Page 11 of Echo, the Sniper (Men of PSI #2)

“Standard procedure. No protectee sleeps by the window, which is the most insecure part of any hotel room. Yes, your bed’s by the door, but that’s a thick, heavy metal door with three locks on it.

It can’t easily be shot through. Since your husband’s death came via sniper, he or she would be more interested in attacking you from long-range, rather than a close attack. ”

“I was kidding, since it’s obvious I’d fit way better on the pull-out than someone built like.

.. well, you.” I waved a vague hand at the statuesque perfection of his sculpted, narrow-hipped, broad-shouldered Olympic swimmer’s physique.

Even in civilian clothes he looked like a military recruitment poster boy, and I’d be lying if I said he didn’t catch all of my hungry-eyed attention.

“But now that you’ve brought up just how dangerous those windows are, I have to admit I’m not that worried about a sniper.

I believe the person who shot Dane was a hired gun and had no personal beef with me. ”

That made him blink. “Why do you say that?’

“You know better than most that what snipers do is an art. Not just anyone can wake up one day and decide they’re going to shoot their enemy from super far away and hit that enemy perfectly.

Not to mention there were tornado warnings the day Dane was killed.

Wind and bad weather were factors that the killer would have to take into account.

This person, whoever they are, is obviously a pro.

On the other hand, Dane was a white-collar criminal.

More to the point, he was an inherent snob.

He’d claimed often and publicly that only so-called common people should be the ones to serve in the military, so that important people like him could continue living their safe little lives. ”

“Y’know, I’m really hating this fucking guy,” Echo remarked, as if to himself.

Join the club . “He wasn’t all that likable.”

“I’m getting that.”

“I’m not telling you that to gain sympathy, or whatever.

My point is that Dane wouldn’t have had the opportunity to come into contact with someone who just happened to have sniper skills, and then make an enemy of that person.

No,” I shook my head. “Whoever put that bullet in Dane was hired to do it, I’m sure of it. ”

“Okay, point taken. The question is, why wouldn’t that same person hire the sniper to put a bullet in you?”

“Because they haven’t done it yet?” My shrug was weak, because the question had merit.

If someone really wanted me dead, why had I not been splattered all over the sidewalk like Dane?

“If they wanted me dead, what are they waiting for? It’s been six months since Dane was killed, and I’m still here. ”

“Barely. You nearly died last night.”

“If you take a step back and look at how the attacks have gone, it’s almost like they’re looking for something,” I went on, ignoring him. “They tore my car apart first, disabling it. Then they stole my wallet.”

“And then they set your house on fire with you in it.”

I mulled that over. “Yeah, arson doesn’t fit with the theory of searching for something, does it?”

“Nope.”

“Unless they got tired of looking for the thing they wanted, and chose instead to burn down whatever it was they were looking for—you know, the if I can’t have it, no one can sort of mindset. Almost killing me might have just been a by-product of their process.”

He shook his head. “I’d be open to that, except for the fact that one of the fires was set directly outside your door, Rory—the only means you had to escape.”

“Well, not the only means. I did escape through a window.”

“Now you’re just arguing for the sake of arguing.”

He had me there. “It’s weird, but I’ve missed arguing. Dane never allowed it.” I yawned suddenly and leaned against the wall. “He never allowed a lot of things. Guess that’s what I get for marrying an older man.”

“How much older was he?”

“Ten years. From day one, he made it clear he felt he needed to teach me how to be the perfect wife, because I was too childish to know what that was.” I shrugged. “At the time, I thought that made sense.”

“None of that shit makes sense,” came the immediate reply. “No one needs to teach you how to be you.”

For some reason, that hit me hard enough to make my eyes water.

“I don’t think I knew who I was when I married Dane.

I married him the day after I turned twenty.

” God, did that seem young. I felt ancient compared to twenty-year-old me.

So ancient I had to sink down onto the couch that would eventually be my bed tonight.

“Why’d you marry him?”

“My father was dying. He was convinced I was a helpless female and needed someone mature like Dane to take care of me. Old-school male toxicity,” I added, scrunching my nose.

“I was a midlife baby for my parents. My dad was forty by the time my mother had me, so it’s safe to say Dad was from another era—sweet and wonderful, and all about protecting the womenfolk.

He and Dane were friends, so it was pretty much my dad’s dying wish that we married.

Dane was all for it, and I convinced myself that I could fall in love with him. ”

“Did you?”

“No.” I yawned again. “Love doesn’t exist outside of fairy tales.”

“Damn, I really do hate that guy, if he managed to kill your belief in something like love in just three short years.” His mouth twisted, and there was no mistaking it for anything other than the impatient disgust I saw reflected in his light eyes.

“I was raised by two very strong-minded women who believe that things like love and building a family around that love are the main reasons we’re put on this earth.

So while I don’t know you well enough to tell you what to do, I strongly suggest hitting the damn eject button on every so-called lesson that bastard taught you, because it sounds like everything that fucker produced was pure horseshit. ”

The bluntness of those words made my breath catch.

“I will admit, my husband was a master at manipulation. When you’re around someone as cold as Dane for as long as I was, you learn that showing emotion—or even feeling it—is a surefire way of giving someone like him a weapon they can use against you. ”

“Like how?”

I thought for a handful of seconds. “Early on in our marriage, I told Dane that all I wanted was to be seen as worthy in his eyes. I looked at those words as a gift. I’m a people-pleaser, and I wanted him to know I wanted to please him.

But after sharing that with him, not a week went by from that point on when he didn’t somehow manage to point out my flaws, or make me feel stupid and lacking, not just as a wife but as a woman.

It took me a long time to realize what he was doing—taking that fragile hope I’d revealed to him and bludgeoning me with it.

When I realized that, the idea of love died. I’m fine with it staying dead.”

“He was an abusive asshole who doesn’t deserve getting that final win out of you,” came the blunt reply.

“He twisted the most basic human need there is—the need to open up and share ourselves with someone special, so that life’s burdens are made lighter.

Lighter, because someone’s there to help you carry all that shit.

He didn’t help you carry the weight. He fucking compounded it.

And then he stood back and mocked you for being crushed by it. ”

The tightening of my throat made my eyes water. “Sounds about right.”

“It was a stroke of bad luck that you got saddled with an epic dick right out of the gate, but that doesn’t mean you give up, Rory. Giving up on ever having a solid relationship is like giving up on the possibility of finding someone who’s the perfect fit for you. It’s like giving up on hope.”

I leaned over until my head rested on the soft armrest. Mm. Nice. “Dane said hope was for suckers.”

“Dane was a prick first, a shithead second, and a man third. A fucking distant third. Forget everything that asshole ever told you. Whatever it was, it was both wrong and evil.”

I yawned and closed my eyes to rest them. “Even the part where he said I was beautiful?”

“Even that. Because you’re not just beautiful, you’re breathtaking. Now shut up and get some sleep. You’ve got some sleuthing to do.”

I wanted to tell him that he couldn’t order a person to sleep, but I was already drifting off.