Five Minutes Longer

by Five Minutes Longer [Dreamspinner MM] (retail) (epub)

  Finn’s throat worked, but then he sagged a little in defeat. “My brother Deke’s best buddy owned the range in town. There was no way I could get lessons there.”

  Talon sat down. He didn’t know where to start. Normally it wouldn’t matter at all, but condensing eight hundred hours of training into four weeks made it impossible. One of the requirements was that the trainee knew the basics, even if Talon personally preferred someone exactly like Finn. No previous experience meant no bad habits to break.

  Allowing Finn a week that hopefully meant he might have a shot at getting into Quantico meant Talon was going to have to give him some lessons.

  Talon stood and pointed to the light switch on the wall. “Make a triangle with your fingers until you’re framing it completely in your line of sight.”

  Finn looked confused but did exactly what Talon said.

  “Now close your right eye.”

  Finn did.

  “Can you still see it?” Talon asked, and Finn nodded. “Good, now close your left eye.” Talon nearly smiled at the look of surprise on Finn’s face when he knew the switch had vanished. “That means your left eye is dominant, but you’re right-handed. We need to know that to help with your stance. Now,” said Talon. “The most important thing to remember is to always treat a gun like it’s loaded.”

  WHEN TALON had answered every single one of Finn’s million questions, he picked up the goggles and ear covers again. He’d covered everything from correct stance to sizing the weapon to fit Finn’s hand. He wanted him to try the .40 and the 9mm so he could judge the recoil for himself. In a perfect world, there was a lot Finn could get to fit his hand better, but he would have to manage with standard department-issue weapons for now.

  Finn brightened up considerably when he realized Talon wasn’t about to humiliate him again, and Finn was a veritable treasure trove of information. He knew everything from the fact that there were over a million concealed-carry permits issued in the state of Florida to the current stats arguing feds shouldn’t be armed anymore. They were never the first responders in any situation, and there was currently a lot of government noise suggesting special armed units similar to SWAT teams.

  Whatever Finn was, he wasn’t dumb, and Talon was beginning to understand what Gregory saw in him.

  Talon directed Finn to the nearest lane, well out of the way of the others. He let him try the VP first, as it would have the least recoil and he wanted Finn to get comfortable. He corrected Finn’s loose grip and bent elbows and tried very hard to ignore his seeming apparent need to touch Finn to correct his arms, his fingers… even which foot he threw out behind him.

  “One of the reasons you shot low last time was adrenaline. Squeeze the trigger slowly. The recoil on the first shot is the worst. Aim for the chest.”

  Finn lowered his chin like he’d been shown and pulled the trigger. The hole was bang smack in the target’s center area. Talon chuckled, and he saw Finn visibly relax. They spent another thirty minutes with two different guns, simulating firing from a holster and at different distances. Finn was actually pretty good. He was especially accurate with the head shots, which were the hardest.

  “Always go for the spine area in defensive shooting,” Talon encouraged. “Even if you hit an assailant’s heart or jugular, it takes minutes to bleed out, in which time he could have shot a lot more people, including you. Anywhere in the spine area or the hip is going to stop him.”

  Finn emptied the last round and placed his gun down exactly as Talon said. He turned triumphantly, and Talon heard clapping behind him.

  Gael and Vance stood grinning widely. “You did good, kid,” Gael called out, and Finn blushed.

  Talon wanted to groan. Why the fuck did he get so turned on because the guy blushed like a teenage girl?

  Because you want to put that look on his face….

  “I sent Eli and Sawyer for supplies,” Vance added.

  Good, thought Talon. He was actually starving. They all walked back into the main area, and Vance gathered up all the training guns and ammo to lock them away in the cupboards. “Every day you can at 7:00 a.m., come down for practice with one of us,” Talon decreed, and Finn nodded eagerly. “Vance is gonna show you how to take care of your weapon while we wait for lunch.” Talon watched as Finn followed Vance.

  “You changed your mind yet?” Gael said.

  Talon chewed the inside of his cheek while he thought about brushing off Gael’s question. “About?”

