Page 43 of Ex-SEAL Bad Boy

I’d never been on the run before, I think with a touch of amusement as we pull into the parking lot of the nearest big box store.

I’m worried that I might be becoming a little desensitized to the danger. After all, for all the ominous things that had happened up to this point, I hadn’t experienced anything overtly dangerous, at least not yet.

I don’t want to get careless.

I grab my essentials, then go off in search of Ethan.

I find him in the sporting goods department, standing over a glass display case, which I notice contains ammunition.

“What the ...”

I didn’t finish when I noticed him giving me a look.

“In my go bag, just in case.”

He had a weapon.

Of course he did.

At least I know he knows how to use it.

“Nine millimeter, box of fifty,” he instructs the clerk when he walks up.

“Got your ID,” he asks matter-of-factly.

“Absolutely,” Ethan replies, pulling out his wallet and producing a North Carolina driver’s license bearing a name I didn’t recognize.

The clerk fills out some paperwork on a clipboard and checks a list before reaching under the counter, retrieving the ammunition, and placing it on the counter.

“That comes to thirty-five fifty.”

Ethan responds by pulling two twenties out and placing them on the counter as the clerk bags his purchase.

“Mr. Reilly?” I ask in a whisper as we walk away.

“Yeah. I happen to like it. Good likeness, right?”

“Guns, fake IDs, in a different state no less, I’m beginning to wonder about you.”

“What? Sophia, I’m an ex-Navy SEAL, you know that. You think I’m not prepared for almost any eventuality? Besides, with parents like mine, it’s good to have a plan B and C.”

We check out my items and head to the car. It looks like it might rain, and the humidity makes the place feel like a sauna. The newly paved parking lot smells of fresh asphalt, and the seagulls squawk at us from the edge of the roof.

As he opens the trunk, he asks me quietly, “Very slowly and casually look over to the left. About fifty yards away. See the blue sedan with tinted windows?”

Very carefully, I turn my head in that direction.

“I’m not sure,” he says quietly, “but I think someone might have found us.”

“Wha... how? We were so careful. How could anyone find us that fast?”

“I told you these people have resources. I don’t know how they found us, but for all I know, they may have followed us from Virginia. I thought I was so careful.”

“Ethan,” I say, reaching for his hand.

“Calm down. I might be wrong, but we’ll know for sure when we leave.”

He pulls an item from his bag. It’s black and heavy. I know it’s his gun.

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