Chapter 9
Chapter 9
“ S hould we go?”
Esther glanced up as if shocked to realize Leo was in the room, even though he’d never left. She became fully immersed in her work, to the exclusion of everything else, including him.
“Out with everyone,” he added.
Her perplexed frown deepened. “Is it a fire drill?”
“Everyone is going out after work. For food. They invited us.”
“They did? When did they do that?”
“When Maggie was here,” he said.
“Maggie was here?” she asked. She pushed away from the table and flexed her fingers. She had been using them to help her search the hundred faces before her, combing for hidden members of a familial crime syndicate. Leo usually insisted she take more breaks, but it was raining and dreary outside and he was tired, too tired to leave the quiet harmony of their little room. Now Esther was emerging from her work fog like Sleeping Beauty after her hundred year nap. He could see her eyes straying there again, back to the table, back to her work. He pushed it away.
“Let me recap. Everyone from work is going out tonight and we’re invited. Do you want to go?”
“It seems like we probably should, right?” Esther said.
“It seems like we probably should, but if you don’t want to, we don’t have to.” She sounded reticent.
“I do, it’s just…”
“What?”
“Sometimes it feels like it’s us and them. Not in a menacing way, but in a comfortable way. I like that we have our own bubble.”
Leo did too, if he were being honest. He didn’t particularly care to go out for forced bonding time with the crew, especially when his job was temporary. But that was why they needed to go. What would happen to Esther after he left? That question was foremost on his mind lately. She would sit in this cubicle and work until she starved to death, with no one to prompt her to eat, to get up and walk, to stretch, to take a break. And she certainly wouldn’t bond with her coworkers who still tiptoed around her like she was a nuclear bomb that might accidentally go off if they bumped her too hard. They weren’t mean to her, Leo would give them that. Some might even say they were kind. But it was clear they didn’t understand her, didn’t see the sweet softness under her blunt exterior. Thanks to what Babs had told him about Blue’s fiancée, Jane, Leo thought they wanted to like Esther, were giving her extra allowances in case she was merely anxious. But how long would those allowances last? After Leo’s part in this was finished, Esther would be on her own. She wouldn’t seek friendships with her coworkers. Maybe she wouldn’t notice the lack of social interaction, but what if she did? What if, without him, she felt isolated and alone? It was a painful thought, breaking up their duo, only for her to become a lone wolf.
“We’re going to go, and we’re not going to talk to each other. We have to talk to other people,” Leo said.
She sighed and massaged her fingers. “The closer it gets to your departure, the bossier you become. By the end, you’re going to club me over the head and drag me places.”
“Only for your own good,” Leo said, grinning when she poked him. Despite her words, she wasn’t irritated with him. She was nearly impossible to goad. The only thing that seemed to set her off was an unexpected light touch. Leo didn’t do it, but occasionally someone brushed against her and she would shudder and rub the spot. When he questioned her on it once, she told him it felt like millions of tiny ants had been set loose under her skin.
They walked to the restaurant, only a few blocks from work. Leo once again had the prickling sensation alerting him to danger, but there was no visible reason for it. In his newfound zeal to be a team player, he had told Ridge and Ethan his suspicious feeling on the Metro a few days ago. Ridge said he appreciated the heads up. Ethan said he’d been scouting Esther’s building and dogging her on her days off, but he hadn’t observed anything suspicious. Secretly Leo wondered if they thought he was crazy or, worse, too emotionally vested in Esther to be objective. Was he? Was he seeing monsters everywhere because she was so innocent and unprotected? He shoved the thought away and hoped it never came back. He was listening to his gut. His gut told him something was off, even if he couldn’t put his finger on it.
The restaurant was packed with the after-work crowd. It was a dark place, basically a hole in the wall, with a walk up bar, several wooden tables, and a few ratty booths. Their group sat at the back, of course, near an exit, able to see everyone who entered. Leo did his usual scan of the place, looking for anyone or anything who didn’t belong. Esther tumbled blindly toward their crew, determination etched in her face. He could practically hear her thoughts. Leo says I need to be social, so that’s what I’m going to do. But she couldn’t, at least not at first, because Leo hailed her back. He latched onto her arm and leaned in to speak low in her ear.
