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He walked away without looking at me as Lance and I exchanged a look.
“Let’s get Shepard under our thumb and we can drink tonight,” Lance said, ushering me inside. “I think we deserve it.”
“It’s gonna be too quiet,” I said, walking inside.
“Yeah, oddly I’m going to miss their rambunctious asses,” he grumbled.
“Definitely a love-hate relationship with them,” I chuckled.
“Yeah? Love to hate them?” He laughed.
“I don’t know, you looked cozy with them.” I pushed against his shoulder with my own.
“Don’t start,” he groaned. “Nothing happened.”
“Don’t think I didn’t see Winchester looking at you too,” I said, grinning wider as his face grew red. “Come on, give me something.”
“Nothing happened,” he said.
I rolled my eyes.
“Ok, keep your secrets,” I said, walking back into my office. “Let's get this deal with Shepard done and we can drink our triplet blues away.”
Drinkingour triplet blues away was not a good plan. Lance and I were so hung over the next day it was impossible to do anything. Shepard was in a hurry to deal, he was flying in today to do the exchange, and it was the last thing I wanted to deal with.
It was a Wednesday, and the town had closed early, and Shepard would be coming in the next hour and a half. With the money coming in from the deals we had been making, the front of the town had been really benefiting. We were able to renovate a few areas and add a few new areas just in time for Christmas, which was less than two weeks away.
To the guests of Christmas Town, I was just the manager who got promoted and ran the town. I gave everyone a raise, took out the trash and made the environment a much better workplace. A majority of the employees were happy, but of course you had those few who would never be happy.
As the town was winding down, I made sure I talked to my supervisors to ensure everything was going well, but as we were closing up, I got a weird feeling. The hair on the back of my neck stood up as I scanned the town and saw only a few of my men walking around.
Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but I pulled a knife out of my jacket just in case. The sound of something falling quickly turned me around. Two men were on the floor with bullet holes in their foreheads.
“Stocking Stuffers!” I yelled the warning code the triplets had left my men and me.
Everyone went on alert as two more men dropped. At this rate, I was going to be left with no one in minutes. I crouched down, pulled my phone out and typed out an SOS to Arthur and Lance. A couple of shots were fired, with relief hitting me that my men had finally found the intruders. I pulled the gun from my hip, took the safety off and looked around to see if I could spot them.
“Noelle.”
I turned around, about to shoot, when Rogelio grabbed my upper arm and pulled me behind a cookie stand. He spoke in hushed tones into a radio as we crouched down and walked behind the concession stands. A piece of glass broke by us from a bullet and quickly followed by a barrage of bullets.
“Run!” He pushed me towards the compound as he pulled his gun over one of the stands, shooting back.
I hesitated, hating to leave him.
They are trained, you need to get to safety. You pay them to keep you safe.
Maverick’s words echoed in my head as I remembered one of our training days. I ran through a few more concession stands and a store, pushing myself to keep running and not stopping. Arms grabbed me from behind and I pushed out my ass abruptly.
I threw back my elbow into their face and a satisfying crunch made me grin. Turning around, I admired my handy work for a split second before I shot him in the chest twice. I didn’t have a choice if I wanted to get away. More shots were fired, kicking me into high gear as I made it to the compound door. I was about to unlock it when it opened and I was about to shoot when I saw it was one of my men.
“SUV.”
I wanted to stay and defend my town, but if he was telling me to leave then it must be worse than I had thought. My chesttightened as I hoped this wasn't the end as I ran down the hallway. No one was behind me, and it made me feel uneasy, but I had to believe that my men were doing their job.
The compound was quiet, and I thought they hadn't made it inside. I stayed silent, moved quickly, and pulled out my phone to check to see if I had any messages from Lance or Arthur. Nothing. My chest felt tighter and I immediately thought the worst.
I was almost to the back when the hairs on the back of my neck began to stand up again and I felt something cover my face. I screamed, threw my head back and felt I had hit something which caused their grasp to loosen. I hit them with my elbow, rip the bag off my head, when I’m hit on the back of my head and fall forward.
