Page 4 of Shockproof

“Warning!”

“-and tried contacting the secretaries on this floor but received no answer.”

“It’s their lunch hour,” my girlfriend softly sighs. “They typically get together – at least once a week – and go out. Sometimes with other employees from other departments. Usually just with other secretaries, though. They exchange the hottest goss. Bitch about the latest problems. The married ones offer to set up the single ones for double dating adventures. Melissa always offers to bring me something back yet never invites me to go. I guess it would be weird to invite the boss? It’d be like inviting the coach to a players only meeting, right?” She takes a tiny bite of her bottom lip. “Or maybe I’m just too weird to be invited? Maybe me being too weird is the reason no one invites me to go out for drinks either? Maybe me being super weird is the reason no one invites me to do anything with them outside of work?”

“You know what’ssuper fuckin’weird?” I segue by delivering a glare to her ex-boyfriend, successfully aiding in the alleviation of the social disappointment its evident she’s experiencing. “That you ignored thedirectcommand I gave you, Lenkov!”

“I don’t work foryou, Wahl!”

“You won’t work foranyoneif you ever let my woman’s life be in jeopardy again because you couldn’t jus’ hang up the fuckin’ phone!”

“It’s not that simple!”

“It’s not that fuckin’ complicated!”

“Maybe not for a moonshine drinking merc like yourself, but for some of us, some of us that have fucking numbers instead of names, it’s a little less black and white!”

“You’re gonna be seein’ a whole lot of red when this shit is over!”

“Was that a threat,Mr. Wahl?!”

“It was a vow, Seventeen.”

“Is Arley holding a gun?” Blu unexpectedly inserts, redirecting everyone’s attention over to him. “Why does she have a gun?” Confusion and amusement collide in his expression. “How bad is the sitch ifshe’sthe only one with a weapon drawn?”

“Hey!” the love of my life squeaks on an adorable foot stomp. “I can handle a gun!”

“Tell that to Slater’s ma’s windchime.”

“I only clipped its wing!”

“Creating Weird OwlYankovic.”

Embarrassment has her lowering the weapon in her hands on a whine. “Ohmygod,you guys named it?!”

“Blu named it,” I quickly insist. “I jus’…didn’t discourage him.”

“Which is practically the same thing asencouraginghim!”

“True.” My partner nods during the unholstering of his own Glock. “Very true.”

The glare he’s given is attached to me rising to my feet. “Where’s Reynolds?”

“Medical.” He aims the barrel in the direction of the disarmed threat behind me. “He found Yi barely breathing in the stairwell with a couple burn marks on his neck. If I had to venture a guess, I’d say he was lured there by this asshole, tased, and fell.” Blu meets my gaze. “A lot.”

Shit.

I hope he didn’t break his neck.

Those along with spine trauma are among my least favorite to deal with.

Unlike the shit you see in the movies, a broken neck doesn’t necessarily mean instant death.

It can mean dislocations.

Disc lesions.

Damaged cervical bones or vertebrae.

---