Wilde Omens Page 17

  He stepped away and I released a shaky breath.

  “Ready?”

  I nodded, but the answer was really no. I needed a cold shower and a psychiatrist.

  Watson pushed a button on the side of the partition and the target pulled a little bit closer. “Fire when you’re ready.”

  I almost dropped the gun at the first recoil.

  “Steady,” he murmured.

  I nodded and fired again. The recoil was still intense, but it was better. I blew out a breath.

  Watson murmured, “Good instinct. Keep your breath steady. Don’t hold your breath.”

  I fired the weapon again and as I did, a thrill shot through me and a wide smile broke out on my face. “What is this?”

  “Glock 19.”

  “I like it.”

  Watson’s chuckle came through the mic. “You’re doing well. Keep going.”

  I nodded, and for the first time in a long time, completely let go. Twelve additional bullets later, I was ecstatic. I hit the target thirteen times, eleven of them dead center.

  I took off my eye protection and head set and turned to Watson. “More.”

  “Hold up, Annie Oakley.” Watson hit the button on the side of the wall and the target flew toward us. He unclipped it and studied it, whistling low after a moment. “You’ve never shot before?”

  I shook my head. “Pretty good, right?”

  “I’ll say.” Watson pulled another target out from his bag, clipped it on, and sent the target back twice as far as it had been.

  “No fair!”

  Watson didn’t listen to me. “Let’s see how you do now.” He rummaged through the duffel bag and pulled out a case with another weapon, one I’d never seen before. I watched crime shows as much as the next guy and knew what a handgun looked like, but I’d never seen anything like the one he pulled out. It looked like a mix between a revolver and a semi-automatic, but had a much longer barrel.

  It looked like it came out of the Wild West and I remarked as much to Watson. An enigmatic smile flitted across his face, which made me wonder if maybe it had come from the old west.

  Watson opened the chamber, loaded it with nine bullets, and handed it back to me with zero instruction. I studied it for a moment, saw it had no safety feature, made sure I had a proper grip, and pulled the hammer back. This weapon was slower but fierce. I could do a lot of damage with this one. I fired one shot after another and grinned when it was over.

  All nine shots had landed in the middle of the target. I, Penelope Wilde, of high IQ and low common sense, was a crack-shot. Watson pulled the target back up to our station, took it down, and stared at me.

  “I wouldn’t have believed that if I hadn’t seen it with my own two eyes.” He began packing everything away. “It might take you awhile to get used to handling the weapon, but it will come.”

  I raised one eyebrow.

  “Or maybe not. You’re like a duckling to water with those things.” He zipped up the bag and pierced me with a stare. “I want both of these back.”

  I started to nod.

  “In working order.”

  “Geez. Fine. I’ll be careful with your babies.” I walked over to the sink on the far side of the range and washed the lead off my hands.

  Watson grabbed everything and headed back to the golf cart. I shook the water off my hands and hurried after him.

  When we pulled up to the side of the compound, he killed the switch and turned to me. “Take these with you. If you don’t, I’m going to break into your room and shove them under your bed so you’ll have them for later.”

  “Stay out of my underwear drawer,” I quipped.

  “Too late.”

  A laugh bubbled up, but I sobered when I realized I hadn’t thanked him for the new quarters yet. “Listen, I just wanted to say thank you.”

  His brows knitted together. “For what?”

  I sat there for a moment wondering if he had lost his mind until I realized he hadn’t yet given me those quarters. Time travel was complicated. I pressed my lips together. “For the gun lesson. For not thinking I was crazy.”

  He stepped out of the cart. “No one and everyone is crazy around here. I can’t pick and choose.”

  Wasn’t that the truth? I changed the subject to getting into his room. “Got that lesson in lock picking?”

  Watson grabbed my DAR. “Watch closely and if you release this to anyone, I’ll beat you myself.” He punched in a six-digit code into my DAR, and all of the outside doors to the compound swung open.

