Explicit Instruction (36 page)

Flick didn’t want to push him. She didn’t want to see him in the torture that he’d clearly put himself through for all
of these years. ‘You did your best. You did what you thought was right. You were a kid.’

‘I passed out, I was unconscious for... I don’t know how long. I got mys
elf patched up at a free clinic. I didn’t tell them anything. It wasn’t so bad... for me.’

‘If you were unconscious for that amount of time it would’ve been awful, so many of them, and only one of you.’

‘I went back there a couple of days later, as soon as I saw the yellow of the police tape...’

‘They killed her?’ Flick said in a rush of breath
, without considering her words.

‘
Eventually,’ he said, in such a distant voice it was as if he wasn’t here with Flick at all. ‘It was in the newspaper, the things they did to her... it was horrific... and I’d been right there. I let it happen.’

‘They raped
her? And beat her,’ Flick said. Rushe wouldn’t look her in the eye, but he lifted his head in the slightest of nods. ‘You’ve blamed yourself for it all these years. That was why you couldn’t let them... with me, in Dell’s... why you need consent, why you despise all of these men... Oh, Rushe.’

With a long exhale
, Flick grabbed her arms around him, and held him as tightly as she could. He’d never sought her affection; he’d spurned it frequently, because he didn’t know how to deal with it, because he didn’t think he deserved it.

‘You’re a good man,’ she said into his chest. ‘You’re an incredible man, and I love you.’

His hand rested on her head. ‘You should be ashamed of me.’

‘I’m not,’ Flick said
, lifting her head to find his eyes. ‘I could never be ashamed of you, Rushe. And I’m going to spend the rest of my life proving it to you.’

His features rela
xed though his turmoil remained. Before either could say more, a sharp bang startled them both.

‘That was a gunshot, stay here.’

‘No,’ Flick said, following directly behind him when he left the room and raced down the corridor.

Rushe
paused at the double doors with his gun already drawn, and flattened his hand to Flick’s abdomen, pressing her back against the wall.

‘Please
, Kitten, stay here.’

Flick shook her head. ‘
You don’t work alone anymore.’

The half a beat of eye contact they shared was broken by another gunshot. Rushe turned away
, and opened the office door without going inside. Serendipity was crouched at the side of the desk, and Rushe kept Flick at his back as he moved into the room.

Jansen came out of the side room backward with his gun pointing behind the drape. Then he turned and bolted out.

‘Serendipity?’

‘Oh my god,’
Serendipity said, poking her head over the desk.

‘What happened?’ Rushe said
, not more than three feet inside the room.

‘I released Skeeve,’ Serendipity said. ‘I wanted to—‘

‘You shot him?’ Rushe asked Jansen.

The question was answered when Skeeve
came into the room brandishing a weapon of his own. Though the weasel stood proud, one of his hands hung limp, and useless, at his side.

‘He got it from under the bed,’ Serendipity said. ‘He shot
the Kid and Glen too.’

‘Now who’s in charge!’ Skeeve crowed.

With another bang Flick physically jumped, her hands landed on Rushe’s back. Past his outstretched arm, Flick saw the splurge of red on Skeeve’s chest, and the dismay frozen on his face as he fell to the floor, his gun dropping from his fingers. Everyone seemed to take a minute to establish what had happened, but it was Jansen who spoke first.

‘You shot him,’ Jansen said.

‘Because I said no second chances,’ Rushe said. Flick thought of all the women who would be saved from Skeeve because he could terrorise no more.

‘You hate shooting people,’ Jansen said.

‘Not when they’re asking for it,’ Rushe replied.

‘I’ll remember that.’

‘Any more issues?’ Rushe asked.

Jansen headed back to the side room, stepping over Skeeve in the process. As soon as he pulled aside the drape
, his attention snapped back around. ‘Simone is gone.’

‘Made a run for it,’ Rushe said. ‘Down through the basement.’

‘Yeah,’ Jansen said, crossing to his backpack, which was on the desk. ‘You two better clear out if you want to miss the cavalry.’

Jansen
retrieved a phone from his pack. Rushe joined him at the desk while cleaning the weapon he’d shot Skeeve with. Jansen dialled and put the phone to his ear. He smacked Rushe’s arm, during the handover of the gun, then the men shook hands. Rushe, after a nod at Serendipity, was back at Flick’s side. He took her away from the study, down the corridor, and out the front door.

‘Where are we going?’ Flick
asked Rushe when he started to run down the gravel drive. ‘Shouldn’t we wait for the police?’

‘Jansen’s a cop.’

‘But we’re witnesses.’

Rushe didn’t answer her
, he took her out the gate, and over the road, then slung an arm around her to keep her pressed into his side.

‘Won’t he get in trouble? He was lying to them? How is he going to explain it?’

‘That’s not our problem, Kitten.’

‘Won’t we get in
to trouble for leaving the scene?’

‘They’
ll never know,’ Rushe said. ‘You want to be my girl, then you’ve got to get used to some things.’

‘Like what?’

‘Like that I’ll never appear on a database of any kind. You’ll be dating an apparition.’

‘As long as you’re dick isn’t imaginary
, that’s fine by me.’

‘
Serendipity was Victor’s insurance policy. Jansen knew that Victor had him by the balls. I got involved because I’m not official, I can go under the radar and do pretty much what I want. I’m the guy people come to when every other avenue has been exhausted. I’m the last resort when all else fails.’

‘Ok
.’

‘Jansen’s been tap-dancing both
sides of the fence for a while. I’m here because of him, because of Serendipity. Damn sure he doesn’t want his bosses talking to me. I don’t exist, and getting you or me into it only makes things worse for Jansen.’

