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Chapter 40

Quinn picked up her tranquilliser from the side table and loaded it. Closing her eyes, she turned to face away from the dartboard and aimed over her shoulder. It collided against the board but didn't stick.  

Sighing, she picked it up off the floor, reloaded and tried again. It landed just off-centre.

Maybe it was because she was worried. She was starting to panic and it was affecting her focus. She'd always heard adrenaline would give her an edge, but like many things she'd thought she knew, that fact had turned out to be a complete lie.

Eventually she decided to ignore the dartboard entirely and instead aimed for a smear on the door. That time she found it much easier to hit the mark.

She'd left the others a few minutes beforehand, saying she was going to change into her black clothes, but she was trying to make her final few minutes last. Usually practicing helped her stay calm, but the spare room was still unfamiliar to her and put her a little on-edge.

She aimed again just as Luke opened the door. The dart sailed over his head and landed somewhere down the corridor. He looked after it with mild irritation.

"You still can't just use the target, can you?"

"Sorry," she said sheepishly.

"Don't worry about it," he said calmly. "Worry about the fact that it's twenty minutes before we're due to leave and you're still playing with that goddamn tranquilliser."

"Jesus," she muttered, picking up the clothes that were still folded on her bed. "Fine. Give me thirty seconds."

"Make it fifteen," he replied.

"Yes sir." She gave him a mocking salute.

Luke left for a few seconds, before returning and throwing the dart on to the bed. "Don't leave them lying around. Anyone steps on one of those, they'll be out cold for three hours." He looked over the clothes that were still strewn across the bed. "You're wearing that?"

Quinn didn't look away from the target as she aimed again. "Yeah, why?"

"It's December."

"So?"

"So, you don't want to die of pneumonia before you can die of being killed." Luke took the tranquilliser out of her hand and put it on a high shelf.

She looked up at the shelf, and then back to him. "I didn't bring a coat."

"Of course you didn't." He sat down next to her, evidently exasperated. "You can borrow mine."

"You're like a foot taller than me. How's that gonna work?"

"I don't know." He pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'm making do. Will you stop being a child and work with me?"

She nodded, once again considering reminding him that he was at most a year older than her, but deciding against it. "Whatever you say. But I'm taking it off once we get in the building."

"Deal."

She gave him a thumbs up, and he stood up and left again.

Picking up the dart and putting it into the back of the tranquilliser along with the others, she picked up her clothes and quickly changed before picking up the pile of shirts that Luke had left and heading downstairs.

She ran into Adam first. He was adjusting his glasses agitatedly, once again almost completely unaware of his surroundings.

"You aren't going to get changed?" She said, causing him to visibly startle.