Chapter 16

~Chapter 16~

Four o-clock found Josh and Lexy back in the house. Josh was busy talking to Wraith and Nathan was fast asleep on the couch, so Lexy went upstairs to find Scarlet.
She found her in the office; her gear spread out over the round table in the center of the room, all of it carefully cleaned and organized. Looking over it all, Lexy couldn’t help but be impressed.
Besides the small crossbow and the red-fletched crossbow darts, there were a number of small throwing knives, a small pistol with three extra clips, a military-grade combat knife, a lock picking set, a pair of night vision goggles, and a number of other tools and devices Lexy didn’t recognize.
Scarlet sat at the table facing the door, a black MacBook laptop in front of her. Scarlet’s eyes, green like Wraith’s, watched Lexy cautiously.
Lexy noticed, and came over to sit down in the chair next to her. A tinted sheet of plastic kept the laptop’s screen hidden.
After a moment of silence, Scarlet spoke, “Listen, Lexy, I’m sorry about earlier.”
Lexy put a comforting hand on the older woman’s arm.
“It’s alright. Even my dad and me have had some nasty fights.”
Scarlet sat back in her chair and closed the computer.
“Yeah, but… everything Nathan said down there… it’s all true. I do have a problem with men; and a problem settling down for longer than a few days.”
Lexy thought for a moment, considering how she would answer.
“Scarlet, I don’t care. Everyone has problems and issues.”
“Elaine.”
Lexy looked surprised, “What?”
“My name is Elaine, Elaine Night.
Lexy smiled, “You sure you want to trust me with that?”
Scarlet grinned back, “Why not? You’re almost family now.”
“I’m still going to call you Scarlet though.”
Scarlet shrugged, “Fine with me, I like Scarlet better than Elaine anyways.”
Lexy picked up a throwing knife with an arrow-head shaped blade and examined it.
“Does Josh have stuff like this?”
Scarlet laughed and began packing up her laptop.
“Oh yeah, he’s got more weapons hidden around this place than most military bases.”
“Scarlet, can I ask you something?”
“Sure. Ask away.”
Lexy set the knife down where Scarlet had placed it and looked at the other woman, her face serious.
“Do you ever think about settling down? Maybe having a few kids?”
Scarlet sat back smiled to herself, “Yeah, sometimes. But for some reason I just can’t bring myself to settle down. Even though I’ve had many opportunities.”
“Was Josh ever one of those opportunities?”
Scarlet laughed, “Hell no. Josh and me would never work out as a couple. He’s a bit too much of a romantic, and his ideas on romance are a bit out there.”
Lexy laughed as well, “Yeah, he’d probably propose with a ring made out of a bullet and a platinum band!”
Scarlet laughed so hard at the thought she had tears in her eyes. They rose and hugged each other before Scarlet started packing up her duffel.
Lexy helped, and Scarlet looked at her with a definite fondness in her eyes.
“Lexy, I think we are going to be great friends. Sisters even.”
Lexy grinned as she folded up the cloth case full of lock picks and handed them to Scarlet.
“I’d like that.”

After dropping Scarlet’s duffel off in the guestroom, the two women descended the stairs to find Josh waiting for them. He threw Lexy a coat and donned his own black leather jacket.
“Hey, I was thinking we could go out for dinner.”
Lexy and Scarlet exchanged knowing glances and Lexy put the coat on.
“Okay!”
Josh looked over at Nathan and Wraith, who had appeared behind Scarlet.
“Can I trust you three not to destroy the house while I’m gone?”
A half-smile slipped across Wraith’s face, and Nathan leaned against the wall with his arms folded across his chest.
Nathan spoke up for the three of them, “Hell yeah!”
Nathan saw Josh and Lexy to the door while Scarlet and Wraith headed for the living room.
“Hey, bring me bag a doggy bag, ‘K?”
Josh laughed and turned to face his old friend.
“There might not be anything in it.”
Nathan made a face, “Dammit.”

