Never Miss

by Melissa Koslin

  Lyndon made his expression even more flustered. “I am. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to go where I’m not supposed to. I have a pass to visit the House of Representatives.” He handed the guard the pass Kadance had lifted for him from a tourist yesterday.

  The guard inspected the pass, and then he stared at Lyndon for several seconds. Lyndon kept the flustered expression and fidgeted. Kadance had said this would help mask his lies.

  The guard handed the pass back to Lyndon and led him down the hall.

  Once inside the Hall of the House of Representatives, Lyndon breathed a little more easily. Of course, he couldn’t walk around as he pleased, even though he had a pass and the House wasn’t in session, but Lyndon managed to “forget” his backpack. The placement had to be precise. Thankfully, his sense of spatial reasoning was almost as good as Kadance’s.

  A short while later, he walked out of the building. He kept his pace casual but put as much distance as he could between him and the Capitol building. He’d see soon enough if the plan worked.

  IT TOOK SOME DOING, but Kadance managed to make it through the building and up to the roof. At the corner of the roof, she could just see down the street to the side of the House wing of the Capitol building.

  Careful to remain out of sight, she set up her McMillan TAC-50 sniper rifle and took out the second phone they’d bought yesterday.

  Then she waited.

  It was only a short while later that a text came through. “Done.”

  She put the rifle into place on the edge of the coping cap on the parapet wall, looked through the scope, and counted windows on the side of the Capitol building. There were no windows in the House chamber. Lyndon had offered to get the package into position in one of the perimeter rooms that did have windows, but Kadance felt it was important for this to happen in the House chamber itself. It made her job harder, but not impossible.

  Lyndon had found detailed specifications for the building online, and they’d studied them together, along with specifications for the building she was on now. She’d calculated the exact angle and the exact distance. She lined up her shot on the window, the precise number of inches from the window frame. The blinds were open, so she could see no one was there, no one in harm’s way. She could see through the doorway to the hall and the double doors opposite. She could just see the glass inlay in the doors but not the delicate mullions between the diamond-shaped glass panes. She couldn’t quite see the package. The dark color of his backpack surely blended with the dark seats and the shadows in this area of the room. But she trusted it was there, in the exact spot they’d discussed. Though she’d never trusted anyone else to put her target in place for her, she didn’t feel on edge, didn’t question.

  She calculated the effect of the current wind speed.

  She calmed her breathing.

  She wiped everything from her mind except the calculations. Just the numbers and the angles.

  This was the part she liked best. The quiet and calm. Everything lined up exactly right.

  She slowly squeezed the trigger.

  The rifle fired, and she pulled back from the edge of the building.

  She moved quickly but meticulously. Police would start swarming the buildings in the area, but they wouldn’t come to this one, at least not yet. They wouldn’t guess someone could make that shot from here. She had to use tracer ammunition in order to ignite the package, but she used a dim tracer round, which wasn’t nearly as likely to have been seen on a bright day like this.

  She left no evidence she’d been there, and a few minutes later she was in her car, her rifle on the back seat floor and Mac curled up on the passenger seat.

  Sirens blared.

  She drove in the opposite direction.

  Keep driving, some part of her said. Leaving now would be easier, rather than having to face Lyndon before she left. But there were no guarantees this would work, and if it didn’t, he wouldn’t stop. She sighed. She couldn’t leave until she was sure he was safe.

  When she pulled up to the park they’d discussed, he was sitting on a bench. He walked over and took the seat next to her.

  She stayed parked. “Did it hit the news yet?”

  “Social media.” He held up his phone to show her a video. Apparently, someone had caught it on tape and posted it, maybe a tourist.

  Fireworks filled the House chamber with flashes of colored light and bangs.

  “It worked,” she said.

  “You sound surprised.” He tucked the phone back in his pocket.

  “I wasn’t totally sure it would, not so well, anyway.” She put the car in gear.

  “I knew you’d make the shot.” He put on his seat belt.

  “Now, just to wait and see if it has the desired effect.” She pulled out of her parking space.

  “Lunch?” he asked.

  She wasn’t in the mood to eat, but she didn’t tell him no. He’d ask again what was wrong with her. She was tired of lying to him.

  She drove out of the center of the city and found a little fast-food place.

  She sat at a table near the door, with Mac on the chair next to her, and Lyndon went up and ordered. When he came over with a tray of food, they picked at it and continued to refresh news websites on their phones. It hit the news pretty quickly, and then they waited for news of plans for the State of the Union. Kadance started feeling antsy. The State of the Union was the next evening—they needed to find out what the plan was as soon as possible. If the Speaker of the House didn’t move or cancel it, they needed to take even more drastic action, and that would take some time to set up.

  They continued to sit at the fast-food place and watch their phones, and Kadance thought.

  Finally, a couple of hours later, it was announced that the State of the Union would be held as planned.

  Lyndon sighed and ran his hands through his hair.

  Kadance stood. “I have a plan. Wait here while I make a call.”

  “What’re you—”

  “Trust me, okay?”

