, then I grabbed the door and slammed it shut and locked it.
”

The boy
’
s face was white as he remembered the interaction.

“
You did good, Cole,
”
Leo assured him.