Risky Shot (13 page)

Chapter Eleven

“Dani? Are you in there?” The pounding resumed and Dani dragged the pillow over her head. “Dani, open up. It’s Sunday. You’ve been hiding in here for over a day now.”

Finally, there was quiet. She didn’t realize it was already Sunday. What happened to Saturday? Oh well. All she knew was that the cat was still in bed with her and Mo hadn’t called. He had given up, so she might as well too.

“Dani, I swear to God, I will shoot a hole in that door if you don’t answer by the count of five.”

“Go away, Paige.” Dani didn’t want to see anyone. She had her cat, who was currently growling at the door. And she had her fairy godmothers leaving baked goods outside of her door. There was no reason to get out of bed ever again. She sat up, though, when she heard the unmistakable sound of a shotgun being racked.

“One. Two. Three.”

“Okay. Hold your fire! I’m coming. Come on, Brutus, move over.” Dani pushed the cat off of her and slowly got out of bed. She unlocked the door, but didn’t bother opening it.

“Hi Dani. Sorry to hear about you and Mo.” Marshall loomed over her while trying to look sympathetic, but he still looked scary.

“Thanks. So, what am I doing here?” She looked around at the field they were in. There was a huge tree with a straw dummy hanging from it. A fence with cans lined up and nothing else. They had driven past Marshall’s amazing farm house and through a lot of cow pastures to where they had found him setting up in this field.

“Since you and Mo broke up, you may be more vulnerable to attacks. I thought I could give you a refresher on that gun of yours and show you some self-defense.”

“I do need the target practice. I have had plenty of self-defense in New York, though.”

Marshall just smiled at the thought of Dani taking aerobics classes with a fancy name, implying they were any kind of self-defense course.

“Okay. Teach away,” Dani said.

“What weapons do you normally carry?”

“I always carry my knife. I try to carry my gun, but most of the time it gets locked in the nightstand since I can’t carry it into court.”

“And the knife?”

“Dinky doesn’t mind me carrying it. Or, he wouldn’t if he ever bothered to check me.” She should feel bad for sneaking a weapon into the courthouse, but she needed to feel safer.

“Okay. First, let’s work on your knife usage. Then we’ll go with hand-to-hand combat. When you’re nice and tired, we’ll try some shooting.”

Marshall showed her the best places on her body to hide her knife, how to open it and use it all in one motion, and what to do after using it.

“You break him down bit by bit. Stab, kick, punch. You don’t hesitate to take out a knee. You do whatever you need to do to make sure he can’t get up and chase you.”

He taught her correct stabbing, slicing, kicking, punching, eye gouging, and ball smashing techniques for hours. By the end of the practice, she felt more comfortable than ever with her knife and herself.

“Okay, shooting time.” Marshall turned her in the direction of the cans and backed her up about fifteen feet.

“There’s no way I can shoot. My arms are so tired they are shaking.” She held up her hand to him and watched it shaking with exhaustion.

“This is the best time to practice. If you ever get into a situation where you’ve been in a fight your arms will be shaking. As a novice, when you draw your gun, your body will be shaking with adrenalin and fear. I teach you to shoot that way now, so that you’ll be able to hit your target if the time comes.”

She nodded and took aim with her Glock. She hit two out of three, but just barely. She shot over and over again. Marshall kept handing her magazine clip after magazine clip. He had her shoot from a standing position, from the ground, and on a quick turn.

“Okay, last drill. You’ve done really well.”

Dani felt as if the gun had been surgically attached to her shaking hand, but she had gotten better.

“I want you to close your eyes. I am wrapping this around your eyes so you can’t see. I am going to walk you around some and then step away. I then just want you to listen and react. Got it?”

“Are you sure I won’t shoot you?”

“Yes. I’ll be well out of the way and you will hear where I am.” She closed her eyes and let him spin her a couple of times. He then walked her about twenty feet in one direction. “Okay. I am walking away now. Just imagine yourself being attacked in the dark. Do what comes natural. Give me twenty seconds before you start.”

