Page 58 of Caught By Menace

“So what? You’re going to hunt them down with those guns? What if you shoot the wrong people?”

Menace didn’t glance up from his scanning and typing. “That’s war, Naya. Collateral damage is acceptable.”

Naya didn’t think. She pulled back her fist and punched him hard on the shoulder. “How can you say that? Collateral damage? Those are people, Menace!”

He frowned and rubbed his shoulder. “Thathurt.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” she replied sarcastically. “That was collateral damage from my anger at your indifference.”

Menace’s jaw tightened. “What do you want me to say, Naya? That we never make mistakes? I’m no liar. Sometimes innocent people are in the wrong place at the wrong time. I can’t change that. I won’t sit here and lie to you by promising you that these weapons will only be used against terrorists.”

“Okay and what happens when these weapons get into the hands of those Splinter guys?”

“They won’t.”

His arrogance burned her already frayed nerves. “You can’t know that, Menace. Hello! Your people have imposed a weapons ban on Calyx for centuries, yet we have weapons. You confiscated one from me, remember?”

“Oh, I remember all right.”

“Then please listen to me. You are in the wilds of the galaxy out here. You cannot protect every shipment that comes your way.” Naya stopped herself before she said something incriminating. This definitely wasn’t the time to come clean to him, not here in his office. “Look, all I’m saying is that there have been things that came through the front doors of my pawnshop that were straight off your ships. You couldn’t control pieces of tech. How the hell do you intend to control the flow of weapons, Menace?”

He sat back in his chair and studied her. Finally he spoke. “I don’t disagree with your assessment, but that’s not my department. I’m just the weapons specialist.”

She sighed slowly and dropped her gaze. “People are going to die, Menace.”

“They already are, Naya. That’s why we have to stop these terrorists before they gain a real foothold on your planet. A handful of surgical strikes and we solve the problem.”

She shook her head and stared at him. “That easy, huh?”

“That’s what they tell people in my paygrade.”

Signaling an end to their discussion, Menace returned to his work. Naya stifled the inner voice that urged her to just fucking tell him already. Their discussion had given her the perfect opening to just lay it all on the line. Fear stopped her. The idea that he would react with anger or disgust made it impossible for her to take the brave step of confessing her sins.

Menace worked diligently at her side. The hands that had brought her such pleasure and that cradled her close at night mesmerized her. She gazed at his handsome face. The thought of never again seeing his smiling face across the dinner table or feeling his lips gliding over her skin squashed whatever courage she’d been able to muster.

Refusing to ruin what she shared with Menace, Naya convinced herself that Terror couldn’t possibly know what she’d done. There were no records. She’d only ever been arrested for petty crimes. Maybe Terror had his suspicions but he didn’t have proof. She wasn’t about to give it to him by unburdening her conscience on Menace. Some secrets had to be kept…whatever the cost.

Naya had goneawfully quiet as he worked. Menace scanned the last card and inputted the final pieces of data before logging off. He placed the cards back in their case and slipped it into the drawer of his desk where he kept the range records of every soldier on the ship. Touching her knee, Menace got her attention. “I have something I want you to see.”

She rolled her eyes. “I think you showed me that this morning in the shower.”

Menace chortled and shoved out of his chair. “No, notthat.” He held out his hand and tugged her off his desk. “I was going to give it to you later but you’re here now so we may as well play with it.”

“Now I know you’re talking about sex. Is it another one of your weird toys?”

Menace frowned at her. “You make it sound like I’m a sex-addicted pervert.”

“Um…have you looked in the mirror lately?”

“Watch it,” he warned. “There’s enough soundproofing in the shooting range for me to toss you across my knee and swat that little ass of yours until it’s bright-red.”

Naya laughed and patted his chest. “Tease.”

“You’re awfully brave today, sweetheart.” He led her into the shooting range and punched in the activation code that would alert the control rooms and police that any shots fired were fortraining purposes only. The last thing he wanted was an SRU team storming the range in the search for an active shooter.

“Take these.” Menace pressed a pair of headphones and safety glasses into her hand. “You’ll have to wear them.”

She examined the protective equipment. “Why?”

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