14. Dane

14

DANE

M arksmanship is about self-control. About reaching the absolute peak level of discipline a human can hope to achieve. Mastering yourself and then extending that mastery to the environment.

Fear of failure kept me from taking the shot on Klaus. Now, fear of the unknown kept me from taking a shot on Selene.

Just being close to her taxes me. Selene’s dark, golden brown, silken mane stirs in the air coming from the AC vent on the dashboard. It’s hard not to get lost in the semi-curly locks, and the impish, perfect face her tresses frame.

She’s thrown me off my game completely. I don’t know which way is up or down. It’s taking all my concentration just to keep the tail on Petty.

“Hey, he’s getting away.” Selene leans forward, peering intently through the windshield as a car pulls into the lane ahead of us.

“Petty’s going to get stuck at the next red light, same as us. He’s not getting away. Besides, we don’t want to be too close to him. A man like Petty can spot a tail.”

She shifts in her seat and grimaces. “Great. What if he’s made us already? ”

“Maybe he has. If so, he hasn’t given any sign. Then again, he probably wouldn’t give a sign. That's what I would do, in his position.”

“Is there anything we can do to, um, blend in better?”

I grunt as the light turns green and we roll along the avenue. I let Petty put some distance between us.

“We give him plenty of room, like I’m doing now. And we try to act like we're not tailing him.”

“What does that even mean?” she sputters.

“If we act casual, like we’re just a young LA couple on a drive and having a good time, he won’t notice us at all.”

We catch up to Petty again at the next red light. A homeless guy comes up to try and wash his windows. Petty flips him the bird.

“Get the fuck outta here, you smelly fuck.”

He flicks a lit cigarette at the homeless man, who flees back to the safety of the curb. I shake my head at the casual cruelty.

“Well, what did you expect from a guy who works for the mob?” she asks. “Humanitarian of the year?”

I laugh, and turn her way.

“Now you’re getting it. Laugh and joke, anything you need to do to relax and stop throwing out signals that we’re doing exactly what we’re doing.”

She blinks her soft brown eyes several times before snickering.

“I think I understood your word salad. It’s just hard to be casual and relax when I’m worried about Justin.”

“I know. But this will help us find him. Remember, the Moreno family seems to want something from you. That means they want you alive, but also that they might do something desperate to get their hands on you.”

She nods, her jaw setting with determination.

“So, you said earlier that we should pretend to be a couple.”

I stiffen up. That had sort of just slipped out.

“Yes, and?”

“And…I’m just saying if you really want to sell that we’re NOT ta iling him, I should totally give you road head. No way he’d suspect us then.”

“What the fuck is road…”

My eyes widen and I glance sharply at Selene. She laughs and shakes her head, punctuating it with a sigh.

“I’m just kidding, Dane. You act like we haven’t already been as close as two people can be. What’s with you tattooed badass guys acting puritan?”

Petty pulls off the main drag and into the industrial district. I pull past the intersection and then take an alley shortcut so I can continue the tail at the next street.

“Jedi in the streets, Sith between the sheets,” I say as we pull out two cars behind Petty.

Selene laughs, a spontaneous and raucous sound. She claps her hands together eagerly and bounces in her seat.

“Oh my god, you get a million cool points for that reference.”

“I respect nerd culture,” I say after joining in her laugh.

We roll to a stop in a long line of traffic. The sun reflects blindingly off the shimmering sea of gleaming automobiles. Selene leans her head out the window and shields her eyes with her hand, peering ahead.

“Looks like it’s locked up all the way to the exit. We’re not going anywhere for a while.”

“It won’t take long to clear up. And besides, he’s not going anywhere, either.”

I glance over at Selene. She’s trying to be cool, trying not to draw suspicion but I can feel the tension inside of her. I can only imagine what she's going through. If someone had taken my sister or brother, I’d probably lose my mind. She’s stronger than me in a lot of ways.

I can respect that. It makes me want to find her brother and make this whole situation nice for everyone. The only problem with that romantic gesture is Moreno. There’s no such thing as a happy ending when you’re dealing with the mob.

Our best bet would be to make some kind of deal with them. But that may not be possible. Platinum Security is full of some of the baddest hombres on the face of the Earth, but I doubt they would want to get into a war with the mafia.

Probably best not to find out, but if it comes down to it, if it’s the only way to save Selene’s brother and keep her safe, then that’s what I’ll do.

And this time, I won’t hesitate. I hope.

“Selene?”

She turns her chocolate gaze on me and purses her lips into a frown.

“What is it?”

“Earlier, you looked like you were about to say something important, and then you stopped yourself.”

Selene’s brows come low over her eyes.

“What are you talking about? When?”

“Back when we were about to tail our boy here.”

Her eyes widen with realization.

“Oh. It’s, it’s kind of silly.”

“Silly?”

She heaves a long sigh.

“My BFF Chloe and I came up with this thing while we were in high school, this concept about the guys we dated. We each developed a question that we could ask. And depending on how the guy answered, we would know if the relationship had potential or not.”

“Oh? Now I’m intrigued. What questions did you come up with?”

“Well, Chloe decided on what do you think it takes to make a relationship last forever and I’ll freely admit right now that hers is better than mine.”

I mull that one over. It’s not something that I’ve given a ton of thought to, yet I feel like I ought to know the answer.

“I guess I haven’t thought about it. I’m not sure I would know how to answer that.”

She cocks an eyebrow at me.

“Try.” Her tone brooks no refusal. Besides, I want to answer her. Why am I acting like a schoolboy still wet behind the ears ?

