by Emma Harley
“Do you still want to go around the city?” he asked in a low voice. Raina shrugged softly.
“I think I should get back soon, I want to get my stuff together and I might be able to get a bus out tonight.” Logan pulled along the kerb and braked sharply before cutting the engine.
“You’re still quitting? Not even going to give it a chance huh?” Raina just sighed.
“If I give it a chance and it doesn’t work out, I could miss the deadline for my next operation. I said I wasn’t doing it so I could go to university and work, but they still left me the option to come on board. And I just don’t see it working here with you Logan.” She ran her fingers through her hair and he rested his forehead on the steering wheel.
“You can’t quit Raina, it took Kal ages to find someone willing to be a live-in tutor and have a clean background check. You’d be surprised how many people in this area only applied because they know we have money.” Raina scoffed.
“I’m barely qualified to be a tutor, the most I have is high grades. I moved across the country for the job and you’re telling me not a single other person was interested in relocating to here?” It seemed pretty far-fetched that no one else was suitable for the job. When she sent in her resume, it was one of fifty she had sent, all advertising in that area. She didn’t believe for a second that she would get the job, she only threw her name in for a fleeting chance. Logan didn’t move. Raina glanced out the windows at the darkening skyline.
“Just drive Logan, I’m not sitting here while you feel sorry for yourself,” she muttered. He drove on, clearly furious.
The tension was suffocating and they still had hours ahead of them on the drive home. Raina played about with her phone absent-mindedly, refusing to initiate a conversation. She knew it would evolve into a fight, and she was getting tired. Logan pulled into a petrol station and didn’t say a word to her as he stormed off into the shop. She sighed heavily and slid her phone back into her pocket.
Raina watched a young mother scold her crying toddler as she tugged him back towards her car. An elderly man hobbled away, sipping on a milkshake, followed by his wife, who was gleefully slurping a slushie. The hairs on her neck prickled as a battered grey car sped to the entrance, tyres squealing, and three masked figures jumped out, all armed. She ducked down as they scoped out around them and stormed into the store, firing off rounds as they went. With a heavy eye-roll, Raina swore and pulled out her gun, calling the police as she went.
“Emergency services what can I help you with?”
“We have a robbery in progress, three armed gunmen, possible civilian casualties. Track this call immediately I don’t know the address or area. I’m General Raina Phoenix from the 82nd Battalion, I am armed and attempting to subdue. Send a response team.” She left the call running as a gunshot rang out, breaking into a run to the doors, ignoring the muffled shouts of the dispatcher.
Pressed against the wall, she spotted several customers facing the wall, if there were any more they were blocked out by a shelf, one bogey holding them at gunpoint. One at the cash register, screaming at the poor teenaged cashier to open the safe while the other was spraying paint over security cameras. Raina slipped in and ducked behind the shelves, spying a man lying face down covered in blood. She couldn’t see if he was breathing. Looking at the warped reflections in the window, she watched the figure guarding the hostages join his crony at the counter, while the other dragged the cashier by her hair into the back room. She had to move quickly. The cries of a young girl enraged the shorter one, and he began screaming at someone, aiming his gun at them. She swirled onto her knee, loosed a breath and took aim. He collapsed in a scream as blood sprayed from his thighs. The hostages dropped to the ground as the shot from her gun ricocheted off their eardrums. His accomplice dived for him, and in the split second it took him to notice her stalking towards him, she put a bullet in his shoulder. He dropped his gun, scrambling for it with his other arm, so Raina fired a bullet into that arm too. Kicking the guns away from the incapacitated robbers, she ducked behind the counter as the door to the back room flew open, and the masked figure began firing shots into the air. He trailed the cashier by her hair, tears streaming down her face. All it took was the small distraction as the cashier dropped to her knees, for Raina to pump two bullets into his stomach. He dropped the cashier and the gun as he went down.
Raina dived to grab all the guns and tossed them behind the counter and ran to the injured man.
