A week later, just as he had promised, Gerry showed up. He came bearing groceries, new outfits, and even, to Norah’s embarrassment and gratitude, feminine products.

“Figured you might find yourself needing these,” he said, and handed her the box.

“Thank you, Gerry.” She kissed his cheek.

“You keep kissing me on the cheek like that and I’ll bring you anything you want.” He winked and looked to Harley. “Brought you a smaller caliber handgun, and some ammo to go with it.” Gerry pulled out a plastic gun box and opened it to show him the contents.

Knowing nothing about guns, Norah watched in awe as Harley pulled it out and looked it over. He dropped the magazine (hey, she knew that word!) and somehow slid the top of the gun open in order to look inside.

“Thanks, Gerry.” He set the gun down on the table and looked at Norah. “You ever use one of these before?” he asked shortly.

“I have not.”

“You’re going to learn.”

“Sorry?”

“I’m going to teach you how to properly handle and fire a gun.”

The thought of learning how to use one intrigued her. She had never had an aversion to guns, just never had anyone to teach her about them. The thought of learning how to use a tool that could help save her life exhilarated her.

“Okay.”

Harley nodded and helped unload the groceries Gerry had brought. Norah watched as he moved throughout the kitchen. The way the muscles bunched beneath his shirt. He hadn’t shaved, so he was sporting a short beard, and although she had never been attracted to men with them before, on him it was absolutely mouthwatering.

She had already decided that if he came to her she would accept, and if he didn’t it would be heartbreaking, but she would move on.

She had already spent two years of her life pining after a man who would never truly love her; she’d be damned if she did it again.

“Any news?” Harley asked Gerry as he finished putting everything away.

Gerry nodded and took a seat at the table. “Obviously they are still looking for the two of you, seeing as you’re here. Other than that, they found the bodies of two men who they believed aided you. Now they are liking the two of you for their murders as well.”

“Did they say names?”

“Edwin Marshal and Zeke Lang.”

“The other two agents who were with me that night. They were part of my private team and didn’t have much interaction with Tom.” He turned away from them with his fists clenched and tried to fight for control over his anger.

They had been good men, ex-military, and while neither were married, they had very serious girlfriends. Now those women were going to believe the men they loved had been criminals. Just like Norah felt now, only theirs were innocent.

“I’m sorry, Harley,” Gerry said softly.

“We have to stop them.” Norah winced when Harley turned around, anger plastered all over his face.

“You think I don’t know that, Norah? Believe me, I know that damn well better than just about anybody, but I haven’t the faintest idea as to how we can stop them without ending up in body bags. If you do, then please enlighten me.”

“Not what I meant, Harley,” she growled back.

Harley turned and stormed out of the house. She started to follow but decided to take a seat next to Gerry.

“Well, that was awkward,” he said, and she snorted out a laugh which earned her a smile from him.

“Sorry, Gerry.”

“No need to apologize, Norah. He is wound up tighter than a top. What’s been going on here this last week?” He looked at her innocently enough, but she knew what he was fishing for.

“Well, to be frank, he kissed me, twice, and then walked away. I told him that he had damn well better figure out what he wants and that I would do the same.”

“Whew!” he said, and slapped his hand on the table. “Atta girl.”

She smiled. Gerry could brighten up any situation, it seemed. Although she had the sneaking suspicion there was more to him then met the eye.

“I have to say, Gerry, even though this whole situation sucks, I am so glad to have met you.”

“And I you. You have no idea how happy I am to have met you.” He covered her hand with his. “I need to head back. You keep that boy in check.”

“I’ll try.”

“I know you will.” He smiled and she hugged him.

---

HARLEY COULDN’T BELIEVE he had reacted that way. He had no right to blow up on her. He knew she had just as much as a right to want this over as he did, but she had caught him off guard with her comment. It was his fault Edwin and Zeke were dead. He had asked them to accompany him to that banquet.

“I’m headed out,” Gerry said, pulling him from his thoughts.

“I’m sorry about all that,” Harley said.

Gerry put a hand up. “It’s not me you need to apologize to. You’ve gotten under her skin, Harley, and I can see that she’s gotten under yours. Maybe it’s time you both see what that’s about.”

“We’re too close to it right now.” His jaw tightened, and he put his hands on his hips.

“Maybe you should have thought about that before you kissed her senseless last week.” Gerry winked and pulled his cap down over his hair. “Either way, I suspect you had better figure it out soon. See you next week, same time.”

“Sounds good.”

“Oh, I grabbed you one of these. Figured we needed some way to keep each other in the loop.” Gerry tossed Harley a burner phone. “Untraceable.”

“Thanks.”

“No problem at all.” He smiled and climbed back into his car.

Harley watched as the dust settled on the small road and turned the phone around in his hands. What a turn of luck it had been for him to run into Gerry that night in the bar.

He figured he had better go face the music and apologize.

He found her sitting on the couch, knees folded up and sipping from a mug of coffee.