  “Wonderboy over there,” Gael said, and Talon could hear the laughter in Gael’s voice.

  “You know we can’t.” Talon turned to Gael. “You of all people know we can’t.”

  Gael shrugged. “Just so you know, I like the kid. If we had to have someone, I don’t think he’d be a bad fit.”

  Talon didn’t reply. It was impossible. He had to protect the others. Finn seemed nice, but if Gregory or any of his superiors asked him a direct question, Finn wouldn’t be able to lie, and Talon wouldn’t risk his friends’ lives with that chance.

  Chapter Nine

  FOUR DAYS later no one was more surprised than Finn that he was still there. His shooting was improving to the point where he could now draw from a holster. He still hadn’t attempted any moving targets, though, and Finn knew assailants didn’t just stand still and threaten. They were usually moving very fast.

  His hand-to-hand was improving, even if his bruises had bruises. He’d still only fought Drew, but Vance, surprisingly, had started giving him little pointers. Things like controlling balance and tricks to distract Drew into expecting one thing while Finn did another. He wasn’t sure Drew could still easily take him out, but Drew didn’t let his guard down around Finn at all after Finn took him down the first day. Finn comforted himself with the fact that Drew had been an agent for two years to his whole four days.

  He now knew the proper way to arrest a suspect, and Gregory even coached him himself in giving evidence at trials. Gregory also opened up a little about the team. Apparently he knew Talon’s family, and Talon secretly underwent months of training last year, along with Vance. The rest of the enhanced were brought in slowly by Talon. Gregory had a small team of instructors who gave their time quietly to keep this under the radar. Everyone at the field office knew because the enhanced weren’t exactly easy to hide, but they all thought they were being brought in for consultation only, not to be made agents. That made Finn uncomfortable. Hannah Bishop, Drew’s friend, certainly knew, and he wasn’t completely sure Drew hadn’t told the agents the night they were at the bar. He wasn’t about to rat him out, though. Drew was helping him out in the hand-to-hand, and besides which, it would be good to have some friends here.

  Finn was also getting on better with the team. Gael and Vance were quite relaxed around him, and they seemed to be his biggest supporters. Sawyer was unbending a little. Eli, however, still ignored Finn completely, but Talon was still the biggest enigma. He was courteous but distant. Finn no longer thought he was setting him up to fail, but he never came within three feet of him unless he was demonstrating hand-to-hand or correcting his shooting stance, and he didn’t seem to do that anymore.

  Talon never mentioned the night he turned up at Finn’s, and Finn definitely wasn’t going to. Talon obviously wanted to forget it. Finn had tried to bury the memory anyway. Being in the gym with a hard-on wasn’t conducive either to his training or his self-respect. Every second of every day, he was more determined to make the team a success, and if that meant keeping it zipped in his pants for the foreseeable future, well, it wasn’t something Finn wasn’t used to.

  Even Agent Gregory had started looking jovial.

  “We want to make you all aware of a new domestic threat that seems to have emerged,” Gregory said. He stood at the front of the “classroom,” as the team jokingly called it, where Finn had taken the first written test in the day he started. Gregory clicked on the monitor and moved to the side. There was a picture of a middle-aged guy standing at a podium. He seemed prof
essional, wearing a suit, but the photo showed the guy’s mouth turned up in a sneer.

  “This is Judge Benedict Cryer. He retired last year and has taken up local politics. It’s widely accepted that he’ll get elected to represent district four. When he was serving, he was notorious for his hard-line stance on anything juvenile-related. He has repeatedly been quoted insisting that society, in general, is too soft on kids, so any coming through his court weren’t given any favors.” Gregory clicked on the next screen, showing Cryer speaking to a large group of people. “He’s narrowed his opinions on juvenile crime recently, specifically targeting one group of people.”

  “Enhanced,” Eli said flatly, and Finn jumped, not used to him saying anything. Eli continued. “Same age, same circumstance, same misdemeanor, but if you were enhanced, you would get locked up. I came into contact with the judge a few years ago.”