  I blinked. “This thing is a master key too?” I shook my wrist in amazement. “Will it make me breakfast?”

  Watson sighed. “No. Now stop shaking it.”

  I stepped out and stood beside the cart. “I guess I’ll see you soon?”

  I keyed in tomorrow’s date and the same time I’d left. “I’ll take care of your weapons.”

  He gave me a two-fingered salute. “You’d better.” He took a step closer to me, seemed to think better of it, and stopped. “Be careful.”

  I winked and pressed the button to send me back. “Aren’t I always?”

  “That’s the problem!” he yelled as I dissolved into thin air.

  Chapter 22

  I was in front of Watson’s door armed with the dangerous knowledge of the secret DAR code that would allow me to open any door in the facility. I hoped Holmes and Watson conveniently forgot I had this because once this was all over, I had some serious sneaking around to do. I looked over my shoulder to see if I was still alone and punched in the code as fast as I could. The syringe lay at an odd angle in my pocket and its weight represented a task I hoped I wouldn’t have to perform.

  The door swooshed open with a minimal noise and I stepped into the familiar training area. The door closed behind me, plunging into almost pitch-black darkness. The only light was a small nightlight over in the corner of the wall. I crept as quietly as I could over to the door I’d seen Watson go in and out a few times and walked through it.

  The room was dimly lit, thanks to a light on in the kitchen. I tiptoed through, looking everywhere to try to find his bedroom. His quarters were just as nice as mine were, maybe even nicer. I guess that was par for the course. After all, he was part of the duo of Watson and Holmes, so he deserved it. The kitchen opened to a small living room cluttered with books and papers. There was no television, which didn’t surprise me. Only a couch, a fireplace, and a small desk overflowing with parchment and ink pens.

  I smiled to myself. He was a handsome, adorable intellect with the body of Bruce Lee. I could work with that. I spied a door off to the left of the living room and walked over to it. I cracked it open and saw a prone figure lying on a large bed in the middle of the room. Not for the first time, I hoped Watson wasn’t lying in wait for someone to attack him. That would be very bad for my continued existence. I crept over to him and put a hand on his bare shoulder. He lay on his stomach, one arm over the side of the bed and his face buried in the pillow. His shoulders rose and fell and I breathed a sigh of relief. He was alive.

  That was good. I tried to shake him awake, but there was no movement or stirring. I leaned over, and whispered, “Wake up.”

  Nothing. I was apprehensive about using the syringe, especially since I had no idea what was in it, but I figured Watson wouldn’t have given it to me if he didn’t trust the contents. I pulled it out of my pocket, shuddered when I saw, again, how big it was, and uncapped it. I turned on the lamp on his nightstand so I could see better and hovered over Watson, my heart beating about a thousand miles per hour. I really, really, really didn’t want to stick him with this. But I also really, really wanted to live.

  Remembering Watson’s instructions, I slid the blanket down to Watson’s ankles and stared at his delicious rear end, covered only in a pair of green cotton pajama pants.

  Maybe he did this to me on purpose and he was playing dead. I poked him again with a finger.

  “Shit,” I muttered. I pushed the syringe plun
ger lightly to make sure all of the air was out and watched as a yellow liquid glittered on the tip of the needle. “Here goes nothing,” I murmured and pulled down the side of Watson’s pants.

  I swallowed hard. He was not wearing underwear and the one side of his rear end I could see was the best thing I’d seen all year. I held the needle over his cheek, inserted it while trying not to gag, and pushed the plunger down.

  An iron like grip took hold of me and flung me on the bed. I was pinned underneath Watson, the needle wrenched out of my hand, and a knife at my throat.

  “Urk,” I said.

  Watson loomed above me, face contorted in a mask of anger and his eyes wide against the lean planes of his face. His breath came in ragged gasps. He blinked a couple of times and immediately released the knife.

  “Penelope? What the fuck?”