  He stayed put and watched her walk out the door. At the front of the building, she stayed by the windows so he could see her and wouldn’t think she was leaving. She didn’t have the same kind of memory as Lyndon, but she still remembered this number.

  A familiar male voice answered. “Hello?”

  “I have a proposition.”

  He paused. “I’m listening.”

  “I need snipers. Several.”

  “For what?”

  “How quickly can you get on a plane?”

  “Depends.”

  “I’ll give you what you want. With restrictions. If you help me with a job. But you have to guarantee you’ll stick to my rules on this.”

  “And what exactly are the rules? And why would I want to follow them?”

  She explained her plan, and he agreed.

  She ended the call and motioned for Lyndon to come outside. He left the tray and came outside, Mac in tow. Then he followed her to the car.

  “I need you to trust me,” she said.

  “I do trust you.”

  “You might not anymore once I explain what I’ve set up.”

  He waited.

  “There’s only one way to handle this now. We have to take drastic measures.”

  “What’ve you planned?”

  “She’ll send the man in dressed as a fire system technician most likely.”

  “I agree.”

  “But we don’t know from which direction he’ll approach. Plus, we have to handle the attacks on the designated survivors.”

  “What’ve you planned?”

  “We need to take him out before he makes it into the building. Once he’s inside, we don’t have any chance of staying ahead of him or getting around security. We need to watch the outside, every possible entry point. We need snipers.”

  His jaw clenched. “You called in your family.”

  thirty-five

  “YES,” SHE ADMITTED.

  “You didn’t
think you should talk to me about it first?”

  She hated seeing how angry he was. “I made sure they’ll leave you alone.”

  “They’ll take you, Kadance.” As he looked at her, he lifted his chin. “You promised your father you’ll go with them. That’s how you got them to agree to do this.”

  “I explained everything, that it’s in their best interest to stop this. And yes, I had to promise to go with them.” She quickly added, “But I was clear that I will not become an assassin for them.” She took a slow breath and looked at her lap.

  A few seconds passed.

  His voice was soft. “Kadance.”

  She looked over at him.

  “Leave. Please. I’ll meet them and explain what they need to do. I’ll make sure the attack is stopped.”

  “They won’t listen to you.”

  “Like you said, it’s in their best interest. They haven’t been inoculated. If she starts an epidemic, they’ll be affected.”

  “No.” She looked out the side window.

  He took her hand gently in his.

  She controlled her expression. She controlled the overwhelming urge to squeeze his hand, to pull him closer.

  This was torture. Worse than all the beatings she’d taken.

  “Kadance,” he murmured. “Please talk to me. We’ve gained some trust, right? Please tell me what’s going on with you.”

  She didn’t respond.

  “Please,” he said. “Leave. Be safe.” With his other hand, he reached over and softly stroked her cheek. “Please.”

  She pulled away from his touch and got out of the car. She started walking across the parking lot.

  His footsteps followed her.

  He took her hand, and she stopped. But she stayed faced away from him. He moved in front of her. She closed her eyes. “Please, Lyndon.”

  He rested his hand on her cheek.

  She knew she needed to shove him away, but she couldn’t. She should’ve left him, should’ve handled this on her own.

  He moved closer. She could feel how near he was, not his heat or his scent, but something else altogether. There was something about his presence that both calmed her and brought her to life.

  He wrapped his arms around her.

  A tear escaped her lash line and slid down her cheek. She pressed her face into his chest to hide her tears, and he wrapped his arms more tightly around her.

  I love him.

  More tears came as she finally admitted it. She’d never felt like this, never said the words, never even thought them. Never.

  He held her so perfectly. He wasn’t controlling or forceful. He was just strong for her, as much or as little as she wanted. His hands in her hair and on her back, he held her. He gave no indication of letting go. She knew he’d hold her as long as she wanted, and she could feel how much he wanted to.

  She could feel how much he loved her.

  More tears came. She’d hurt him. She’d had no idea what she was doing, but she should have. She should’ve figured it out sooner.

  She wrapped her arms around him and held on. Please don’t let him find out. Please. She would hurt him when she left, but she’d hurt him immeasurably more if he found out what she’d done, that the person he’d finally opened up to was not who he thought she was. The light he saw in her wasn’t the sun; it was the fires of hell.

  He whispered in her ear, “Let it out. I’m here.”

  She couldn’t get herself to let go yet. This was a lie. She knew that. But it was a beautiful lie.

  “I’m here for you,” he whispered. “I love you. I’m here.”

  She pulled away. “Don’t say that.”

  He looked like she’d slapped him and spit in his face. “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be sorry.” She turned away. “Don’t anything.”

  “I shouldn’t have said that.” He controlled his voice, but she swore she could feel how hurt he was.

  I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.

  “Give me a few minutes.” She walked away.

  He stayed.

  She mentally berated herself. She was stronger than this. He deserved for her to be stronger than this. She could control, to an extent, how much she hurt him. And nothing was more important than that right now. Not even stopping the attack. Nothing.