“Note the exits. Decide which one you’ll take in an emergency. Look around. See if there’s anyone you recognize, see if you’ve been followed.” She stopped short and started to scan. He rolled his eyes. “Covertly. Think like a spy. For goodness sake, woman, you’re turning my hair several shades of gray.”
Now her gaze fastened on his hair, literal, as usual. “Huh, a little,” she agreed and gave him an understated smile when he raised his hand self-consciously to his head. “I thought we weren’t supposed to talk to each other.”
“I’m making an exception in order to bestow wisdom. You should be writing it down; it’s good stuff, Quantico level,” he said. Maybe she should go to Quantico. He would talk to Ridge about it. Esther was aces at all things academic. If a teacher or book told her to do something, she would soak it in like sponge.
“Sarcasm,” she noted with a little nod.
“Not sarcasm. Raw truth. Everything I say is worthy of being bronzed or, at the very least, branded into your memory,” he declared.
“Everything you say is branded into my memory, but then again everything anybody says is, so…” she gave a helpless little shrug and scooted into the booth beside a knockout blond Leo didn’t recognize. Before he could gear himself up to hit on her, Maggie introduced her.
“Leo and Esther, this is my little sister, Amelia.”
“And my wife,” Ethan added swiftly. He tossed Leo a look. At ease, Marine. She’s taken.
Leo gave him a little smile and nod. Ah, got it. Kudos on that.
Ethan gave him a nod of acknowledgment in return and that was that.
Amelia, meanwhile, hadn’t seemed to notice Leo at all, so taken was she with Esther. “Oh, my goodness, look at your hair. It’s gorgeous.” Uninvited, she picked up Esther’s braid and inspected it, measuring it against the width of her hand. “I mean, seriously. The color, the texture, the length. You know how much you could sell this for? I bet when it’s wet it hangs down to your hips.”
“So, Amelia’s a stylist,” Ethan inserted.
“Not a black market scalper, as it currently appears.” This was said by a newcomer, a tall man with dark hair, his hand firmly clasped onto Babs.
“You must be the brother,” Leo said. “I’m Leo, this is Esther.”
“Darren,” he replied. “Babs has told me a lot of great things.”
Leo glanced at Babs, assessing her reaction to the statement. She didn’t flush or seem embarrassed, meaning the things she’d passed along must actually have been positive. Not, The new people at work are total freaks who keep to themselves all the time, like he imagined.
“Where are Jane and Blue?” Amelia asked.
“Jane had a thing at the museum,” Maggie said.
“Boo,” Amelia pouted. “Ridge needs to hire Jane so she’ll stop having stuff outside of us.”
“You be the one to suggest it,” Ethan said.
Smiling, Amelia turned her attention on Esther again. “You should come by the salon sometime. I would love to do something with this.” She picked up Esther’s thick braid again. “And with a little makeup to highlight your amazing bone structure, you’d be unstoppable.”
“Careful, Mel, you’re making Leo scowl. It took us until last week to get him to stop scowling in the first place,” Ethan cautioned.
“My family isn’t really into makeup and hairstyles,” Esther confessed. She didn’t sound reluctant; she sounded excited. Leo’s scowl deepened.
“I think Esther’s fine as she is,” he said.
Amelia and Esther turned to bestow a smile on him. “Newsflash, Leo: women don’t dress for men,” Amelia said. “Don’t be one of those guys.”
“One of what guys?” he asked, slightly defensive. She clearly wasn’t as sweet natured as her sister.
“One of those guys who is afraid of change, who thinks long hair is everything, who possessively doesn’t want another man looking at what he believes is his,” Amelia expounded.
“Esther isn’t mine,” he explained, his patience wearing thin. “But she is innocent and wholesome. I don’t think making her into a femme fatale would be doing anyone any favors.”
Amelia rolled her eyes, annoyed, but Esther beamed at him. “You said femme fatale and used it correctly. I’m so proud.”
“Femme fatale. Please,” Amelia scoffed.
