Top Gun Tiger (Protection, Inc 7)

And that was that. He’d be in for four more years. At least. Four more years of—

A sudden, overwhelming sense of danger swept over her, making her whip around and scan the office. Nothing seemed amiss. No one was there but her friends, and they were all laughing and talking. But rather than relaxing her, the sight only made her more tense. She wanted to scream at them that something was wrong—

“Are you all right?” Fiona murmured in her ear.

“Yeah, fine,” Destiny replied automatically.

But the sense of danger didn’t go away. Destiny tried to make herself think rationally about it. Unlike some people present, she hadn’t been tortured or otherwise traumatized, and had never had a panic attack in her life. So was she getting a genuine premonition? Should she order everyone out of the office, in case she’d picked up some subliminal clues that someone had planted a bomb in it or something…?

But when she thought of that, she realized that she wasn’t afraid for anyone there. She was afraid for Ethan. Though she had no idea why, she was convinced that Ethan was in terrible danger.

He’s a Recon Marine, she told her subconscious or whatever it was. He’s in danger all the time. He can take care of himself.

Her subconscious wasn’t having it. Destiny’s heart was hammering against her chest. Her palms were sweating. The drumbeat of danger, danger, danger was so loud in her mind that she could barely hear herself think.

“Excuse me,” she muttered, and stumbled for the bathroom.

Once she was inside, she splashed cold water on her face and stared at her reflection in the mirror. Her eyes looked strange. Wild. The green shimmer was strong against the brown, like her tiger was staring back at her.

Suddenly worried, she dug into her purse and took out her pills. Apart from the emergency stash tucked into her bra, she kept them in a box meant for birth control, so she could always tell by checking the calendar if she’d forgotten to take one. She gave a sigh of relief when she saw that she’d taken one that morning. She wasn’t due for another till tomorrow. So at least it wasn’t that.

But then, what was wrong?

Ethan, that strange inner alarm informed her. Ethan’s in danger. Go help him, or he’ll die!

It didn’t sound like her tiger. It wasn’t a voice at all—it was a feeling, a knowledge, a compulsion that Destiny herself was translating into words. All the same, she asked her tiger, Is that you?

Nope, her tiger replied. No idea what it is. I can feel it too, though. Shall we go check it out?

If I can figure out where—

“Destiny?”

Destiny jumped about a foot in the air, dropping her pill box. Fiona snatched it up before it could hit the ground and handed it back to her.

“Thanks,” Destiny said, replacing it in her purse.

“You’re not

all right,” Fiona remarked. Her leaf-green eyes were narrow with worry. “Mind if Justin comes in? You look like… Well, you look like he used to, sometimes. He noticed, too. He’s right outside the door.”

“Yeah, sure,” Destiny said, resigned. “Why not? It’s a unisex bathroom.”

Fiona opened the door, and Justin came in. He looked her over with his coal-black eyes, so startling against his copper-red hair and lashes. “Did something happen to you that I don’t know about?”

“Happen to me?” Destiny echoed, bewildered. “Like what?”

“Something bad,” Justin said succinctly. “You look like you’re having a flashback.”

“No. It’s nothing like that. It’s—”

Ethan, Ethan’s in danger, stop wasting time and go rescue him, now, now, now!

The command had the force of a hurricane. She gripped the sink with both hands, as if otherwise she might be swept away.

“Are you sick?” Fiona asked. “Would you rather we stepped out?”

Destiny realized that Fiona thought she was about to throw up. She opened her mouth to deny it, then closed it again. She couldn’t explain what was really going on, since she didn’t understand it herself and it made no sense, but pretending she was fine was right out. On the other hand, there was one thing she could say with absolute truth.