AllFreeNovel
Share Us
A white rage I haven’t felt since combat back in Afghanistan fills me. It’s a hyper-energy, so strong I can barely control it, so addictive I want to feel it forever. Unnerving and maddening, it has a will of its own, taking over, hijacking me.
In combat, it’s my greatest asset other than my weapon.
As a security specialist, it’s like a nuclear bomb. A great deterrent if you don’t actually unleash it into the world.
“What the hell do you have to say to me?” Blaine hisses. “We have nothing to talk about. Ever.”
I nod toward the dead zone Gentian identified.
“Over here. Away from prying ears. Some things are better kept private, right?”
He makes a sour face. “I don’t have time for this shit.”
“You keep threatening Lindsay and you’re a dead man,” I say quietly, with a smile, as I reach for his shoulder and clap him on the back.
He looks like he’s choking on a snake.
I know how this works. The video cameras don’t have sound. If I’m careful, I can make it look like this is just a conversation between two old buddies, meeting by coincidence. The rising political star running into the owner of a private security company. The California state representative having a chat with the Purple Heart recipient.
The presidential candidate’s decorated war hero security detail shooting the shit with his old friend.
At least, I have to make it look like that until I can get him out of camera range.
“You’re threatening me?” He moves his shoulder away, then looks up, searching for a camera.
I grin. We’re a handful of steps away from the labor law sign.
“I’m warning you.” He hasn’t denied the threat to Lindsay. My white rage turns red. Sonofabitch.
“It goes both ways.”
“You can’t prove a fucking thing.”
A gong goes off in my head, like someone took the biggest felt-covered mallet in the world and rang the sun.
“You sick motherfucker,” I growl. “You don’t even deny it.”
His turn to give me a distorted grin. “Why would I deny anything to you, Drew? You’re next.”
Three feet. We’re three fucking feet from the dead zone when I hear --
“Drew? You can’t just leave me in a hot car to bake and – ” Her voice cracks, going subsonic. “Oh my God. Oh my God, no. You weren’t kidding. No, no...”
We both turn, Blaine moving in slo-mo, my red rage making every part of the hallway look like I’m on a fast train through a city of lights, all the white flying past me in pinpricks turned to lines.
One step.
Two steps.
I pivot, inserting myself between Blaine and Lindsay, acting as the shield I could never be on that night four years ago.
I act.
I do.
I am.
I will.