“Esther’s mother is a midwife,” Maggie, ever the peacemaker, interjected. She was solo, for the moment. Ridge was the kind of boss who believed in going down with the ship. He was routinely the last left standing at the end of the day.
“Really?” Amelia asked, with renewed interest. “That’s fascinating. I’ve considered becoming a doula, as a side gig.” Her head snapped toward her brother. “Not a word from you about quackery.”
Darren made a zipping motion across his lips. Babs patted his leg approvingly.
“Babe, you work sixty hours a week. Exactly where would this free time come from?” Ethan asked.
“Not now, but maybe someday in the future. I can’t keep up these crazy hours after we have kids.”
Maggie perked up. “Kids? You’re talking kids now?”
“This is the first I’ve heard of it,” Ethan said.
“We’re not talking kids, yet. But I’m a planner, always thinking ahead,” Amelia said, tapping her temple. “What about you, Esther. Are you dating anyone? Attached?”
“No, I was, sort of, before I left home. But it didn’t work out,” Esther said.
“Leo’s scowling again,” Ethan noted.
Leo smoothed his expression. He had pictured Esther as being a solitary, untouched figure, and now he found out she had a boyfriend? His protectiveness was riled once again. Was that why she left? Had the guy mistreated her? This must be how big brothers feel all the time, he mused. He didn’t like it; it was exhausting. He opened his mouth to respond to Ethan’s teasing, not realizing their world was about to explode into utter chaos and mayhem.
He felt the change before he saw it, a crackling awareness of danger. Ethan felt it, too. Leo saw him stiffen, and then he saw something else: a red dot in the center of Esther’s forehead.
Leo had seen a lot of action in his lifetime, and it always went down the same way, as if everything was on fast forward and pause at the same time. Multiple things happened at once, but Leo saw each with clarity. “Get down,” he yelled, shoving Esther under the table. The seat beside him exploded in a shower of wooden shrapnel. Someone screamed—Amelia, maybe?—Ethan flipped the table, using it as a shield and barrier, his gun bared. Around them people were screaming, running, scurrying, diving.
In the doorway at the back of the restaurant stood the gunman, covered head to toe in gear—a helmet, vest. He was heavily armored, too much for Leo to get a decent shot. He hoped Ethan was a better marksman than he was.
“Ethan, your gun,” Maggie demanded coolly, and Ethan handed it over without protest. Before Leo could register the shocking exchange, the gunman fired off another shot, his last. A second later, he fell backwards, a neat hole in the center of his forehead.
For a second, nobody from their group moved. Leo and Ethan were still on alert. Had the guy acted alone? Would someone else come through the door, gun drawn?
“Everyone okay?” Ethan asked. His free hand rubbed a soothing little circle on Amelia’s back. She lay beside him on the floor, shoulders quivering with repressed tears.
“We’re okay,” Darren said shakily. He sat up and put a hand down for Babs, running his hands up and down her arms, either checking for injuries or bestowing warmth. Of everyone they had been in the most danger, on the fringe of the group, closest to the gunman. He could easily have taken them out, but he hadn’t been aiming for them.
Ridge entered then, dismayed, gun at his side. He looked at the dead man on the ground and the gun still clutched in his wife’s hand, knowing immediately what happened. He sat beside her, peeled the gun out of her clenched fingers, and handed it to Ethan. “Hon,” he said, questioningly. His arm slid around her shoulders, while his free hand rested on her extended bump.
She gave him a nod.
Leo released the breath he didn’t know he’d been holding and finally faced Esther. He had been keeping her in his peripheral, so he knew she was safe, at least physically. But most of them had been privy to gunfire before. For Esther, this was a whole new, ugly world. Sure enough, when he looked at her, her eyes were luminous with shock.
“Es,” he tried to say, but the words wouldn’t form.
“Leo, you’re shot,” she whispered. She reached out to press her hand to his shoulder, drenched with blood. Leo looked down at the bloody mess. A bit of shock faded away, to be replaced with a roar of pain, loud enough to fill his brain. Esther moved closer, cradling him, his blood marring the perfection of her cardigan.
“Esther,” he tried again, and everything faded to a hazy shade of gray.