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“No, Alex, we can’t strip search all of the guests. We can have them walk through a metal detector, but there’s no way I’m asking them to get naked just to attend my conference.”
“Strip searching is the better option,” Alex insisted. “You get plastic guns, you know. Or plastic knives.”
“No strip searching,” Elizabeth said firmly. “Besides, don’t plastic guns only work at close range?”
“Yes, but you’re going to have people in close range at this event.”
“Well, just don’t let them get too close, and we won’t have a problem.”
Alex knew that this was far from the only problem they had to face. While she could optimize their choices, it was impossible to find a venue with absolutely no sniper points. The best she could do was make sure that there were no tall buildings in line of sight from where Elizabeth would be speaking, but that didn’t take into account that Elizabeth would be moving around the room afterward, talking to guests and making connections.
Then there was the food. This attacker seemed to favor guns so far, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t move to other methods if he realized his original one wouldn’t work. Elizabeth would die just as easily from poison as she would from a bullet wound, and Alex was less able to protect her from that.
“No, I’m not getting a taster. That would send entirely the wrong impression.”
“The impression that you care about your life?” Alex bit out.
“The impression that I’m willing to let someone else die for me.”
“You hired me, didn’t you?”
“That’s different. You have a fighting chance to defend yourself in a situation when you need to defend me. If a taster gets poisoned, there’s nothing they can do except die.”
Alex wanted to scream in frustration, but of course, that would do no good and would only escalate the growing tension between her and Elizabeth. They were both stressed about the upcoming event and had snapped at each other several times.
Alex had to remind herself to breathe and tell herself that Elizabeth wasn’t being reckless on purpose. She was just goal driven, the same as Alex was. Too bad their goals didn’t exactly match up right now.
The day of the event loomed closer. Alex and Elizabeth found out that rough, angry sex was a great way to work out their frustrations with each other. More than once, Elizabeth bent Alex over a desk and fucked her into submission. Alex pretended to be indignant about it, but it was difficult when she was so turned on she could barely do anything except moan in breathless desire.
On the actual day, Alex and Elizabeth arrived two hours early so that Alex could check out the venue to her satisfaction. She was far from satisfied, but this was the best she was going to get.
“Right, stay here. This is the safest corner of the room.”
“You are not putting me in timeout in the corner, Alex. I’m going to socialize with the guests. These are important donors as well as potential voters. I need to make a good impression.”
Alex ground her teeth but didn’t argue. She followed Elizabeth through the room, glaring suspiciously at every guest.
“Quit that,” Elizabeth hissed. “You’re scaring them. You look like you’re about to bite their heads off.”
“Then maybe they should stop looking so suspicious.”
Elizabeth rolled her eyes. “Just be nice, Alex. I know you can do it.”
Alex grumbled under her breath but made an effort to smile at the guests. She had a feeling it came out more like a grimace, but it was the best she could do.
Her nerves mounted as the time for Elizabeth’s speech approached. Elizabeth would be standing on a podium, all alone except for Alex behind her. That would surely be the moment for an attack, if an attack was coming.
It turned out that the attack came much sooner than Alex expected.
She didn’t pay any attention to him at first because he was in one of the servers’ uniforms. Only when he started reaching into his jacket did Alex realize something was wrong.
She couldn’t have all the kitchen equipment put through a metal detector; that would just set the thing off every time a knife or fork went through. It was therefore possible for someone to sneak a gun in through that way.
Alex had thought she’d eliminated that possibility by checking through the kitchen supplies herself, but evidently, someone had brought some extrasuppliesonce she was done checking, because that was definitely a gun he was pulling out of his jacket.
Alex didn’t pause; she reacted.
She threw herself at the assailant, struggling for control of the gun. It went off with a loud bang. Alex felt like she’d been hit hard in the chest with a blunt object. She suddenly couldn’t draw breath.