“Can someone come help me please!” she called desperately, “The gunmen are down, you’re safe!” She checked over the man carefully, he wasn’t breathing, and she couldn’t find a pulse.
Slowly, the other customers crept into view, each one visibly traumatised and a few with beaten faces. Logan turned the corner, sporting a split lip and bruises blossoming on his cheek, falling to his knees beside her. He wrapped her in a tight embrace before chuckling “I had a feeling those shots were yours.” She gripped him back tightly, an ache forming in her chest.
“I’m glad you’re alright,” she breathed as she buried her face in his neck. Quickly snapping out of the embrace, she turned back to the man as sirens sounded in the distance. With the help of Logan and another customer, they turned the man over to begin CPR before everyone froze. Raina’s gasp choked in her throat as she spotted the entry wound on his forehead.
“Daddy?” called a tearful voice. The crying little girl pushed her way past the crowds and looked at Raina. “Are you making my daddy better?” she asked through sobs. She couldn’t have been more than six. Raina forced back her tears as she lifted the little girl and carried her outside to the swarm of emergency vehicles that had pulled up outside. She stalked over to the policewoman who was shouting orders.
“Three masked men, all wounded, one possibly dead. One civilian DOA,” she briefed the woman, before giving her a warning look. The woman’s eyes widened before she took the child off Raina and sat her in the car, ordering two officers to sit with the girl. They walked back into the store as Raina filled her in.
“The girl’s father is dead, bullet to the head. Three armed robbers, hostages held at gunpoint. I took out the robbers, the cashier is pretty shook up,” she cleared her throat and loosed a breath, “I called it in.” The woman hesitated and looked Raina up and down. “Wait, you’re the general?”
“Yes. I was waiting outside when I saw it go down. I had a friend in there so I didn’t want to wait,” she explained, stepping aside as the paramedics brought two injured robbers out, handcuffed to stretchers.
The woman extended a firm hand to her. “Sergeant Alice Cross, it’s an honour to meet you General Phoenix.”
Raina shook her hand. “Likewise.”
Shortly after, two body bags on beds rolled solemnly out after them. An officer approached them with the father’s wallet. “Ma’am we have some bad news,” he muttered, his eyes glistening, “victim was Neil Long, only moved here six months ago after his wife and son were killed in a car wreck. There is no family we can call for this girl.” A sombre look passed between them as she took the wallet.
“I’ll have to excuse myself General, I hope to see you again,” the sergeant shook her hand and walked away, giving more orders to the officers. Raina felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see Logan. He had a paper stitch on his lip and two on his cheek, surrounded by a newly formed bruise.
“How’s your face?” she asked softly.
Seeing the injuries on his cheek, the haunting look of the little girl and the dead man on the floor made her wish she had taken her time with the criminals. A gun was too good for them. He cupped her cheek and stroked his thumb down a dried tear track.
“At least one side is still gorgeous,” he smirked, “aw, where you worried about me princess?”
She gave him a light punch on the arm and led him back to the car, but this time she went to the driver’s side.
“I’ll need directions. Can’t have you driving when you’re all traumatised and b
eaten up,” she smirked. He shook his head. “Actually neither of us are driving. Darius is picking us up on his way back from the city. I’ll get the car tomorrow, it’s almost out of gas and I doubt that cashier wants to ring me up.”
As though summoned by the mention of his name, a sleek black limousine pulled up on the kerb. The emergency vehicles were still blocking the road into the station, so they couldn’t have driven out anyway. Darius got out with a worried look on his face, followed by Kalen. Logan walked towards them with a smile as Raina grabbed her phone and locked the car. Kalen wrapped his brother in a hug before dashing to Raina, checking her over.
“What the hell happened here? Are you two okay? What happened to your face Logan?” Kalen bombarded them with questions without taking a breath. Logan led him to the car, promising answers once they got sitting down. As though he forgot something, he ran back to Raina, who was leaving her details with an officer.