  Finn swung his head around back to Gregory, feeling uncomfortable. He might try to get his boss on his own if he could. Surely it was only fair to know a little of his team’s personal history? He knew damn well they all knew his.

  “What’s he up to now?” Vance asked.

  “He’s making noises about registering enhanced,” Talon replied and shrugged. “Not that he hasn’t done that before, but he’s also saying it’s in the child’s best interests for them not to live at home even if the parents want them to.”

  Finn gaped. There had been noises about registering enhanced over the years, but the mark made it obvious who they were, so it died down. But the kids? “How could they do that, though?” Finn asked. “It’s gotta break so many laws. It’s impossible.”

  “Remember Oliver Martinez from the school a few days ago? The boy he threw against the wall died last night. He never recovered from his head injuries,” Gregory said solemnly.

  The room was silent.

  Gregory blew out a breath. “There’s a demonstration and a rally outside city hall being hurriedly set up for this afternoon. It’s widely reported, and it’s likely Isaac Dakota will be there.

  Finn looked up from where he had been staring at the floor. He’d seen that guy on the TV a lot of times. Isaac Dakota was an enhanced. He came from a huge political family, and as Judge Cryer fought against the civil liberties of the enhanced, Dakota fought just as hard the other way. Isaac was likely to cause trouble.

  “There’s a possibility that he may bring some friends. Other enhanced.” Gregory looked at them all. “The powers that be have decided they are going to stage a press conference at city hall. The formation of the human and enhanced unit is going to be announced.”

  Everyone was silent. Finn glanced at their shocked expressions and tried to judge their reactions. They’d mostly been cool to him the last few days, but he still didn’t think they wanted the unit to include regular humans.

  Sawyer threw his pen down. “So you’re saying the kid stays?”

  Gregory looked embarrassed, and Finn wanted to crawl under the table. “I’m saying the unit goes ahead with both regular and enhanced. Each of you will get partners, but steadily, over time. It isn’t something anyone wants to rush, and we are still reviewing whether or not we should be using trained agents or not.” He glared at Talon. “What works for one of you might not work for everyone. They have organized the press conference to take place ahead of the rally, and they want you all there to keep the peace without the EnU.”

  Finn knew the EnU, or Enhanced Unit, stood for the cops’ special unit that carried the tranqs in case an enhanced needed sedating quickly. No one said anything. Finn risked a look at Talon, but his face was a hard mask.

  “One last thing,” Gregory added. “They want Finn front and center.”

  “No way!” Talon lurched to his feet. “Absolutely no way. He’s been here five days.”

  Gregory put his hands out in supplication. “I know it’s not a perfect scenario. But they want Finn obvious to give the public confidence in the unit.”

  Finn’s heart was pumping so hard, it was a wonder no one else heard it.

  “And they want you in uniform.” Deathly silence met Gregory’s last statement.

  “We don’t have a uniform,” Gael said slowly, as if expecting to be challenged.

  “Yeah, you do now. You’ll find them all hung in the locker room.”

  Vance and Gael stared at each other in astonishment. “This I gotta see.” Vance lurched to his feet.

  Finn glanced at Talon, equally torn whether to follow them out or to wait and see what being front and center actually involved. He took one look at Talon’s grim face as he headed for Gregory and decided to go see his new uniform.

  “Well, shit,” Gael drawled, holding up the black shirt. “This is so not my color.”

  Vance chuckled, but he’d already stripped down and was pulling a shirt the size of a tent over his massive shoulders.

  Finn gazed at them with his mouth wide open. They were all acting like a bunch of kids playing dress up. Even Eli. Finn watched as he yanked his pants up.

  “Here.”

  Finn turned just in time to catch the armful of clothes Sawyer threw at him.

  “Oh my God, it fucking fits.” Vance stood in front of the mirror in the corner, turning to his left and tightening the belt, and Finn suddenly laughed. Vance could demolish a house, and he was excited because he’d gotten a pair of pants that fit him.

  Gael grinned. “Hey, Finn. Let’s see you in yours.”

  Just at that moment, Talon stormed into the locker room and stopped in astonishment.