  She calmed her breathing and mentally built a wall, blocking out everything he made her feel. It was overwhelming. She had to block it out altogether.

  A few minutes later, she walked back around the building. He was standing in the same place, not far from her car and Mac sitting on the front seat watching them. She walked past Lyndon and took the driver’s seat. Lyndon followed and sat in the passenger seat.

  They were silent.

  They were silent for hours. She drove around the area surrounding the Capitol building, as close as she could get now that they had some of the surrounding areas blocked off after the firework incident, scouting all the entrances and the best locations to watch those entrances. She didn’t look at him, tried to block his presence from her mind. She felt hardened inside. Dead.

  LYNDON HAD NO IDEA WHAT TO DO. Something was wrong. Very wrong. And he didn’t think it was related to her family. Whatever it was had started before they’d come across James, and it was growing steadily worse. And now she was completely cutting herself off from him.

  Her silence felt like he was being stabbed in the chest.

  He should’ve known better, should’ve tried harder to block out what he had started to feel when he first met her. When he passed her car at the storage place, he stared at Mac, but only to keep himself from staring at her. It wasn’t just her beauty. There was something about her that spoke to him on a different level.

  Like a part of him already knew her.

  He squeezed his eyes shut and then opened them, trying to block out his thoughts.

  Her phone buzzed with a text, and she read it. He figured it was from her father.

  “When are they arriving?” he asked.

  She didn’t look at him, and her voice was cool, removed. “Tomorrow afternoon.”

  “Is that enough time?”

  “I’ll have everything planned. They’ll just need to set up where I tell them to.”

  They were silent again. He had more questions, but he couldn’t stand to hear her talk to him with that voice.

  Mac kept switching from her lap to his and back again, as if trying to comfort them both. Lyndon made sure he stroked Mac whenever he came to him. Mac clearly felt something was wrong and was upset by it.

  The rest of the day passed in silence. Kadance researched and wrote out the plan. She went through her ammunition and cleaned her gun. Lyndon tried to get her to eat, but she refused.

  The feeling that she wanted nothing more than to be rid of him grew stronger and stronger with each passing hour. But he would not leave. He wasn’t a sniper and couldn’t be part of the plan, but he also wouldn’t leave her. Not yet. When the danger was over, he’d let her go, wouldn’t show how much it hurt. But right now, he would do whatever he could to protect her.

  He would do everything in his power to try to stop her family from taking her.

  He knew his chance of success was nil, but he had to try. That was what he spent the hours doing, trying to formulate a plan, all while ignoring the searing pain splintering through his head.

  They stayed the night in the car again. He couldn’t sleep. He wanted to take a walk, but some part of him knew she would drive away and leave him. So, he stayed.

  IN THE MORNING, she still wouldn’t eat. And neither would Mac. The poor thing had thrown up his dinner. Kadance managed to coax him into drinking some water. Lyndon watched her with Mac. Her kindness was still in there, but she showed it to Mac only, no longer to Lyndon.

  It doesn’t matter, he reminded himself. He’d always known he could never have her. His only focus was to try to protect her.

  Finally, the hour drew near. She’d texted the plans to her fath
er, and she headed out to set up at her assigned perch. Lyndon walked with her toward the building.

  “You’ll just be in the way.” It was the first time she’d talked to him in almost twelve hours.

  He didn’t respond.

  She continued walking. Mac trotted along beside her, and people passing them on the sidewalk looked at him. Surely, she’d brought him because she knew she wouldn’t be going back to her car. She wouldn’t have time to retrieve him.

  Lyndon took her hand.

  She stopped but didn’t look at him and certainly didn’t grip his hand.

  “Please don’t do this.”

  She paused, and he was sure she would continue ignoring him. But she said, “It’s the only way.”

  “Everything is set,” he said. “You can leave now.”

  “He’s sending one of my cousins to babysit me. If I’m not in place, no one does anything.”

  “Don’t they understand what’s at stake? They haven’t been inoculated. They’ll die too.”

  “I don’t think they believe me.”

  He let go of her hand. If he didn’t understand the science, he might have a hard time believing as well.

  She continued walking.

  The building she’d assigned to herself had a line of sight to the entrance Lyndon had used when he smuggled in the fireworks, but it was several blocks away. It wasn’t a government building, so the security wasn’t difficult. They made their way up to the roof.

  She walked across the roof to the farthest corner and started setting up. The parapet wall hid her from view from the street or any neighboring buildings.

  Lyndon surveyed the area and tried to come up with some kind of plan that might have some possibility of success. There were several HVAC units scattered over the rooftop, which he could hide behind and perhaps take someone off guard. But he couldn’t take down the cousin, at least not right away, or they wouldn’t help stop the attack.

  Kadance loaded her rifle. To his surprise, she said, “I’ve told them to try not to kill anyone.”

  He paused. “Because you don’t want to be an assassin.”

  “I am whether I like it or not. But I won’t do that again.” She finished loading and used the bolt action to put one into the chamber.