“I don’t want you to leave,” he panted. The officer glanced awkwardly between them before scurrying off. Raina schooled her face into an expressionless gaze back at him. “I don’t want you to go. I know I’m difficult, and I haven’t gotten off to a great start, but I want you here.”
Kalen called out to them from the car to get a move on and Logan held up a finger.
“Raina, if you want to go I won’t stand in your way, just give me a day to work something out before I tell Kalen please.” Raina’s eyes darkened in fury.
“You don’t want me here, you only want me to stay so Kalen doesn’t give you a hard time, you couldn’t give a shit if I left otherwise,” she hissed, careful not to make it obvious they were arguing. He shook his head.
“There’s just something about you. You’re probably the most interesting person I’ve ever met, and you aren’t hard on the eyes,” he winked, earning a half-assed scoff from her, “If you want to go I’ll tell Kalen right now and you can watch him yell at me.” Despite her best efforts, she smirked. He poked her cheek lightly and she laughed.
“I guess I can give it a shot,” she sighed “I’m sure I’ll get the opportunity to see Kalen yell at you some other time.” Logan breathed a relieved sigh, threw his arm around her shoulders and walked to the car where his brother waited.
∞∞∞
Logan and Raina filled Kalen in on the details of their day, omitting the mention of towels, hotel rooms or the first appearance of her gun. He listened, gobsmacked, as Logan told him about the hold-up, and the surprising revelation about Raina’s military standing.
“You were in the military?” Kalen asked, the flabbergasted expression still lingering on his face. Raina nodded and recounted the same explanation she had given Logan at dinner. She decided to spare him the other anecdotes she had mentioned about assassination missions.
“I’m still active, however due to my rank I am granted more leniency than most. I declined an operation this year so I could return to school,” she finished. Kalen just sat silently taking in all the new information. He looked at her with an air of pity.
“You’re so young,” he choked, his voice merely a whisper, “you would have been in so much danger. Why didn’t anyone stop you?”
“Stop me?” Raina frowned at him, “why would anyone have stopped me? Thousands of women join the ranks, especially just out of school.”
Kalen glanced at Logan and remained silent. Judging by Logan’s previous response and now Kalen’s less than supportive response, any mention of her military background was going to cause tension.
She stared out the window while Logan and Kalen discussed the incident at the store and a few business related things that Raina didn’t understand. Aside from a few nods and agreeable mutters to show her attention, she focused solely on the dark smudges of the horizon. The sharp creaks of a gate and crunching gravel brought her attention back as they arrived back at the manor. Kalen held his hand out to her in a gentlemanly gesture to help her out.
“I know you’re tired after a long day, but I am going to need you to come to my office for a moment before you retire for the evening,” he said confidently, fixing his tie. She didn’t even look back at Logan as his brother led her through the doors and up the staircase to his office.
Striding into a darkened room, Kalen flicked on the lights before gesturing to the chair opposite his desk. He shuffled through a stack of folders on his desk before hastily stuffing them into an overflowing shelf and lifted two glasses over to his desk.
Raina padded silently over the plush carpet before sitting, eyeing him as he poured something brown from a crystal cut decanter. She bobbed her head in thanks as he slid her glass across the table and relaxed back into his comfortable looking chair. He clinked his glass against hers and took a long swallow as she faked a sip.
“Raina, you’re obviously new here, so I wanted to just give you a heads up on a few things.” He leaned forward on his chair to give her the same scrutinizing gaze she had become accustomed to in her career. “I know damn well when my brother is lying or trying to cover something up. Now I can’t very well go accusing people with no proof, but I’d like to hear the actual story of today from you. I find it difficult to believe that you took down three larger, armed men by yourself without any help. Perhaps I’m just being cynical, but you don’t seem the type of person who would just happen to have a gun at hand.”
His commanding tone made her spine stiffen. She had endured plenty of taunts and dismissive remarks before, each time she simply walked away. Raina set her glass down with a clink.
