Page 21 of In The Trenches (Owens Protective Services)

He grinned at me, shuffling his feet in some kind of dance move. “Oh, we got trouble,” he grinned.

“This is not River City,” I said, holding my hands out as I slowly stood. “And there are no pool tables in this building.”

He pointed a knife at me, laughing loudly. Honestly, I couldn’t believe I knew this much about musicals. It wasn’t until I met Fox all those years ago and he dragged me off to the theater that I even knew what a show tune was. Every once in a while, I caught myself singing along, without realizing what was happening until the room got quiet and everyone started staring at me.

“So, what made you decide to show up today?”

He shrugged, flipping a knife in his hand. “Got bored, I guess.”

“With what?”

“You know.”

I caught the glint in his eyes and knew exactly what he had been doing. Hunting. Fox was usually around when we needed him, but every once in a while, he would disappear without a trace. It usually meant he was onto something, whether personal or for business. None of us ever really knew, and I wasn’t sure it was wise for us to find out.

“What have you got going on here?”

“Ah, I’m glad you asked,” he grinned, flipping the knife back and forth in his hand.

This wasn’t a tactical knife or a combat knife. Fox wouldn’t bother with something like that for training. No, he loved his throwing knives, and every time I watched him, he seemed to get even better.

“I was just giving the boys a demonstration.”

“You know we’re not going to start carrying throwing knives,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest.

“That’s because you’ve never held one in your hands and felt the power of the beautiful mistress,” he said, walking over to me and wrapping his arm around my shoulder. “Trust me, just one touch, and you’ll fall in love.”

He stopped in front of the table, finally taking his arm off my shoulder. I wasn’t going to play into his games, but when he handed me one, I couldn’t help the curiosity building inside. Sighing, I took the knife from him and attempted to hold it, but he laughed.

“No, it’s all in the placement of your thumb. Now, at this distance, you should have your thumb in about the middle. The closer you are, slide your thumb down near the blade. For further away, choke up and hold it up here,” he said, repositioning my hand. “This is a half spin.”

“This is ridiculous,” I grumbled. “Like I’m ever going to have a need for throwing knives.”

“When wouldn’t you want to use it?” he asked incredulously. “Trust me, this is something we need on our side.”

“A bullet moves faster,” I pointed out.

“Ah, yes. But you can’t always rely on a gun, can you? Sometimes stealth is more important. Trust me on this.”

He positioned my body, then stepped back to watch. I let out a breath, then threw the knife, which bounced off the target. I tossed the other knives on the table, irritated with this.

“Look, I’m a sniper. I don’t throw knives.”

“You’re not relaxing. It’s just like using a sniper rifle. It’s about deadly accuracy and focus. You can do this.”

I took a deep breath and positioned my body the way he showed me, then focused on the target and flung it hard, shocked when it stuck. I couldn’t believe how fun that was, but I was forgetting that I wasn’t here to play.

“Right, well…we have shit to do.”

He started to whistle, but I cut him off. “We’re not performing right now. If you’re back, get your ass in gear and start training.” Spinning around, I faced the rest of the guys. “Lock, I have a job for your team. Let’s meet in the conference room in twenty.”

He nodded and headed off to the locker rooms, followed by his team, Edu, Rock, and Scottie Dog. Meanwhile, I headed back upstairs and pulled out their files, looking over their most recent jobs. I tried to rotate them when on assignment so they weren’t always doing the same jobs. Some companies liked to keep a close protection agent the same at all times, but I always felt it was best to keep them on their toes. You never knew when someone would go down, and another man would have to step into that position.

One by one, they filtered into the conference room and took their seats, all freshly showered and ready to get to work. I pulled out the file folders and passed them around the table.

“Alright, job of the day,” I grinned, letting them know this was going to be an easy one. “Simple job.”

“Yeah? Who’s the princess?”

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