Forsaken Duty (Red Team #9)(25)

He’d missed his old friend, but thought it was for the best, since neither of them could see the other without crashing into painful memories.

Then Kelan saw Jax in the tunnels. Jax had helped him, helped Fiona. He’d said he was Ace’s handler, that he’d been helping all along, that he was who sent Hope to Max.

So what was he? A double agent, working both sides of the war?

Owen definitely needed to get Addy geared up. And…he had to get her out of there, though he couldn’t until he knew what kind of illness she had. He couldn’t expose his team to an unknown pathogen. And for all he knew, this whole shitshow was a setup to gut him and his team. If he was right, and he was being watched, then the danger to them was real.

Either way, he had to get Addy to open up to him. Maybe providing her with a weapon would make her question her distrust of him.

Then again, maybe nothing would.



Addy heard a knock on her door. She knew who it was. She didn’t want to answer it, but feared dragging Troy away from his classwork if she let it go unanswered. She went out to the hallway from her office and walked toward Owen so they could talk quietly. “Did you want something?”

“I want to give you a gun.”

Her brows lifted. “You want to give me a gun. What if I use it on you?”

“I already told you I’d be happy to stand in your firing line…once you and the boys are safe.”

“I don’t know how to use a gun.”

“I’ll show you. Can we go down to Jax’s room?”

Jax had guns in his room? Why hadn’t he told her about them? She knew about the ones in her panic room. Did he have his own panic room? They went down the staircase near her room, then walked the long way to her brother’s room in the other wing.

“Why are you doing this? Why give me a weapon?” she asked.

“Because I share your fear about the Omnis coming here. I want you to be able to protect yourself. If it comes to it, you need to be able to take out as many of those bastards as you can. It’s only you and me defending this place.”

In Jax’s room, Owen checked his phone, probably for a passcode of some sort. He went to the huge oak bookcase that covered an entire wall of her brother’s room. Reaching under the lip of a shelf, he pushed a hidden button, and the middle section separated in half.

Addy gasped, shocked that this was here and she’d never known about it. What other secrets did her brother have? It felt a bit like betrayal. She couldn’t hide the hurt in her eyes when she looked at Owen. He didn’t say anything. He just closed the shelves, then took her hand and showed her where the button was. With his finger on hers, they pushed it, popping the spring that opened the doors.

“Now you know.”

“Yeah.”

The room was a good size—ten by fifteen feet of wall-to-wall weapons. There were long guns, pistols, knives, magazines, holsters, spare parts, cleaning supplies. And a huge amount of ammo. The cases were backlit with blue light, making the whole thing look cold and deadly.

Addy shivered and folded her arms. Her brother had never said anything about this to her. She walked around the room, awed by what she saw. “How long has this been here?”

“I don’t know. Probably Jax put it in after your…settlement. Have you ever shot a weapon?”

“No.”

“Okay, we’ll start with the basics. Let’s pick a pistol for you. I’ll teach you how to use every single one of these, if you want, but let’s start at the beginning.”

“None of these will help if you’re chained down.” She glanced away from him, unnerved by the tightness that came over his features.

“The goal is for you to have the skill and tools you need before being chained down. But even shackles can be their own weapon. You must learn—and so must Troy—to use every tool available to you, from words and strategy, to weapons, and even your own body.”

He was silent a minute, which was good, because her blood had heated and expanded, and now pumped noisily through her veins. “You think they’re coming here.”

“I can’t know anything with certainty, especially not when it comes to the Omnis, but they’ve attacked our headquarters multiple times. And you’re a gem they will not willingly let go.”

“I have a settlement from them.”

“Which is only as good as the heart of the man who signed it.”

And that was the crux of it, wasn’t it? Cecil Edwards had no heart. No soul. No morals. He was a monster in the skin of a man.

“Let’s select a pistol. We’ll begin your training now.”

“Which do you suggest?”

Owen took two pistols from their racks and checked their chambers. “These two. The SIG Sauer P938 because it has a recoil that won’t knock you out of your aim if you should need to fire rapidly. The Kimber Pro Carry II because I think you’ll like the way it feels in your grip. They’re both 9mm.”

“Aren’t you afraid I’ll kill you?”

“No. If you shoot me, then I guess I needed to be put down.”

“What happens to the Omnis when you die?”

“Nothing. I’m not part of their organization.”

“We’re all part of the Omnis, all of us who are in it, have left it, or who fight it. We never really separate from it.”