“I can understand it may be hard to believe, but it is true. I apologise if I misled you by omitting it from my resume, but I learned from experience it’s something to keep to myself. Most employers think I’m lying, so they assume I’m lying about something else too.” Without breaking his stare, she slid her gun from her jacket and placed in on the desk before him. Kalen’s mouth dropped into an ‘o’ before he regained his composure with a smirk.
“So you just happened to have a gun at hand as a robbery went down in front of you?” Raina sighed and pocketed the weapon, swapping it out for a slim wallet. She slipped a card out and handed it to Kalen.
“I’m licensed to carry in twenty three countries. I have immunity against shoot-to-kill laws, basically I have a license to kill,” she explained, “but I assure you, I don’t usually carry weapons in my pocket. I expected to spend today wandering around an unfamiliar city, and I could easily have been marked as a tourist or an easy target. I kept one on me for protection.”
Kalen was silent, contemplating everything she said before sighing.
“So my brother wasn’t lying about anything then.”
She shook her head. He looked up at her with the same pitiful expression he gave her in the car.
“I know the army seemed like a good option for you, but someone should have stopped you, or gave you a better choice. You’re so young, you’re a small woman. You could have died.”
“I was aware of the dangers when I joined. Kalen there was no one could have stopped me. I was going through a rebellious phase and lost out on my scholarship because of my behaviour. My mother couldn’t afford to send me to college. We had moved around the country so often I never set roots anywhere. Plus I was in a pretty dark place, I was looking to make bad choices. The army just didn’t turn out to be one.”
The ache in her chest was growing more as she spoke. Raina brought the glass to her lips and sank the contents, hoping it would burn enough to take away the dull pain. Well it definitely burned. Kalen chuckled as she grimaced.
“Can I ask a favour?” he beamed at her softly, “keep your weapons locked away. I can provide you with a safe. I doubt you’re an irresponsible owner, but I wouldn’t want anyone else getting uncomfortable.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll keep them locked away in my room for everyone’s comfort and safety,” she agreed fervently. His grin widened and he stood, sliding her card back across the desk to her. “I’ll let you get back to your room and res
t. In your reception there is a phone on the wall, you can still request some food from the kitchen before Colin leaves for the night, he finishes at eleven if you need anything.”
Raina bid farewell and left into the darkened hallway, realising that she had no idea where her bedroom was from this part of the manor and she couldn’t see a light switch. She fumbled her way down the hallway, following a few twists and turns. She decided against feeling the walls for a light switch after almost swiping what she assumed to be an expensive piece of art off the wall.
There was barely a glow from the windows, since the manor was situated so far from civilisation there were no streetlights around. She turned a corner to the left and slammed her knee into a sideboard, knocking over a throng of fragile-sounding items.
“Dammit!” she hissed, gripping her knee. A nearby door flew open with a soft beam of light and Logan appeared, spotting her swearing at a table. She blushed furiously, and he leaned against the door with a cocky grin and arched brows.
“A whole day together and you miss me already Raina?” He flipped on a switch beside his door and she squinted at the bright glow. His grin was even more feral in the light.
She glowered at him and stooped to pick up a photo frame and fix the others. “It’s dark, I couldn’t find a light switch and I almost knocked your frames off the wall. I didn’t know the way back to my room,” she explained curtly, brushing her hair back from her face.
She propped the strange glass figurine back up as he shook his head at her, chuckling to himself.
“Your room is just that door at the end of this hall. There’s a switch beside it, but the lights are on timers. They go off automatically at night,” he clarified. She stalked past him to go to her room but he put a hand out to stop her. He clasped her hands in his and gazed at her, his golden eyes sparkling.
“Thank you for today Raina,” he breathed softly, “You could have been killed, but you rescued me and all those people. Even after I was such an ass to you. And you agreed to stay too. Thanks.” A ruddy tinge swept along his cheeks as he spoke. Her stomach fluttered and she nodded with a smile.