  He still lay on top of me, thankfully sans weapon. I struggled to calm my terror and speak, but all I could do was stare at him for a couple of moments.

  “What the hell are you doing here?” He brushed a strand of hair out of my face.

  “Lila is here,” I said after a moment. “Her and some other guy. They’re after me.”

  He frowned. “What do you mean they’re after you, and how did you get into my room?”

  “Can you move?” I asked. His close proximity was doing funny things to my brain.

  “Nope.” He grinned at me.

  I sighed and explained in short bursts of sentences what had happened.

  “You went back in time?”

  I nodded. Watson ran his fingers through his hair. “That was dumb.”

  I struggled to get him off me, but his grip was tight and I knew he was enjoying my discomfort. “Everyone is knocked out. I had no choice.”

  He sat up abruptly and winced as he rested on his newly pierced rear end. “What did you inject me with?”

  I blinked. “No idea. You gave it to me.”

  Watson frowned. “Probably a mix of meth and cocaine.”

  I grimaced. “You had me inject you with illegal drugs?” I was appalled.

  “Not just illegal drugs, love, a cocktail honed over years in the lab. It will wake you up from a nuclear blast.”

  “Or maybe kill you?” I stared at him incredulously. I was the only sane person in a loony bin.

  He waved a hand and stood. “Time tested, Holmes approved.”

  “Holmes is why we’re currently in this situation.”

  Watson headed over to his dresser and pulled out a t-shirt. He pulled it over his head and padded over to the closet in his bare feet. “Might want to turn around.” He grinned. “Or not. Depends on what tickles your fancy.”

  I huffed, slid off the bed, and turned my back to him. When he told me it was okay to turn around, he’d already slipped on a pair of cargo pants and combat boots. He pressed a panel inside the closet, which opened into a weapon’s cabinet. An extremely impressive weapon’s cabinet. He took out what appeared to be a semi-automatic, some type of retractable stick, and a revolver. He clipped them all on his belt and tossed me a canister.

  I caught the cold can and studied it. It was cylindrical with a red pull tab. “What is this?”

  “Tear gas.”

  I held the can away from me at arm’s length. “But no one’s awake.”

  “Lila is.”

  I had nowhere to clip it, so I held it down, carefully, at my side. If we had to use tear gas to subdue two people, we were in bigger trouble than I thought. Watson rushed me out of the room, his hand on the bottom of my elbow. When we stood at the exit door from the training room, something occurred to me. “Why don’t you remember me coming to you yesterday?”

  Watson reached for the door handle and paused. “You really want to ask that right now?”

  “Well, I just had to explain all of that to you again and I just did a few hours ago.”

  His hand fell from the handle. “Yes, but time is a curious thing. You spoke to me, yes, but assuming you bounced directly from there to here, nothing has had time to catch up and you haven’t managed to alter any events yet.”

  “That’s confusing.”

  He pulled open the door. “You’ll get used to it.”

  I was getting tired of hearing that. We crept into the hallway and I led him down to where I’d last heard the voices. I pulled the Glock from my waistband only to hear Watson hiss under his breath.

  I waved a hand at him. “I’m a natural,” I whispered.

  “That looks like my gun!”

  I smiled in the darkness. “It is.”

  “Christ,” he muttered. “I must have been out of my mind.”

  We went past the dining hall and stopped at the corner where I’d last heard Lila. From the silence, it was apparent she was no longer there. I started to round the corner, but Watson grabbed my arm and held me back. “Wait,” he whispered. “That’s a great way to get your head blown off.”

  I sighed softly. “You go first then.”

  Watson’s teeth gleamed in the dim light. He poked his head around the corner for a second and pulled it back. He held his gun at his thigh and looked around the corner again. Satisfied, he raised the weapon and stepped into the middle of the hallway. I crept behind him and peeked around his shoulder. The hall was empty.

  I poked his shoulder. “Told you so.”