Down in Josh’s underground garage, Josh gestured to the rows of vehicles.
“Well, which one should we take?”
Lexy walked down a line of cars to where a yellow 2009 Mustang convertible was parked. She turned and looked at Josh, her eyes wide with excitement.
“How about this one?”
Josh walked over to a rack of keys near the back of the garage, and selected one with the blue and white “Ford” logo on the keychain.
“Sounds good to me. How does Chinese food sound?”
Lexy got into the passenger seat of the Mustang and ran her hands over the smooth black leather upholstery.
“I love Chinese food!”


While Josh and Lexy headed off for dinner out, the three back at Josh’s house had set out bowls of chips and salsa along with a few beers, and were engaged in a game of poker on the kitchen table.
Wraith was dealing and, without looking, was shuffling the cards so fast it made Nathan’s head spin.
Wraith looked at the other two and hesitated before dealing them their cards.
“Anaconda?”
Nathan shrugged and grabbed a tequila from next to Scarlet.
“Why not, as long as we don’t play low-ball rules.”
Scarlet smiled sweetly at him, “Why not, Nathan?”
Nathan matched her smile, “I don’t want to give you a chance to win, Hon.”
Wraith quickly dealt each of them seven cards as Scarlet made a face at Nathan.
Silence reigned as the three of them consulted their hands and selected three cards to pass to their neighbor.
Scarlet looked up at the two men, “You think it’s a date?”
Nathan, who was sitting to the left of Wraith looking with disgust at the cards Wraith had passed him, looked up at her.
“What? Is what a date?”
Scarlet reevaluated her cards after receiving her three cards from Nathan.
“Josh and Lexy. It’s obvious they like each other, so do you think Josh taking her out to dinner like this counts as a date?”
Wraith stayed silent, setting his discarded cards to one side and placing the five cards he had selected to keep in a stack in front of him. Nathan soon did the same, then Scarlet.
Nathan dipped a chip into the salsa, took a bite, and then dipped it again.
“Why does it matter? My ‘rents got married an’ they never went on a date in their lives.”
Scarlet gave Nathan a strange look.
“What?”
Nathan slide three white chips and one red chip into the space between the players.
“That’s a hundred twenty-five bucks in the pot. And, Scarlet, Not all couples date. Some people believe in all that “love at first sight” crap, and others have arranged marriages.”
Scarlet threw her chips into the pot.
“Well yeah, I knew that… So what did your parents do? And I see you and raise to three-hundred.”
Wraith grinned and threw his chips into the pot.
“I see you and raise to five-hundred.”
Scarlet and Nathan stared at him, a bad feeling crawling across both of them.
Nathan turned to Scarlet, “From what I understand, they went with the whole “Love at first sight” line.”
Scarlet nodded and, after Nathan revealed a card, revealed her own. After Wraith laid out his first card, it was Scarlet’s turn to start the betting and she went with Nathan’s previous bet. Wraith raised and Nathan called.
It went on like that, turning over a card and then betting, until each player had all five of their cards laid out on the table. Nathan had two pairs and Scarlet a pathetic one pair.
But both stared at Wraith’s hand. A straight flush.
Wraith collected his chips and smiled at the other two players.
“Play again?”

