Page 48 of Burn the World Down

“So I was right. You were an assassin.”

“I know what it means to take a life, Georgie. Deliberately. With thought.”

I swallowed and set the mug down. I understood now what Elliot had meant. “Do you regret it?”

“No. The people I killed… We’re better off with them gone.”

I lifted my chin. “Good. That’s how I feel about Snyder, Bruno, and the others. The cops will never be able to stop them. And Snyder will continue to hurt and kill people.You’rewhat I need, Nash.”

There was a flash in his eyes.

“The others…your friends, they’re assassins as well?”

“We’re all retired. We weren’t all in the same program.” He paused. “We weren’t always sanctioned.”

“Okay, well, you and your friends have the skills that I need. I’m not here to judge.” I pushed my empty plate away. “Now, how about we go to the shooting range?”

CHAPTER 17

NASH

“Hold it steady. Squeeze slowly and take your time.”

I stood behind Georgie. She was holding a Glock handgun and wearing ear protection.

The range at the Avernus was underground, with dark concrete walls and several lanes. A tablet at each station controlled the targets.

Following my instructions, she fired.

It went wide. She was still anticipating the shots and jerking as she fired.

I wasn’t really worried. We’d get her there. I nodded and she lowered the gun.

As I slipped my earmuffs down around my neck, she did the same. I pressed a button and the paper target whizzed toward us. She’d gotten in a few good shots, but quite a few were at the edge of the paper.

Her nose wrinkled. “Idefinitelyneed some more practice.”

“You’ll get better.” I glanced at my watch. We’d been here for a couple of hours, already. I could see she was rapidly beginning to tire.

Fuck, I hated those bruises on her face. There was still some swelling, but her split lip was already scabbing over.

“Let’s head back to my place. We’ll have a light lunch, you can rest a bit, then tonight, I’ll let you pick the movie we watch.”

Her lips curled. “What if I want to watch a romcom?”

“Then a romcom it is.” I’d suffered through worse.

“Lucky for you, I like action movies.” Her smile faded. “I can’t help but feel I should be doing something about Snyder?—”

I grabbed her hand. “Heal first. We’ll train and get you ready. He isn’t going anywhere.”

She nibbled the unhurt part of her bottom lip and nodded. “I should do one more round.”

“You’ve done enough for today.”

She stepped closer to me and her breasts brushed against my chest. I felt like I’d been hit by electric shock. I was so aware of her.

“Nash?”