‘And Victor too
k me as an insurance policy against you?’

‘Right.’

‘I can’t be
lieve... this is so... it’s...’

‘
You have to understand. Sometimes I’m on the side of the good guys, and sometimes it’s the bad. But I have to believe in the cause. I would never work in malice. I take only the cases I want to because I like to dedicate time to the mission. I give it my focus. Distractions or bad intelligence in this game can get you killed.’

Flick considered his revelation
while following his lead through the streets. Rushe was so determined that she wondered at his plan. But she was still absorbing the fact that she’d been right all along, Rushe wasn’t a bad guy. He helped people.

‘Got any money?’ he asked her.

‘Uh.’

Flick
dug for the notes Jansen had given her. Scooping them from her back pocket, she handed them over. Rushe counted them quickly in one hand, then stuck them in his own pocket.

‘We’ll stay local tonight. I’ll make a few
calls; get us out of here first thing in the morning.’

‘Out of here to where?’ she asked.

‘Home.’

‘I meant to... the
ransom; you paid it. But the money, I don’t...’

‘Job pays well
, Kitten,’ he said.

‘
Ok,’ she said, knowing it didn’t make an ounce of difference to her. ‘What’s next?’

‘Sex.
’

His face was blank, his brow was angry, and she had to take three steps for his one stride. They’d almost lost their lives. Either of them could’
ve been killed at any second, and he was thinking about sex.

‘It has been a while,’ she said.

‘Yeah.’ Flick might have been sarcastic, but Rushe answered seriously. ‘Did he touch you?’

‘Who?’

‘Shit sucking Skeeve. I didn’t have time to get details.’

‘He’s dead,’ she said. ‘I told him you would kill him. I didn’t know I was right.’

Rushe stopped them abruptly, and shoved her into an alley. Pushing her past the dumpster, he thrust her back against the exposed brick of the wall, and planted his hands above her head.

‘Tell me,’ he growled
, baring his teeth. ‘Tell me what he did.’

‘No,’ she said. ‘He didn’t have sex with me.’

‘But he tried; I wanna know how far he got.’

Flick knew this side, this caged animal look,
teetering on the edge of reason. This Rushe was capable of anything. ‘Does it matter?’

‘Yes.’

‘Why? He’s dead.’

‘If he hurt you I’m gonna track down anyone he ever cared about and—‘

‘Rushe,’ she said, hooking her hands into his jeans pockets. ‘Let’s forget he existed. I don’t want him to dominate another second of our time. He’s not worth it.’

‘I’m gonna protect you,’ Rushe said. ‘You’re my woman now... right?’

And if she didn’t know him better, she’d say that last word was uncertain, so Flick let her smile spread. ‘Right.’

‘You have to know... you have to know what I am, what I’ve done.’

‘I trust you, Rushe.’

‘I told you not to do that.’

‘And how am I at following instructions?’ she said, and though he didn’t smile she saw his eyes travel south.

‘Take off your clothes,’ he grumbled.

‘No!’ she squealed. ‘I’m not getting naked in a dirty alley. Find a car and then we’ll talk.’

‘Motel,’ Rushe said
, grabbing her hand and yanking her along behind.

Flick knew that the journey from snatching her arm to snatching her hand was a long one
, but they’d made it, and with his strong grip, she ran along behind him. The distant wail of sirens Flick heard would be heading to the place that they’d just escaped from, and she wondered if they’d ever find out what happened at that house after they left.

Quicker than she’d expected Rushe had them checked into a motel. From the way the girl at the desk looked at them Flick knew she thought this would be a room rental by the hour
. So when Rushe asked for the night the girl was startled.

‘He likes to take his time
, and he can afford it – he pays extra for the bruises... and if there’s blood I get a new pair of Manolo’s. ’ Flick held up her crossed fingers.

The girl’s mouth fell open
, and her eyes widened. Rushe said nothing, just dragged Flick out of the reception, and actually threw her into the motel room after he unlocked the door.

‘
Take off your clothes,’ he snapped.

This wa
sn’t a man preoccupied with sex; his anger prevailed again. ‘What? I was just having some fun.’

‘That girl’s gonna remember you,’ Rushe said. ‘She’s gonna remember me, and there could be cops poking around.’

Flick hadn’t thought about that. ‘We don’t want to be remembered.’

‘No, we don’t. Get. Naked.’

Getting naked wasn’t very difficult, she whipped her top off, and kicked off her jeans, and that was it.

‘Get on the bed.’

Flick crawled on up. ‘I have a lot to learn about being a criminal.’

‘You’re not a criminal,’ he said
. ‘You’ve done nothing wrong.’

‘I shot a guy.’

‘In the leg,’ Rushe said. ‘That doesn’t really count.’

Flick plonked from all fours onto her back. ‘What does count? Are their degrees of
criminality?’

‘There are degrees of everything, now stop talking.’

The light still wasn’t on, but the glow of the red neon motel light outside their window gave the place the air of a brothel. But there was only one man, and only one woman. She lay there completely naked, while he stood at the end of the bed, and looked at her. In the previous motel they’d shared he’d done this, looked at her, examined her, and being observed by him had churned her insides.

But now it was different. Now they had a future. Now
there was a part of her in him. A part that lived in his heart, and she knew he’d give his life to protect it.

‘No one touches you
,’ Rushe growled. ‘You will never be touched by another man. Do you understand me?’

Flick nodded
and breathed through his lingering scrutiny. ‘He’s dead,’ she murmured, and Rushe’s face formed to curiosity. ‘The guy I lost my virginity to when I was twenty, he died in a car crash three years later.’