  “Look, boss,” Vance said eagerly.

  Talon shook his head in disbelief and caught Finn’s gaze. “Sit down, everyone,” he barked. Everyone sat, Finn still clutching his uniform. Talon paced. “Right. We need to introduce ourselves.”

  Finn glanced in astonishment at Talon. He caught the grin Vance and Gael sent each other.

  Talon stared at Finn. “This was never supposed to happen five days into your training.” He looked around at the other guys. “On the off chance that we get into a situation out there, Finn needs to know who has his back and how to use it to his advantage. The press will have a field day. Apparently they’re flying in Deputy Director Cohen to make the announcement.”

  Sawyer stood. “But I thought this was just an experiment?”

  Finn swung back to be pierced by Talon’s cold blue eyes as he spoke. “I’ve just been told either the joint enhanced unit goes ahead or they are disbanding the unit entirely.”

  Eli stood next to Sawyer. “You’re shitting me. There’s no way.” He looked scathingly at Finn. “We’re gonna be nothing but guard dogs for the show pony we’re gonna trot out for the press.”

  “Hey,” Finn protested. “I—”

  “Be quiet, all of you,” Talon snapped.

  Finn seethed. He was sick of being belittled. He’d worked his ass off for the last few days, and he had every intention of being an active member of this unit.

  “We have no choice,” Talon grated out.

  Wonderful, thought Finn. That was really going to endear him to his teammates.

  Sawyer scoffed. “So we’re either stuck with him or the unit doesn’t happen?”

  Finn bristled again, but Talon sent him a warning glance.

  “I want you to go around and name your official enhancement,” Talon said carefully, and Finn whipped his head back around to him. Official enhancement? That implied there were unofficial ones. Ones that maybe even Gregory didn’t know about.

  Finn leaned back against the locker. That was it. He would bet his last dime that was it. The reason they didn’t want a human in their unit was secrecy. Shit. His day had gotten even more fucked up. What was he doing, really? Did he really want to work with people who clearly hated his guts? Was being in the FBI that important to him?

  For the first time in ten years, he suddenly wasn’t so sure.

  “Well,” said Vance, seeming loud in the quiet of the room. “What you see, Finn, is what you get with me.” He shru
gged.

  Finn smiled cautiously. Vance and Gael had been nothing but helpful this week. He put his head to one side. “Do you actually know how strong you are?” he said, suddenly curious.

  Vance shrugged. “The Guinness World Records puts the heaviest lift at over sixty-two hundred pounds, but I’ve beaten that.” He glanced at Talon. “How much does your truck weigh in at?”

  “You’ve lifted his truck?” Finn said in astonishment. He gazed at Talon. “It’s gotta be at least eight thousand pounds.”

  Talon nodded slowly.

  “You’re also good at hearing accents,” Finn added, and Vance smiled in acknowledgment.

  “Although to be honest, that’s not necessarily an ability. Some humans are good at that,” Vance said.

  “Voice recognition,” Gael added. Finn raised his eyebrows, and Gael glanced at him. “He’s like a computer. He only has to hear someone talk once and he can pick them out in a crowd.”

  “I don’t actually think many computers can do that,” Finn said faintly. “Speech recognition was aimed at recognizing a preprogrammed voice.” He brightened. “Although the UK’s Air Force is doing experiments with speech recognition in cockpits.”

  “Where do you know all that stuff from?” Gael interrupted.

  “Enough,” Talon said, exasperation coloring his voice, and Finn shut up.

  “I can deconstruct metal,” Sawyer said—grudgingly, it seemed to Finn.

  He frowned. “Meaning?” He suddenly fell with a whoosh as his chair gave way.

  Sawyer grinned and stood, holding his hand out to pull Finn back up.

  Finn turned, amazed to see the plastic seat flat on the floor surrounded by what looked like a bunch of metal filings. “That is so cool!” Finn exclaimed and sat gingerly on the next available seat Sawyer pulled out for him.

  Sawyer grinned. “It only works at around six feet so far, though.”

  “I demonstrated my ability when you came for your interview,” Talon said.