  Watson dropped his gun and crept quietly down the hallway, motioning for me to follow him. I held the canister in my left hand and my Glock in the right. If I had to use my gun, I’d have to drop the canister and pray it didn’t crack the tab.

  After a few minutes of walking in the hallways, the sound of voices came to us once again. “She has to be here somewhere,” the man said.

  Lila spoke in hushed tones. “The gas is only going to last another twenty minutes or so. If we don’t find her in the next ten, we need to leave.”

  I didn’t recognize the area we were in, but it appeared to be the additional student dormitories. I knew they were here somewhere, but I’d been too much of a brat to offer to stay in them. Watson moved stealthily to the door and stopped at the edge.

  Conversation stopped for a minute. I froze as the seriousness of the situation settled over my body like a woolen cloak. We were armed and about to step into a confrontation with people who might want me dead.

  “Did you hear that?” I could hear the man shuffling around and wished I could see what they were doing.

  Watson stilled. I froze in place, quieting my breathing as much as I could. Blood roared in my ears. My fight or flight response was kicking in in a healthy way and I wasn’t ashamed my first instinct was to run like hell. But I had Watson here with me and he’d been through hundreds of years of these things.

  “I didn’t hear anything,” Lila said, her voice full of frustration. I could hear her footsteps padding through the dorm. “Cass just told me she was here. Where is she?”

  My ears perked up. Cass knew I wasn’t and never had been in the dormitory. Curious. I plastered myself against the wall and waited for Watson’s next move.

  He stepped into the dormitory with his weapon raised. I blinked, took a deep breath, and stepped in behind him.

  “Looking for someone?” Watson’s voice was dry and amused. I didn’t speak because I knew I’d sound terrified.

  The man shouted something and drew his gun. Lila merely stood and smirked at Watson. “Nice to see you again.”

  “Can’t say the same, Lila.”

  She tossed her long, red hair over her shoulder. I came to the conclusion it was her lame signature move.

  “Hand over Holmes’ daughter and we’re good.” She stared at me, the stark curiosity in her gaze disturbing. “How did you wake up?” She grinned. “We gassed this place within an inch of its life.”

  “Proprietary mixture,” said Watson, even though it was obvious she was talking to me. I noticed he didn’t tell her I never fell asleep.

  Lila didn’t look convinced. “You don’t want to be here, Watson. Your loyalty
to him is misguided. We both know this.”

  Watson looked unperturbed. “You haven’t known what I wanted for over a hundred years.”

  She walked toward him, her hips undulating in a way that couldn’t have been normal, but must have meant something to Watson. I struggled to keep the grimace off my face and kept an eye on the man who still had his weapon drawn. I raised my Glock and pointed it at him. “I’m a great shot,” I finally said. “I wouldn’t make any fast moves.”

  The man didn’t lower his weapon. “Whoever shoots first, wins.”

  “I can’t say I like your rules, sir.” I was speaking with more bravado than I actually felt.

  He grinned, a surprisingly pleasant expression on his otherwise unremarkable face. He was shorter than Watson, but taller than me. His hair was close cropped to his dome shaped head, but I couldn’t see the color of his eyes. He was the kind of guy you walked past every day and never noticed. This disturbed me far more than I allowed my face to show.

  “There are no rules. Come with us and no one has to die tonight.”

  I grinned at him. “Do you ever notice how bad guys always sound exactly the same?” I dropped my voice a few timbres. “Come with me and nobody dies. Do what I say and nobody gets hurt. But that isn’t the case this time, is it? You already have my blood. What else do you want?”

  I wondered if Lila was going to admit the blood destroyed itself when they started tampering with it, but she didn’t seem like the kind of woman who easily admitted defeat. Not even in love. She stood within a foot of Watson, staring at him like he was a brownie and she was suffering from epic PMS.

  It took a Herculean effort not to roll my eyes at her.

  The man chuckled. “I think I like you.”