Deadly Deception (SCVC Taskforce) by Misty Evans Page B

don’t owe me a drink.”
    “I got something better in mind.”
    Sounded dangerous. “Like what?”
    He cocked a thumb over his shoulder. “Come with me and find out.”
    Wary, Ronni nevertheless felt that tingle at the base of her spine. A second after he disappeared out the door, she grabbed her bag and followed.

 
    Chapter Eleven
     
    “You shoot like a girl.” Thomas stood behind her shoulder, eyeing her target.
    The indoor gun range was deserted and kind of creepy. They both wore ear protection and mics so they could talk to each other without yelling. Thomas had said it would do her good to blow off some steam. Ronni suspected he wanted to check her accuracy with a gun.
    It was a new partner thing. She’d done the same to Celina back in Des Moines.
    She also suspected from the amused look on Thomas’s face, he wanted to find something to give her grief about.
    Big surprise.
    “You need your eyes examined.” She nailed the male target in front of her three times in the head and laid a cluster of four shots into the fake guy’s heart. Her reaction time was slower than it used to be, but her aim was accurate.
    Thomas stepped into the next booth over and fired at his target. Bam, bam, bam, bam . Double tap to the head, two to the heart. His accuracy was as good as hers. His firing time, faster.
    He has bigger hands. Stronger hands. Of course he can fire faster. His gun recoils quicker.
    But it wasn’t that. Her fingers trembled as she reloaded.
    “I’m telling you.” His voice sounded tinny from the headphones. “You shoot like my little sister. Slow and deliberate. You think too much.”
    She’d never shot anyone. Hoped she’d never be forced to. But she took the monthly training like all agents and passed every test. “ Thinking is part of not shooting the wrong person.”
    “You scared?”
    “Of shooting the wrong person? Absolutely.”
    “Of shooting anyone .”
    “Don’t be ridiculous. I’m a trained FBI agent. It’s part of my job.”
    Thomas stuck his head around the partition, removed his headphones. “Then shoot like you mean it. You think about it, hesitate for even a second too long in the field, you’ll end up dead.”
    He was going to school her now in shooting? Incensed, Ronni chambered a round and pointed the Glock at a fresh target. Shoot like you mean it.
    Her finger felt slippery on the trigger, breath locked in her chest. Taking aim, she shut down the voices in her head. Hers. Thomas’s. Everyone’s.
    Shooting used to be easy. She could tune out the noise in her head. It relaxed her. Now, it was different. She had to focus too hard on the target. Force the white noise in her head to fade into the background.
    Deep breath in. Let it out halfway. Hold…
    Bam, bam, bam .
    Quick, efficient, and right where she intended. Satisfied with the results, she smiled, laid down the Glock, and took off the ear protection.
    Thomas stepped behind her right shoulder, whistled low under his breath and frowned. “What do you call that? ”
    Ronni flicked the switch to pull in the paper target. As it drew closer, she inspected her handiwork…three holes blown into the fake guy’s groin.
    Snapping the target off its clips, she handed it to him. “I call that shooting like a girl .”
    His lips quirked.
    “Any other tests you want to put me through?”
    The quirk drooped. “Tests?”
    “That’s what this is, isn’t it? You think I’ll break under pressure. Leave you hanging or get you killed?”
    He dropped his chin, rubbed his bottom lip with his thumb. So sexy. Then he shook his head and chuckled. “Unbelievable.”
    “What?”
    “Do you ever lighten up? Let yourself have a little fun?”
    I used to. “This is fun?”
    He saw her confusion. “I brought you here because you were stewing over Adam’s rejection.” His intense blue eyes stared unblinking. One hundred percent sincere. “You’re a basket of anxiety.”
    Didn’t she know it. “And that shooting like a girl and