A Dangerous Engagement

Chapter 5 : On the Wind

CARA

"Not bad," Travis says, a teasing grin on his handsome face. "For your age."

Armin laughs, lowering his shotgun. He broke most of his clay targets, as did Travis. "The wind is picking up again, so let's let Cara have another turn before we go back inside."

Katrine, the member of the estate staff who was assisting us, loads my shotgun and then hands it back to me. I took it from her, gripping it gingerly, trying to remember the instructions she gave me earlier. "Thanks," I say.

I shifted my feet in the correct stance and lifted the shotgun to take aim. "Pull!" I call out.

Katrine fires the throwers with the remote controller. The clay targets fly from the two machines into the sky. I track the first one with my sights, move past it, then squeeze the trigger. I miss. Shit. I want to believe I kind of scratched the barest edge of the second clay with my next bullet even if I didn't break it, but that didn't count.

I miss the rest of the succeeding shots. With a disgusted grunt, I tear off my ear protectors.

"Not too bad," Travis says.

"Thanks but we all know I'm terrible at this." I hand the gun to Katrine.

Armin pats me on the shoulder as I take off my tinted shooting glasses and put on my sunglasses. "You just need a little more practice, my dear," he says. "We'll do this again again tomorrow."

Katrine is closing up the housing of the two trap machines. "I hope the weather improves," she says, frowning up at the sky.

Travis sidles up to me as we walk back to the house. "Having fun?" he says.

I shiver as another breeze hits me. This dress was a mistake. I should have worn a sweater or something. The scarf I threw on hardly gave any protection from the increasingly chilly winds. "If learning something new that I'm terrible at, then, yeah, I'm having a blast," I say.

"You'll be a much better shot by tomorrow, I'm sure of it."

"I don't know." The weather worries me. "Armin, it looks like that storm's going to hit us. I don't like how that sky looks."

"Hmmm," Armin muses, gazing over the cliff into the sea. "It might, yes. Don't worry, we've been hit by a few bad ones before. And there's plenty of supplies and backup generators."

I adjust my scarf, attempting to wear it as a Sharon "That's fine, I don't really need mu— Hey!" I try to grab my scarf but it flies out of my reach, caught by a gust of wind. I watch in dismay the moss-colored length of muslin sail over the field.

"Hang on, I'll get it," Travis offers.

"No, I'll go," I say, waving him off as I start off toward my wayward accessory. "Go on ahead, I'll see you later."

"Let it go, my dear," Armin says, amused at my predicament. "I'll buy you a new one."

That stupid scarf cost more than a month's pay for me, there's no way I'm just going to let it go. Not that I'm going to get to keep it after this job. I agreed to let Armin buy me clothes for this charade on the condition that he take everything back when we were done.

Smiling, I wave at him and Travis before going off in a sprint. Thankfully, I had the sense to change out of my heels and into a pair of comfortable sneakers. If I had been more sensible, I would have at least worn a jacket.

I run past an amused Katrine who is trailing behind Travis and Armin, rolling a case behind her and carrying my shotgun.

It takes me a couple of minutes to catch up to my scarf. "Gotcha," I gasp under my breath as I grab it before another gust of wind carries it away again. Turning around, I see Armin, Travis, and Katrine too far away for me to catch up. I might as well take my sweet time.