“Look, I’m sorry.”

“For?” she asked innocently.

“For being so rude earlier. I shouldn’t have attacked you like that. I just am feeling so damn useless. Those were two good men, Norah. Men that shouldn’t have died.”

“I’m so sorry, Harley.” Her expression softened.

“I have no idea what to do. How in the world am I supposed to just sit here and not do anything while they are out there murdering innocent people?”

“We aren’t just going to sit here. We are going to come up with a plan. One that starts with you teaching me to shoot.” She took a last drink from the mug and stood. “Then after dinner tonight, we can start brainstorming a way to stop them. Together.”

Norah walked past him and into the kitchen to set her mug down. Harley watched her as she moved. She was a much different person than the woman he had first seen at that banquet.

The woman he knew now wore confidence wrapped around her like a familiar blanket. The bruise that had been on her face had faded, the cut on her forehead from where she had fallen was nearly nonexistent.

She hadn’t worn makeup since she had washed it off that night they had first arrived in Chelon, and he found he rather liked not seeing her face painted.

He had discovered her nose and cheeks were dotted with barely visible freckles. He fought with himself every single night he lay next to her on that bed. He wanted to give her the time that she needed to process the idea of them, but each night he wondered what it would be like to go in and pull her into his arms.

He knew he wanted her—he wasn’t confused about that at all. What he wasn’t sure about was whether it was a good idea to get involved when neither of them knew whether they would survive to see another day. Then again, Harley supposed that might just be a reason to get together after all.

“You ready?” she asked as she slipped into a pair of boots Gerry had bought for her. He did believe the old man was smitten with Norah. The thought made him smile.

“What?” she asked when she noticed.

“Just thinking about how smitten Gerry is with you.”

She grinned. “I feel the same about him.”

He knew it was silly, but it made him a little jealous to hear her say those words.

“I’m ready,” he said, and followed her outside.

---

“THIS IS A Springfield nine millimeter. This button here is how you drop the magazine.” He demonstrated and then pushed it back into the gun. “You need to load a round in the chamber, so grip here and slide it back.” He showed her again and she watched, fascinated. “You are going to want to aim by centering this red dot in between these sights.” He pointed to the top of the barrel in demonstration and then held the gun out in front of him to aim at the row of cans he had set up.

“Hold it like this and you want to keep your finger out of the trigger well until you are ready to shoot. When you are ready to fire just gently squeeze the trigger, its best to do it on a slow exhale and make sure not to jerk it. Just gently pull your finger back so you don’t pull the barrel off target.” He pulled the trigger, and Norah jumped slightly when it went off.

“Wow!” she exclaimed when she saw the can fall. “You are really good!”

Harley felt the stroke to his ego and he smiled down at her. “Thanks. There is no thumb safety on this one. Just a grip and trigger safety, which means if you aren’t gripping the weapon hard enough, it may not go off.”

Exhilaration and nerves filled her as he moved to stand behind her and showed her where to place her hands. She could feel him pressing into her back, and had it not been for the anticipation of shooting a gun for the first time, she might have pressed back into him.

“Got it?” he asked once her hands were set.

“Yes.” She smiled and aimed down the sights at the next can.

“The gun is going to kick. You need to recognize it will be there, but don’t fear it, or you may end up jerking the weapon.”

She did as he had instructed and squeezed the trigger back slowly. When the gun went off, there was no fear as she had expected there to be. Instead she felt… powerful, much more so than hitting the punching bag had made her feel.

“That was amazing!” she exclaimed, and looked for the can. It no longer stood on the stump it had been sitting on, and she felt accomplished. “Can we go look at it?”

Harley laughed slightly. “Yes.”

He took the gun from her and she bolted for the stump. She found her can and held it up in the air to do a little dance. The bullet hadn’t gone through the center, but it had damn well taken a chunk out of the side. She had hit at least part of her target on the first time she had fired the gun. It felt good.

“You’re a natural.” Harley smiled and looked at the can. “That’s damn good, Norah.”

“Thank you!” Without thinking, she threw her arms around his neck. “Thank you for letting me feel powerful.” She held on when she felt his arm come around her.

“You’re welcome,” Harley said, releasing her.

They stood in awkward silence for a moment while Harley pretended to continue looking at the can.

“So, when are you going to teach me to fight? I mean, I’ve already been hitting the punching bag, but I would love to learn some self-defense.”

“What?” He laughed and stared at her, amusement lighting up his eyes.

“Do you not know how?” Norah mocked, the corner of her mouth turned up.

“I don’t know that you could keep up.”

“I have a mean punch. Just ask Susan Robard.”

“Who’s Susan Robard?”

“The tenth-grade bully I beat up when I was a freshman in high school.”

“Well, if I come across her, I’ll have to ask.”

She was opening up to him again. He was seeing the woman she had been before Clayton had sunk his claws into her. Harley smiled. He was enjoying each new part of herself that she let him see.