“I suppose…honesty and loyalty are important. So is giving a hundred and ten percent no matter the situation.”

I feel good about my answer, but she gives me a look.

“What?”

“That’s a great answer, but everything you said could easily apply to being a Navy SEAL. Lucky for you, that’s not my question.”

Traffic starts to move for about twenty feet, but then the sea of brake lights heralds another delay.

“Then what is your question?”

Selene’s nose twitches and she can’t quite look me in the eye.

“You’re probably going to laugh, but, if you had to choose…who do you like better, Freddy Krueger from Nightmare On Elm Street or Jason Voorhees from Friday The 13th , and why?”

I can’t help it. I burst out into laughter. Selene gives me a rueful smile.

“I knew you were going to laugh. It’s a stupid question.”

“No, it's not,” I say quickly. “It’s great. It’s a great question.”

“Oh yeah? Then what’s your answer to it?”

“I guess I like Jason.”

She rolls her eyes and groans.

“Jason? Really? He has no charisma whatsoever. He just lumbers around chopping up teenagers with no grace or creativity.”

“And he should make bad one-liners and turn himself into a moose or something instead, all while wearing a striped shirt?” I counter. “Clearly I answered wrong, but I would argue that your question is inherently flawed.”

“Flawed?”

She punches me in the arm, but playfully. It only stings for a minute.

“How dare you call what my fifteen-year-old self worked laboriously for an entire hour on flawed? How dare you? It’s a great question because people who pick Jason usually like to envision themselves as unfeeling, indestructible forces of nature, while people who pick Freddy are more likely to have a sense of humor about themselves. ”

“I see. It’s quite clever, but instead of giving two choices you should make it an open-ended question. Like, if I had to answer, I’d pick Hannibal Lecter over the other two.”

“Hannibal? His kill count isn’t even that high.”

“True, but this isn’t about being Rambo. Hannibal Lecter is more terrifying than the other choices because everything he does falls into the realm of human possibility. Nobody is going to enter your dreams and make you relive childhood trauma, but someone could easily drug you and cut out your liver and eat it.”

Selene grins ear to ear and caresses her fingers down my forearm.

“Look at you, being all creepy and cute at the same time. Where has this Dane been for the last six hours? You were killing me with that whole silent treatment act. Or is that just a thing you do after sex?”

I chuckle, trying and failing to erect the walls between us again. What is it about her that’s got me so tangled up inside? This is all new territory for me. I don’t get soft spots for women, I get hard spots. Somehow I found one that impossibly gives me both, but I should stay the fuck away from her. For her sake.

The traffic jam breaks up at last. Petty takes the exit, and we follow. For a minute I think I lose him, because traffic is so thick. But I spot him at an intersection and cut through the back parking lot of a service station to get back on his tail.

This area used to be affluent, but it’s fallen on hard times. Like a lot of LA, it seems. What used to be nice homes are boarded up crack fortresses with gang signs painted on the outside. Derelicts and degenerates wander the streets with impunity. Whatever Petty is doing here, it can’t be on the up and up.

He pulls off onto a gravel road leading to a run-down, abandoned studio lot. Petty gets out and uses a key to open the locked gate as we roll on by.

“What are you doing? You just passed him.”

“I know, but we couldn’t exactly pull in behind him. Now that we know where he is, we can circle the block and come back. Or better yet, find another entrance. ”

Selene’s mouth stretches tight. She rocks herself with frenetic energy as I round the block. It takes a lot longer than I hoped it would, because of traffic and road construction.

I breathe a sigh of relief when I finally come back around to the front gate and see Petty's car parked outside one of the massive concrete buildings. He’s still there. We didn’t lose him. But what’s he doing here?

We pull up to the gate and I cut the engine. I alternate my gaze between the studio lot and the locked gate as I creep up on it. No sign of Petty or anyone else.

“Dane? What are you doing? Isn’t it locked?”

“Not for long,” I say, drawing out a thin eyeglasses case from my pocket. Inside there are numerous thin metal tools. A lockpick kit.

“Are you seriously picking the lock?”

“Shhh,” I say softly. “Keep your voice down. And yes, I’m seriously picking the lock.”

“Why does a sniper know how to pick locks?”

“The best places to take your shot are always at an elevation. But most of the good, elevated places in an urban environment are locked.”

“I see. I guess it does make sense.”

I check the lock. Just a cheap, mass-produced padlock. Sturdy but nothing fancy. I could scale the fence, but the rusted barbed wire at the top reminds me I may have let my tetanus shot lapse.

I slip one of the thinner wires into the lock and feel about for the tumblers. Using my hooked pliers, I gently turn the lock as I latch the tumblers into place, one by one.

The lock falls open and I undo the chain. I start to close the gate behind me, but Selene is in the way.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m coming with you.”

“Selene, you need to stay in the car.”

“No way. My brother might be in there. I’m going in, with or without you. If you want to protect me, I guess you’d better come along. ”

I sigh, and remember what Jax said. The customer is king, but their safety comes first. If I force her to stay behind, she won't be happy. Not one bit.

Plus, I’m not sure if I can make her stay behind, short of tying her up and I’m fresh out of rope.

“All right, just stay behind me and try to be silent as possible. And don’t whisper. A whisper carries a lot further than a softly spoken, normal voice.”

“Okay,” she whispers, then catches herself. “I mean, okay.”

My gaze returns to the studio lot. Tufts of weeds jut up from cracks in the pavement. Signs of coyotes and other wildlife litter the environs. It’s not the most inviting place, but the lock didn’t have any rust on it. This place gets visited fairly often.

I take a deep breath, and lead the way into the compound.