9. Chapter 9
nine
Yakisoba Dare - Galleons
Jackie was nearly impossible to find without a secretary keeping track of her movements.
Dimitri had started in her office and had searched almost everywhere in the headquarters when he finally made his way down to the basement.
He knew she wasn’t checking in with Drew because he had been in the gym.
That left the shooting range and Masters’ interrogation room.
Lucky for Dimitri, he could hear a gun firing in quick succession as he stepped off the elevator.
He slunk into the firing range quietly to not startle Jackie as she emptied her clip into the target at the end of the range.
She huffed, shaking her head to herself before yanking off the protective earmuffs and pressing the button to bring the target back to her.
“You skipped therapy,” he said, trying to keep his tone gentle and non-accusatory, but not masking his concern.
Jackie didn’t turn back to him when she said, “You shouldn’t sneak up on people while they're handling firearms.”
He closed the distance between them and swept Jackie’s ponytail over her shoulder to kiss her neck as he wrapped his arms around her waist. “You’d shoot me again?”
The slightest smile broke the frown that had seemed permanently etched on Jackie’s face since Talia’s abduction.
A weight lifted off Dimitri’s heart at the sight of it.
But then it was gone, just as fast as it had appeared, as if Jackie couldn’t let herself have even a moment of happiness while Talia was gone.
“Not intentionally,” she said, tugging the target off the line and tossing it into the next aisle. “Just like the last time wasn’t intentional. But I would be careful, I do have a history of shooting first and asking questions later.”
He snorted softly into her hair; at least she could maintain her sense of humour at a time like this. “Why’d you skip therapy?”
“Whatever happened to patient-doctor confidentiality?” Jackie scoffed, unloading her empty bullet cartridge and loading a new one.
“Kendra was coming out of your office when I was leaving mine. I did the math.”
She stayed silent for a moment, examining her handgun as if it might answer for her. “I’m too busy for therapy.”
“You found time to come down here,” he countered despite his better judgment about disagreeing with his girlfriend while she held a loaded gun.
“I needed to blow off some steam,” she said, not hiding her annoyance at Dimitri’s persistence.
“You could have blown off some steam with Kendra,” he pushed.
She pulled out of his embrace and loaded another target onto the line.
“Don’t push this.” He tried to find the words to respond, but came up short.
He loved her for her strong will, but it was sometimes to her detriment.
She held the button, moving the target to the far end of the aisle as she continued, “Drew is going to code some algorithm or something to search all the city’s CCTV footage for the car the Bratva stuffed Talia into. ”
“They probably changed vehicles at some point,” he suggested.
“A few times if they were smart.”
“It’s a good start.” He nodded.
“And if all else fails, we can always go back to JP.”
“Absolutely not,” he shut down immediately. “We both know what he’s going to ask for, and I don’t want you putting your body up for sale like that.”
“It wouldn’t be any worse than what Talia is probably experiencing right now,” Jackie said quietly.
Dimitri tried to find something to say, but his words failed him again.
Jackie didn’t allow him to find them anyway, indicating for him to take a pair of protective earmuffs off the wall.
She waited till he had secured them on his head, then emptied her gun clip into the target again.
She sighed when the clip was empty, as if firing the gun hadn’t relieved her stress like she’d hoped.
Dimitri wandered back up to her as she held the button to pull the latest target back to her.
He picked up the other two that she’d tossed into the aisle next to her, examining them and realized they’d never actually shot together before.
Given how weak her hand-to-hand combat training had been, he should have brought it up sooner.
“What the hell were you talking about when you said killing Theo was a lucky shot? Your aim is impeccable.”
Jackie shrugged. “I didn’t really aim that day. I just pulled the trigger as soon as I had the gun in my hand and had it pointed at him.”
Dimitri shook his head, not believing her modesty for a second.
“You have better aim than most people I’ve seen in the military.
” He paused, really examining the bullet holes, or lack thereof.
Jackie had shot the target dead centre, and, seemingly, the shots were in the immediate vicinity of each other.
There was only one hole in each target, one slightly larger than the other, where she’d slipped off dead centre once.
“You might be a better shot than me,” he admitted.
Jackie shrugged off the compliments as if they weren’t a big deal, then removed the clip and began the process of breaking the gun down to clean it. Dimitri watched her as she carefully took the gun apart and inspected it.
“Next time we’re at my parents' place, I’m taking you skeet shooting,” he said, turning his attention back to the targets. “I want to see how far you can shoot accurately.”
Jackie finished inspecting and cleaning her gun in silence. Finally, she packed it back into its case and turned to face him, pulling the targets from his hands and making her way to the door. She let them drop into the recycling bin next to the door.
“We’re going to find her,” Dimitri insisted before Jackie could leave. “Talia is beloved here. Half the agency is actively searching for her along with us. We’re going to find her.”
Jackie nodded, but didn’t turn to face him. “I know,” she said, but he didn’t quite believe her. Finally, she looked at him over her shoulder. “How many pieces is she going to be in when we do, though?”
With that, she left. Dimitri felt his heart shatter as he watched her go.