She heard him walk a good distance away and stop. After he stopped, she started listening to the sounds of the outdoors. She heard a cow moo. Oh, please don’t let me shoot a cow, she thought. She heard birds and the wind. Then she heard a creak right behind her and something moving. She turned and fired twice. She was knocked down by the force of the hit and her gun fell to the ground. She instantly grabbed her knife on her waistband and in one motion flicked it open and stabbed the man in the side.

“Good! Take off your blind fold.” Marshall shouted as he jogged toward her. She pulled the blindfold off and saw the straw man on top of her. Marshall pulled him off and stood him up. “Very good! You shot him twice in the chest and got in a good stab with your knife. How do you feel?”

“Like every muscle is exhausted. But, I feel a lot more comfortable. Thank you so much. I feel like Rambo.”

“Confidence is important, just don’t get too cocky. Let me know if you want to do this again. It’s always good to go through a heavy practice every so often.”

She gave Marshall a sweaty hug and turned to Paige. “Thanks for dragging me out of bed.”

Paige looped her arm around hers and led her to the car. “No prob. But now I think a bath in Epson Salt would be good for you.”

* * *

Dani refrained from banging her head on the desk when the phone rang again. It was close to one hundred degrees outside, it was a full moon, and it was right after a holiday. Each of these caused mild craziness in people, but all three together was the perfect storm. Someone wanted to sue a firework company because he burned his hand when his friend shot him with a roman candle. Somehow that was the firework company’s fault, not the friend’s. Another called wanting to sue his ex-wife over a bottle of Pappy’s Three Year Bourbon that cost a whopping twelve dollars. And there were plenty of other calls, all involving sheer stupidity. However, she was most excited about the call for assistance on adoption.

Out of all the phone calls she got that day, she did notice the one person who didn’t call her. She hadn’t heard from Mo since Friday night. It was pretty clear he didn’t believe she was worth fighting for.

She smiled at him. “Oh, Henry. You’re my favorite womanizer,” she laughed and they both paused when they heard the bell ring over the door.

“Oh, please God, not another nutcase.” Henry said as he hit his head against the door frame.

“Excuse me. Can I help you?” Tammy’s tense voice traveled back to them. Both Henry and Dani straightened up. Tammy was never this formal.

“I am looking for McKenna Mason and Danielle De Luca. The sign out front says this is their law office,” a deep voice stated.

“It is not their law office. It belongs to Henry Rooney.” Tammy was clearly upset. Henry put his finger to his lip and motioned for Dani to be quiet. He picked up the file at the edge of her desk and walked out to the lobby.

Dani heard him enter the lobby and say, “Tammy, can you file this for me?” A couple seconds later she heard him introduce himself, “Henry Rooney. You looking for an appointment? I can squeeze you in.”

“No. I am looking for McKenna Mason and Danielle De Luca.”

“Sorry. I can’t help you. Kenna left town and I don’t know where Danielle is. And, who might you be? I can leave a message. I don’t know when they’ll be back, but Tammy can tell them you stopped by if they do come back.”

“FBI. Special Agent Mark Edwards.”

Dani stopped breathing. She didn’t need to hear the rest of the conversation. She slowly slid under her desk and pulled her gun from her purse. They had come for her.

A few moments later, Henry was back at her door. “Dani. Are you in here? The guy left,” Henry whispered into the room. She slowly peeked her head out from the desk and looked around. “He was an FBI agent. Apparently you were a wanted woman, but when I asked to see a warrant, he couldn’t produce it. Looks like Cade knows his way around a computer. But, he did leave with lots of threats about sending me to jail. Not a nice guy.”

“Thank you, Henry. I better get out of here.”

“I don’t think so. He didn’t seem to believe me when I told him you all weren’t here. We’ll lock up soon and turn off all the lights. You just stay put for at least an hour. I’ll come back and look around, then escort you to your car. Then I want you to lock yourself up in your room at Miss Lily’s with that loaded gun you have in your hand.”

She looked down and realized she was still holding on to it. “Sounds like a good plan. Knock on the back door quietly so I know it’s you.”

