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“Great.” I hang up the phone and turn back to Taylor. “I’m going to make sure you’re safe first, and then we’ll talk about what to do from here.”
She hugs herself, leaning deeper into the wall like she wants to disappear into it. I can see the fear in her eyes, and it hurts, but I know she’ll be fine. I would lay down my life for her.
“Do you know how to shoot?” I ask, brandishing my rifle.
She looks at it like it’s a cockroach, wrinkling her nose and pulling her head back. “No, and I don’t care to. I’m not in the business of killing people.”
“It’s for self-defense,” I reply.
“Which is killing people. Listen, I’m from America and I know all about that shit. I don’t want anything to do with it.”
I shrug. “Fair enough, but you should be thankful that I don’t feel the same.”
“Thankful that you’re playing footsy with terrorists?”
“Footsy?” I ask, having never heard of such a term. I thought I knew English pretty well.
“It’s like flirting,” she says, holding up her bare foot and wiggling her toes. “With your feet.”
“Kinky.”
“I’m not laughing, Danya. This is fucking serious,” she says, her voice soaring into a higher pitch.
“You don’t have to do anything but allow me to lead. That’s it,” I reply, putting my hand on her shoulder and looking into her frantic eyes. “You can trust me.”
She melts in my grasp, trying to smile. “I trust you, but I don’t trust anyone else.”
“You don’t have to.”
I grab my phone as it buzzes. It’s Emanual with the car outside, so I grab Taylor and pull her out the door. I try to keep her from looking at the bullet-ridden car in the front lawn, but her curious eyes are drawn there immediately.
“Holy shit! Is that them?” she asks in a harsh whisper.
“Don’t worry about that,” I reply, opening the door to my armored car and pushing her inside. I slide in next to her and shut the door with a weighty thud. “Let’s go.”
The car takes off, ripping up the lawn in a way that makes me cringe. I almost want to tell Emanual to slow down, but it’s better that we get out of here before someone realizes their car attack didn’t work and decides to drop a bomb on the house.
I squeeze Taylor’s hand, giving her a reassuring smile as we break out onto the main road.
23
Taylor
It’s impossible to get that image out of my head. The red splatter of blood on the broken windshield is imprinted in my consciousness, forever overlayed on my thoughts.
I wonder what was going through that person’s head when they drove up to Danya’s house this morning. Were they expecting to die, or did they believe it would be easy for them to break into the house and start killing people?
The attacker already killed the guards at the front gate. We passed their bodies lying in crimson pools as we left. I wanted to stop and help them, but Danya assured me that they were already dead.
Several lives gone in just a few minutes, and Danya is unmoved. I wish I could be like him until I remember that his calm nature is a result of suffering, and I’d rather not go down that road.
I’ve suffered enough already.
I stare out the window as we leave the estate behind, and I wonder how long it will be until it’s safe enough to return. Maybe it won’t ever be, and we’ll be living off shaved ice and military rations for the rest of our lives.
I try to be optimistic, but it’s difficult. I have nobody to confide in but Danya, and he seems wholly incapable of understanding the depths of my distress. For him, this is just another day, but for me it’s a life I never thought I’d have to endure.
Maybe hewouldunderstand, but he doesn’t seem in the mood to talk about it right now. It’s useless either way.
