Gabby blanched. That couldn’t be good for them. “How do I pack this thing up? Is this a self-checkout situation or do I sign out?”
“You sign out.”
“Gotcha.” So it was basically like checking out a library book.
Valentina looked her dead in the eye. “You’re doing much better, but you haven’t had any practice in the field. Shooting in a real situation at a real person is different.”
“You’re not backing out, are you?” Fear gripped Gabby, the kind of visceral, alone-in-a-parking-garage-with-no-one-but-a-guy-in-a-van fear. Valentina was abandoning her, leaving her helpless against Smirnov’s goons.
Valentina shook her head. “Gabby—”
“I can do it.” She said it in the eager way of someone who wants something desperately but clearly cannot do it. “I am a different person than I was last week,” she pleaded.
“Well, that’s good news,” Valentina said dryly. “Still, I am not ready to send you with a gun. Yet.”
Hands in the air, Gabby groaned. “You’re kidding me.”
“You did well tonight, but you’ve had one lesson. I’m not counting that disaster with Markus. I don’t want you bringing a gun into your home. I’ve seen that circus.”
It was her circus. She had to take care of it.
“Val, I… I need protection.”
“Why? Why do you need protection so badly? Is there something you’re not telling me?” Valentina scrutinized Gabby’s expression, leaving her desperate to tell the truth, to ask for help.
Gabby bit her lip. “This is a dangerous job. Darcy died.”
“Nope, not giving it to you.”
Valentina set a small package on the table between them. “But I have something for you. This is a dart gun. The darts can be fired out of the gun like you see on animal shows. Or if you’re in a close-range situation, you can just stab someone. You want to hit them in a big muscle group—ass, thigh, upper arm—to paralyze them for an hour or so.”
Adartgun. What was she, a zookeeper? With a laugh, she realized Valentina had already told her—she was a circus ringmaster. Maybe not even the ringmaster. She was just in the circus.
Valentina continued explaining even though Gabby had shut down. “They’re a paralytic, good for immobilizing someone, and they’ll knock them out for about fifteen minutes. The paralytic effect lasts longer.”
Gabby couldn’t bring herself to care. The EOD wasn’t taking her seriously, wasn’t taking her safety or her children’s safety seriously. And why was Valentina so intent on keeping her from having decent protection? She was starting to seem like the mole.
“You can use them on your ex if you want.” Valentina wagged a tranquilizer dart in the air. “I won’t tell.”
Gabby didn’t crack a smile. Valentina was not going to paper over this disrespect with one comment. “I need protection. For real.”
Valentina held up the dart gun. “This is protection.”
Gabby huffed.
Unimpressed with Gabby’s attitude, Valentina went on. “You’re going to want a holster. If you want this to be useful, you need to have access to it. You can’t be searching around in a closet when a bad guy is coming at you.”
Gabby nodded. “Fine.”
Valentina gave Gabby’s figure a cursory glance. “You’re too hippy for a standard holster that dudes use.”
“What?” Was that an insult?
“So am I. I’m just saying that the gun print will be visible, and staying hidden is the number one priority. A gun would blow your cover.” Valentina pulled out a shoulder holster and helped Gabby slide into it. The dart gun fit along the side of her breast, completely invisible.
“Try drawing it a few times.”
Gabby did as requested. Valentina might be the mole, and she wasn’t going to be chill about being denied the same protection the other EOD agents had, but the dart gun wasn’t bad.
