Page 21 of Inescapable Gravity

"Our job is to keep that from happening."

Stepping up beside him, Miles looked over his shoulder.

"Too many dark corners. Too many blocked sight lines. This is an old power station of some sort?"

Marius nodded. "Antiquated. The local government built a new modern building with a state-of-the-art system almost ten years ago and they left this building as is."

Miles reached out and ran his fingers over one of the metal surfaces, grimacing before he lifted his fingers to stare at the smudges across his fingertips. "I would have thought they'd do more cleaning before using it as a venue."

"It started out with kids having raves in here. After a while it turned into a drug den. When someone overdosed here, there was a public outcry for better security or to demolish the building."

"Why didn't they?" Miles didn't wait for a reply. "I know. We had something like this happen in my hometown. Some kind of historical society stepped in."

Marius nodded. "A few of the local families who could trace their beginnings back to the same era when it was built. They pooled their money to rehabilitate the building and now it's the 'cool' place to have an event if you want a... let me see if I can remember the ad copy... Unique location for any event where you want to create an experience so memorable that it will never be forgotten."

Miles nodded slowly before he spoke. "Memorable. The concept goes both ways."

"What do you mean?"

Miles shook his head. "Just talking out of my ass."

"That might be true." Shaking his head, Marius sighed. "But there's a bit of truth in that as well. Our job is to see that it's the good kind of memorable."

Miles kept his gaze fixed on Marius' face.

Marius noticed it and he wasn't sure he liked it. "This means a lot to me."

"Nix means a lot to you. Don't bother trying to dance around the issue, Ares. The way you look at her. The way your hand's itch to touch her. Even the way you speak to her-"

"That's not-"

"Maybe not to most people, but I've heard your voice strong, weak, authoritative, mellow, laughing and aching in pain. What I hear in your voice is different with her. Softer. Gentler. And I don't think it's because she's a woman. We trained with women at the camp. You didn't treat them any differently than everyone else. Nix is different to you."

"I knew her before." That just wasn't enough to explain, but he wasn't sure he should. "Before I went into the military."

"Ah." It was a simple answer. And yet it wasn't. There was a depth of understanding in Miles' gaze and Marius let out a breath.

"So, I can count on you?"

Miles' smile was mostly on one side of his mouth. "You could before I knew. Now that I know how much this means to you. We won't let anything stand in the way."

Marius' smile was barely there. He wouldn't allow himself to be too confident. That had never ended well for him. Confidence didn't equal competent in his world.

"Let's keep going and find the trouble places in the seating plan too. We want to keep everyone in sight of the cameras."

Miles gave him a casual salute and went off on his way to tour the far side of the room.

Turning to look at the stage, Marius saw the red X marked in tape just shy of the center of the floor.

"Downstage of Center."

That's what Heather had said.

He walked the front row from one side to another before he started back on each row back from there.

Back and forth, he tracked the closest exit. He saw any blockage of sight lines. He looked at the angle they would have for the music stand that Heather would stand behind.

Alex had picked them all for their ability to seamlessly fit into public venues. They weren't about bulk, but they had to blend in where it was possible. That would let down the guard of anyone trying to hurt their protectee.

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