It’s fun to run through the course with Evie.She’s not particularly fast, but she is good at being stealthy.We’re almost at their base when we get ambushed.Grecs knocks the gun from my hands and tells me to freeze.I look over my shoulder, but Evie has disappeared.
She went that way.Grecs motions with his head to Marla.Get her.
The Amazon takes off.
You know, it feels so good to take down our perfect captain, that I’m just going to relish the moment,he tells me with a big grin, gun aimed at my chest target.
A woman’s muffled cry sounds out close by.Shit.Some job I’m doing protecting Evie.
There’s a noise to my right.Both Grecs and I turn, but there’s nobody there.I squint and see a dark blob on the floor.
Fuck!Grecs cries out, and when I turn back, his chest target is flashing.Evie is crouched on the floor with her gun raised.
She stands.Let’s go.
I grab my laser gun and take off after her.We hit the target and head back to our base.Evie’s hair is flowing behind her, and she looks like the total badass that she is.
Where’s your toque?I ask.
Oh, I knotted and threw it as a distraction.I’ll get it once the game is done.
The coup de grâce is when we run into Coty on the way back to his base.Before I can lift my gun, Evie shoots from the hip and makes a perfect bull’s-eye.
Evie!You shot me?Coty says.
Oh, sorry, Antoine,she replies sweetly.
But she’s not fooling me anymore.I shake my head in admiration.
Cleo and Mats are already there, so we wait excitedly for Andy and Sinc.When they appear a couple of minutes later, I’m almost certain that we’ve won, given that Coty, Grecs, and Marla were all shot.But we wait until we get the final results before we celebrate.
Way to go, team!Cleo declares happily.I’m also glad that we won, but I have bigger questions.
I drape an arm over Evie.You have a lot of hidden talents.
Like Scheherazade,she replies.You haven’t broken up with me yet because I’m a new girlfriend every night.
I’m struck by how nonchalant she is about our eventual breakup.She never makes plans for our future.Is that why she doesn’t make me uncomfortable?Or is it because I still can’t get enough time with Evie?All this passion is going to peter out sometime, but right now it’s all encompassing.
Where did you learn to shoot like that?
I could I tell you, but I’ll have to kill you.That’s our coded answer when we don’t want to answer a question.
That’s not as funny now that I know you can handle firearms,I reply.But you could have mentioned that you can actually shoot.
She sighs.I don’t like showing off or being the centre of attention.But I knew you wanted to win, and I didn’t want to let down the team.
That’s not really an answer, but it’s all I’m getting.
I pull her by the hand.Come with me.I have to recover my manhood by winning a stuffed animal for you.
After I spend way too much money on a claw machine, Evie walks away cuddling a lavender weasel.
It’s adorable.Thank you, Viktor.She flings her arms around my neck and kisses me, back in her disguise as my sweet, innocent girlfriend.
17
AGAINST ALL ODDS
