“I’m pretty sure Colleen and I talked about my security code while we were in the office,” Ashley countered.
“A location that’s probably even less secure. I’ll tell them to scan over there, too.”
Ashley sighed her exasperation as she shook her head. “So, Brad suddenly turns into James Bond, plants listening devices and… what…? Goes to lock-picking school?”
“No need.Hello, Oswald Q. Locksmith…?” Kenneth pitched his voice lower and did a not-entirely-terrible American accent. “Yes, my name is Brad Hennesey. I’m locked out of my condo, and my fiancé is out of town. What’s that? You only accept cash and it’ll cost eight hundred dollars…? No problem. I’ll meet you there in ten. No need to replace the lock—there’s another key inside, in the junk drawer…”
Ashley swore.
“You keep a spare key in one of your kitchen drawers, like everyone else in the known universe?” Jim asked.
She nodded. And clearly she was thinking whathewas thinking, which was that even if Colleen checked to see if that key was still there, the thief could’ve taken it—after being let in by a locksmith—copied it, and already brought it back, so that they’d think it wasn’t missing. “Hello, Oswald Q. Locksmith…? I think I need to change my locks, along with my alarm code.”
“Or not,” Jim said. “Not yet, anyway. If you want to catch this guy—let’s call himBradjust for shits and giggles—you should keep everything exactly the same, but add a few hidden mini-cams to your security set up.”
“It might’ve just been someone looking for some quick cash,” she argued.
“With this kind of sophisticated entry?” Jim asked. “If the window was broken, sure, but… Come on, you’re smarter than that.”
She met his gaze steadily. “Iamsmarter than that.”
And ooh, she wasn’t talking about the break-in. He was pretty certain she was talking about earlier, when he’d had his hands all over her. But she wasn’t angry, which was… puzzling.
“All right, all right, all right!” Lucky O’Donlon could do a mean Matthew McConaughey, and he was even more jubilant today, because yes, his wife, Syd,wasexpecting their first baby. It was hard not to smile at his palpable joy. His entire team was behind him as they approached—Team One’s rivals for the first paintball game—which was gonna be a bloodbath.
“Consider it,” Jim told Ashley. “The cameras.”
“I’m considering a lot of things,” she said.
Whoa, wait,what…? But she’d already turned and was rallying their team—at least Clark and Kenneth. But hey, she’d even gestured for Bull and Todd to join them and they’d moved, albeit reluctantly, into a semi-huddle as Lucky’s team went in through the trailer and onto the field.
“The game is elimination,” she told them. “Last team standing wins. We’ve been given this end of the field—the southern half. Lieutenant O’Donlon’s team is heading out right now, to open up the trailer in the northern half. When the buzzer sounds, they’ll start from way up there, while we start from down here.”
“You picked the shitty end of the field,” Bull muttered.
“It was a coin toss,” Ashley reported. “They got to pick. But I’m okay with it, because we’ve all spent most of our time on this half, and frankly, we know it best. So here’s what we’re going to do: Clark, Kenneth, LT, and I are going to hide. Bull and Todd, you’re our only hope. You stay out there and do what you do best. Eliminate as many of them as you can.”
And there it was. The moment in which Bull and Todd could take Ashley’s words of praise, inspired by a famous female general—You’re our only hope—and rise to the challenge. Join the team.
But Bull remained scornful. “So we’re supposed to sacrifice ourselves, so you idiots can win? I don’t think so.”
Jim felt himself bristle. “You don’t have a choice—”
Ashley cut him off. “If any one of us is the last person standing, our entire team wins.”
“It’s lastmanstanding,” Bull shot back.
“It probably will be, yes. And that last man will probably be therealNavy SEAL,” Ashley said crisply. “I’m good with that.” She looked over at Jim. “We could use your help, LT, finding the best places for us to hide. I have some ideas, but… Anyway, after we’re set, I’ll rendezvous with Bull and Todd and let them know exactly where we are. My thought is that if Clark, Kenneth, the LT, and I are scattered, hidden, across the field, we’ll have two options. Wait for the enemy to come to us, and if we get a clean shot at any one of them, we’ll take it, even if the rest of their team then takes us out. And if we can’t get a clean shot, we’ll wait for Bull and Todd to lure the other team to where we’re hidden, and at your signal, we’ll create a diversion—a distraction that will likely get us eliminated, at least those of us who aren’t Navy SEALs—but will allow Bull and Todd to eliminate the other team members and win for us all.”
It was a basic but pretty brilliant strategy—although the whole suicide-sacrifice approach wouldn’t work in a real life scenario. But this was paintball anddeadwasn’tdead. It was merely messy with a bit of a sting.
“I have just a few adjustments to TL’s plan,” Jim said. “I’ll get you settled, butI’llrendezvous with Bull and Todd. I’ll also stay in the field—”
“Your knees—”
“Are fine,” he said.Ah, Christ…But she didn’t argue—even if that same damn word cloud that he imagined also appeared to her. Still, she didn’t look happy. “We’ll meet at the banyan tree in the southwest corner,” he told Bull and Todd. “Fifteen minutes after the start buzzer sounds.”
Bull started making noise about the game not lasting more than ten minutes, but Jim cut him off with a sharp, “If you’re not there, I’ll assume you’re already dead. Masks on and into the field.” He led the way into the trailer then stood at the door and did his smack-and-yank mask check as the team went out into the yard.
