“Tahanee? What are you doing here?”
“I’m your bodyguard, Barbara.”
“What?”
“I’ll explain later,” she said as the kidnapper moved and Tahanee put one in his back. “You all right?”
“I’m okay,” a wide-eyed Barbara said.
“Wait here,” Tahanee said and rushed off.
Barbara watched Tahanee go after her abductors knowing that this wasn’t the time to think about how and why Tahanee, of all people was her bodyguard and why she never knew about it. She needed to focus on her surroundings, where she was and what was going on around her.
Barbara had been kidnapped, fondled and threatened with rape. She was still in danger and that’s when she saw the gun on the ground and picked it up.
When Tahanee reached a hallway, she took a deep breath, opened the door and went inside. She scanned the area quickly and saw the kidnappers. She crouched down and opened fire. One dove for the floor and returned fire until his gun was empty, before crawling away as Tahanee exchanged fire with his partner.
He fired at Tahanee and then moved to try to get a better angle on her. She fired as he raised his weapon, hitting the kidnapper twice in the chest. Tahanee rushed up to him and kicked the gun away before shooting him again.
After laying there watching his boy die, the other man crawled to the door to getaway. When he stood up he ran and tried to make it out of the warehouse, but Barbara was there. He stopped when he saw that she was holding a gun in her hand. Barbara raised the weapon and pointed it at him. He put his hands up.
“I know you ain’t gonna shoot me, Sexy.”
Even though they were all masked and were dressed alike, Barbara knew that he was the one that was feeling on her. She had taken in certain details about him. His shirt, his posture, and yeah … Barbara remembered the sound of his voice.
Me and you definitely gonna have some fun.
She would never forget that voice. Never forget his hands on her body. We gonna strip you naked and see that fuckin’ fine-ass body.
Barbara was scared, but her fear was mixed with her anger. The gun was shaking in her hand.
“You need to just hand me the gun,” he said moving toward Barbara slowly.
“Don’t come any closer!” Barbara shouted as she gripped the gun with both hands the way her father had taught her.
He smiled and inched closer with his hands up. “You ain’t gonna shoot me, Sexy,” he said and then he quickly reached for the gun.
Barbara closed her eyes and pulled the trigger. The shot hit him in the shoulder. With his eyes opened wide in disbelief, he looked at Barbara.
“You shot me,” he shouted and lunged forward to make another grab at the gun. Barbara fired and shot him twice in the chest. The impact of the close range blast took him off his feet and he hit the ground hard.
Barbara stepped up, looked down at him, and pulled the trigger again. Tahanee rushed up and took the gun from her hand. Damn, Barbara, Tahanee thought as she looked at the body.
“Come on. We need to get out of here.” She grabbed her hand. “Did you touch anything?” Tahanee asked and Barbara shook her head.
They left the warehouse, got in Ram’s car and drove away from there. As Tahanee drove, she began to explain the whole, I’m your bodyguard thing to Barbara. She sat there listening silently, staring straight ahead with a blank expression on her face.
“Are you alright, Barbara?” Tahanee asked, but she got no answer as Barbara just stared out the windshield.
She had just killed a man.
“Are you alright, Barbara?” Tahanee asked again.
Barbara nodded her head, still staring straight ahead with that blank expression on her face.
She’s in shock, Tahanee thought and it made her think about her first combat engagement. She remembered the night spent in her thoughts after she’d killed for the first time. But I was trained for it, prepared months for that moment. Barbara wasn’t prepared for this at all.
So Tahanee stopped talking.