The next hour and a half seemed to crawl by. Dani stayed hidden under her desk, with a death grip on her gun. She heard every noise, creak, settling of the building, and movement of anyone outside. She nearly hit her head when she jumped at the sound of a quiet knock on the back door.

“Psst, Dani. I think the coast is clear. Come on.” Henry stood at the back door waiting for her. “I called Miss Lily and she knows when to expect you and what’s going on.”

Dani wiggled out from under her desk and grabbed her purse. She walked down the hall and Henry took her arm to lead her through the dark parking lot to her car.

“You know, you aren’t that bad of a guy, Henry.”

“Does that mean I get thank you sex?”

She quietly laughed and leaned over and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. She got in the car and was about to drive away when Henry leaned into the window.

“That wasn’t a ‘no’. Now, get going. Miss Lily’s expecting you.”

Dani drove the short distance to Miss Lily’s. She had never been so excited than when she saw the bright flood lights on the porch shining onto the walkway. She pulled up to the lot and parked on the other side of Miss Lily’s huge Buick. She looked around and didn’t see anything so she opened her car door and stood up. She looked around one more time reached across to the passenger seat for her purse. As she pulled the purse strap over her shoulder, she heard a noise behind her. Before she could turn, a hand was placed over her mouth and an arm locked across her waist.

“Figured you would turn up here sooner or later. Don’t move. Don’t fight me or I will kill you right here and now. Drop the purse.” Even at a whisper, she recognized the voice. It was Agent Edwards. She tried to calm down, but it was so hard when his hand was over her mouth. She tried to breathe in through her nose, but didn’t feel like she was getting enough air. She dropped her shoulder and the purse containing her gun fell to the ground. Edwards kicked if off to the side.

She remembered Marshall telling her the faster you fight, the faster you are free. Taking as big a breath as she could she lifted her foot and brought it down on his. His fingers bit into her cheek and she opened her mouth wide clamping her teeth tight on whatever skin she could get.

“Bitch!” Edwards yanked his hand away as she sucked in a breath through her mouth. In the same instance, she screamed with all she had. Up and down the street, lights started turning on. She struggled against his arm that was still wrapped around her waist. She was so focused on getting free that she barely heard the strangest growl coming from behind her.

“Meeeeooow”

Edwards’ arm relaxed around her waist enough for her to grab her knife from the leg strap under her skirt.

“Son of a bitch. Get off me you fucking cat.” Edwards kicked out with his leg and batted at his back with his arms. Dani dropped to the ground, turned, and stabbed him in the leg. “Ahhh!” A rush of satisfaction hit her as he reached for his leg while letting loose with a string of curses.

It was only then that she saw Brutus hanging from Edwards’ back. His claws were extended as he gripped Edwards. He looked a lot like the Garfield doll suctioned to car windows during the early 90’s. Dani scrambled around on her knees trying to reach the purse holding her Glock when she heard the unmistakable click of a gun being cocked. Looking up, she found that Edwards had shaken Brutus loose and had reached for his gun, now pointed directly at her head.

Everything in the world stopped. She didn’t hear Brutus hissing, she didn’t hear the sounds from the night, or the distant sound of cars. All she heard over and over again in her head was the sound of the hammer being pulled back on the gun. As she stared straight down the barrel, it felt as though her heart stopped beating and her blood stopped flowing.

“I see I finally got your attention. Toss the knife.” Seeing Dani’s compliance, he continued, “Good. Now, you’re going to stand up and put your hands on top of your car. I am going to cuff you and then we’re heading back to New York. There are some people who are very eager to see you.”

She couldn’t drag her eyes away from the black barrel of the gun only inches from her face. All she could think of was all the mistakes she’d made in her life. She didn’t need that extra serving of brownie the other day when she really wanted it. She wished she had told Kenna it wasn’t her fault for this situation they were in. And most importantly, she hadn’t told Mo she forgave him for not telling her he was royalty. That realization hit her like a ton of bricks, even with the gun in her face. She was sure he had tons of women throwing themselves at him for his money and status. After really thinking about it, she understood why he didn’t tell her. If they really loved each other, then they would find a way to make it work. She only hoped she’d live long enough to tell him.