“Can I go again?” Norah asked as she set another can up.

“Absolutely.” More time to watch her hold a gun, he thought to himself. And damn it if it wasn’t the sexiest thing he’d ever seen.

---

“SO, TELL ME about your childhood,” Norah said as they ate dinner that night.

“What about it?”

“Everything. I’ve told you my story, depressing as it is. I want to know about yours.”

“There really isn’t much to tell. I’m an only child. My dad was a cop, mom was an English teacher, she’s retired now. I played hockey growing up, wanted to make a career out of it for a while. When I was seventeen my dad was killed, I already told you about that, and that’s when I decided I wanted to be a cop.”

“Did you have any animals growing up?”

Harley smiled softly. “We had a black lab named Layla; she was the best damn dog ever.”

“I always wanted a dog. When I get married someday, I want a dog. That is if we survive this, I suppose.” She laughed darkly and turned back to the goulash she had thrown together with ingredients Gerry had brought them.

“You’re going to survive, Norah. You’re going to fall in love one day and you will get married.”

“Do you want to get married one day?” she asked him, suddenly curious.

“I like to think I will one day, I suppose. But I honestly have no idea what I’m going to do once all of this is over. The agency was my life. I worked crazy long hours, and other than professional hockey player, I never wanted to be anything other than a cop. That’s out the window permanently, especially now.”

“Surely once you bring down Clayton’s organization and Tom’s corrupt ass, they will bring you back on the force.” She was more than slightly irritated for him. Why wouldn’t they? He was risking his life to take down a murdering son of a bitch, didn’t that stand for anything?

“Unlikely. I almost killed a man, Norah.”

“A man who was beating your mother.”

“They won’t see it like that.”

“Then they are idiots.”

Harley laughed and ran his hand over his lengthening beard. “No argument here.” He studied her as she pushed her food around on her plate. “You want any kids?”

His heart jumped when she smiled. Harley had seen her smile before a few times, but never like this. Her entire face lit up as if a light bulb had been turned on inside of her soul.

“Absolutely. Clayton had told me that it was an unnecessary expense when we could use our money to help other people. I had agreed with him even though it broke my heart. But now, I’m going to have five.”

Harley choked on his beer. “Five?”

“Maybe not that many, but I absolutely want kids one day. I want to be a good mom—I hope I’ll be a good mom. I didn’t have much of an example.”

“You’ll be a great mom, Norah.”

She beamed at him and he stood to clear the plates. “I’ve got dish duty tonight. Thanks for dinner.”

“I’m going to go and take a shower. Sure you don’t want help?”

He wanted to ask her if she wanted help, but managed to resist. “Nah, I’ve got this. Go get your shower.”

“Thanks.” She turned and headed for the bathroom.

Harley heard the shower come on and all he could think about was Norah’s naked body, wet and soapy under the spray. It was rather distracting, and he broke a damn glass.

He bent over to grab the pieces and heard his beer bottle shatter.

“What the hell?” It took him two seconds to long to realize he was being shot at. “Fuck!” he yelled, and crawled for the bathroom.

Finally, out of sight from the open window in the kitchen, Harley stood, and, drawing his gun, ran the last two steps into the bathroom.

“Harley, what is it?” Norah’s face was pale as she stared back at him when he thrust the door open and threw a towel at her.

“They found us. We have to go, now.”

What color had remained now drained from her face, and she nodded.

“We are going to have to sneak out through the cellar,” he whispered, and pulled her towards the door. He peeked out and verified no one was in the house yet, but he could hear them moving to the front door.

Harley pulled her into the bedroom, locked the door, and pulled the closet open. He pushed the clothes aside and pushed the release for the hidden passage and led the way down.

Just as the door was secured behind them, gunshots sounded again.

---

NORAH CLUTCHED HARLEY’S hand. Darkness surrounded her as they descended the stairs down into the cellar, but he pulled her through it as if he were a seasoned guide.

He stopped, and she could hear him moving around in a bag. She heard the click of a flashlight and the darkness was partially beat back by a strong beam of light.

“We can use this until we get out of the passage,” he whispered.

Had she not been terrified, she might have wanted to explore the surprisingly large cellar. Instead, she followed Harley over to a wall that held shelves sporting various drinks and other canned goods.

He reached underneath one of the shelves and she heard the click of a latch releasing.

The door swung open and Norah bit back another dose of fear. She hated small spaces—was terrified of them, actually—and this was a damn tunnel. A dark, dirty tunnel.

“Let’s get some distance. It’s only a matter of time before they realize where we’ve gone.”

She nodded and clutched at the towel she wore, shivering.

“Here.” Harley pulled his shirt off and handed it to her. “I’m so sorry, Norah.”

“It’s no-no-not yourrr fault,” she said, her teeth chattering from both the fear and the cold.

“Yes, it is. Once we’re safe, we will get you some clothes.”

Norah nodded, and after taking a deep breath, she once again followed him into the dark.