Josh and Lexy drove to a small Chinese restaurant Josh knew of, and had a wonderful evening talking and laughing. Lexy had never been able to discover the science behind chopsticks, but with Josh’s guidance had them almost figured out by the end of the meal.
Josh showed her up though, being able to use his chopsticks for everything from his sweet-and-sour chicken to his rice. Lexy had to resort to a good old-fashion spoon for her rice.
As they were finishing up, a waiter brought them each a fortune-cookie. Josh cracked his open and cocked his head in amusement at the text on the small piece of paper.
“Life is about to get a whole lot more interesting.”
He threw a look at Lexy, “You think they mean more than it already has?”
Lexy laughed and read her fortune.
“Follow your hearts.”
Josh and Lexy looked at each other a moment, their eyes conveying volumes over the cheap red table cloth.
Josh was about to say something, but hesitated, then finally got it out.
“Are… are you sure it said “hearts” plural?”
Lexy checked her piece of paper.
“Uh, yeah.”
“Hmmm… weird.”
Lexy tilted her head and looked at him, her eyes laughing.
“And why is that weird?”
Josh shrugged as they rose and put on their coats.
“I dunno, you’d think they were talking to us or something.”
“What if they are?”
Josh’s eyes met hers, “I don’t know; what if they are?”
Butterflies filled Lexy’s stomach and her heart missed a beat. What was it about his eyes? And his smile?
Josh put his arm around her and they walked slowly to the front counter where Josh brought out an old and battered leather wallet to pay for their meal.
The cashier was a young woman who looked to be about nineteen. She had dark brown hair and smiled as if the she was working in paradise. Remember his first job and how he felt; Josh guessed that, for her, this was paradise.
The girl flashed her dazzling smile at them.
“First date?”
Josh let a half-smile creep onto his face and he immediately became distracted by the business cards in a little plastic holder on the counter, leaving Lexy to answer.
Lexy blushed slightly, “I’m not exactly sure…”
The girl, whose nametag said her name was Susan, nodded as if she knew exactly what Lexy meant.
“Ah, I get it. Sounds a lot like when me and my boyfriend started dating.”
Lexy was interested, “Oh, how so?”
Susan leaned on the counter, ready to launch into what was obviously a long and detailed story, full of post-high school romance and pithy bits of advice.
“Well… Ahhhhhhh!”
She never had tome to finish. Josh had thrown the holder full of business cards at her, causing her to duck to one side in order to save herself from the missile. Ironically, it also saved her from the bullet that zinged over the counter where she had been standing. This, arguably, was Josh’s intention behind throwing the card-holder at her; although he later would say it was to save them from being driven crazy by the girl’s soap opera of a life.
Josh also grabbed Lexy and threw her to the floor.
“GET DOWN!”
Lexy turned just in time to see a guy with spiky green hair fire two more shots from a small pistol. One bullet barely missed Josh and sank into the side of the counter; the other shattered the tile floor by Lexy’s foot.
From his knelling position on the floor, Josh reached his left hand around and grabbed the knife clipped to his belt. He straightened suddenly and, with a flick of his wrist, threw the knife at their assailant.
The knife caught the man square in the throat, and he went down coughing up blood.
Josh jumped up and charged the door, just as another man was about to burst in with a tactical 12-gauge shotgun. The man’s eyes went from cold determination to complete terror, just before Josh kicked the swinging door out so it smashed into the man and knocked him to the ground.
The man dropped his gun on the ground, which Josh quickly retrieved. Josh turned and, after pumping a shell into the chamber, put a round of shot through the man’s knee just as he was about to shoot Josh with a pistol he had taken from the back of his belt.
The man dropped to the ground clutching his leg. Josh placed the still hot barrel of the shotgun against the man’s forehead and pumped it once.
“Who sent you!?”
The man couldn’t speak for a moment, being shot and having his own gun put between his eyes seemed to drain him of what confidence he had.
“Fuh-fuh-Firelighter sent us!”
Josh nodded, as if he had guessed that was the case. He removed the barrel of the shotgun, but then spun the gun around and swung the butt around so it connected with the man’s skull with a sharp crack.
Josh turned just as Lexy came out of the restaurant, a frightened expression on her face.
Josh emptied the gun and threw it on the ground with disgust.
“Only two of them, he thought he could take me with only two mercs?
Josh glanced at Lexy, “Is Susan calling the police?”
Lexy nodded, her eyes taking in the unconscious mercenary, the merc’s shattered knee, the pool of blood on the pavement, and the discarded 12-guage.
Josh grabbed her arm and started for their car.
“Good, then we can go and let them take care of it.”
As they got into the car and Josh started the engine, Lexy cast a nervous glance at Josh.
“What did that thing say? You life was about to get a lot more interesting?”