Chapter 7

On Sunday, Elsie woke around 7am. She surprised herself with her excitement, and as she made herself breakfast she found she kept humming a song as she cut herself some fruit. By 10, she was showered and ready, dressed in some old cargo pants and a light blue polo shirt she didn't particularly care for. It was tighter than she liked, but today she smiled to herself a bit when she saw how it hugged her gentle curves.

Not sure what to do with herself for an hour, Elsie let Willa out and walked with her around the yard as she had been doing for the past few days, hoping she would find whatever it was that Willa had cut herself on. Willa was more subdued than usual, which was no surprise considering she was still hindered by her heavily bandaged leg, but it also meant that she never wandered far enough to help Elsie's search. After walking around and gently playing fetch with Willa for a bit, Elsie checked her watch. 10:25. Suddenly, Elsie noticed that Willa had stopped moving and was staring into the woods, gently growling. Elsie frowned and scratched Willa's head then started for the house. When she heard a crash in the woods behind her, Elsie whipped her head around and watched as Willa rushed forward with a loud bark. There were many times Elsie was thankful for the seclusion of her home, but moments like this reminded her just how vulnerable she still was. Turning quickly, she heard a strange ticking sound and saw movement in the trees directly in front of her. Willa was crouched down on the ground now, growling deeply and baring her teeth. Elsie slipped behind the dog and quickly backed towards the house. Willa stayed where she was, snarling at the trees. Suddenly, Charles's truck pulled into the driveway and he jumped out, noticing Elsie's tension and the angry dog immediately.

"Elsie! Are you ok?" Charles rushed over to her, grabbing her by the shoulders and looking her up and down. Seeing she was physically unharmed, carefully ventured into the woods. Elsie grabbed Willa by the collar and dragged her into the house, shutting her inside and stepping out onto the porch. Charles was coming back out of the trees holding his .45 he had pulled form his ankle hoslter. Ignoring the question on her face, he went to her, pushing her back into the house.

"Charles! I'm so glad you're early!" She pulled him close, pressing her lips to his in a bruising expression of relief. Charles carefully set his gun on the counter while he kissed her back just as fervently and then broke off the kiss to pull her into his embrace.

"What happened?" He asked, alarmed by the entire situation.

Elsie was shaking slightly, but she said, "I was just waking Willa around, looking for whatever had cut her when suddenly something crashed in the trees. I thought it was just a bird or something until Willa started to growl, and something was moving toward us when you pulled in. Did you find anything?"

Charles ran his hand down his face. "No, but I sent something- or someone- running off. Could you see the size of whatever it was?" Elsie shook her head.

Elsie looked at Charles's gun. "I'm so glad you came to my rescue, but why do you have a gun?"

Charles, much to Elsie's surprise, smiled at her. "Well, our date has been spoiled a bit, but let's just say we are about to have an adventure." Elsie raised her eyebrows.

"Well then, why wait? I'm feeling adventurous today." It was Charles who raised his eyebrows this time.

"Milday." Charles offered her his arms. Elsie shyly slid her arm around his. She took a deep breath, preparing herself for whatever the day would bring.

After an hour on the road, Charles pulled into a parking lot at a large white brick, unmarked building that looked altogether abandoned. Elsie glanced around skeptically, then turned to Charles and waited for an explanation.

Charles smiled widely, then got out of the truck and went around to her side. He opened her door and helped her down from the truck seat, taking her hand and leading her silently to the building. He liked that Elsie wasn't questioning him; he enjoyed spending time with her because she was observant and only used words when she felt they would improve on the silence. He unlocked the door and gestured for Elsie to step inside with him. She looked at him warily, and for a moment he thought that she might just turn and walk away. But after wavering for a moment, she held her hand out to him again and they walked in the door together.

It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the bright light, but once they had Elsie was shocked into silence. The "abandoned" building was actually a very nice, clean and bright… gun range? Elsie was thoroughly confused at his point, and Charles turned to offer her an explanation.

"This place belongs to a friend of mine. He used to work with… agents for lack of a better word. This is where they practiced handling weapons. Today, I'm going to teach you how to shoot." Charles internally braced himself for fallout, wondering if maybe he hadn't pushed Elsie too far. This outing was, to Elsie's knowledge, completely illegal. But, he was pleasantly surprised when she smiled widely and simply said, "Let's do it."

Charles resisted the urge to pull her in for a heated kiss. He settled for a gentle squeeze of her hand and led her to the counter behind which were a variety of handguns, all locked up inside a metal cage.

"Pick your weapon my dear." Charles smiled and gestured to the guns. Elsie rubbed her hands together.

"Ohhh this is like Christmas, isn't it!" Charles couldn't help himself, he laughed aloud at her exuberance. He never would have expected her to be this enthusiastic about the outing for the day. But, as had been her way thus far, Elsie continued to surprise him.

Elsie looked at the handguns before her and finally pointed at one.

"A .40 cal*? Hm. Women usually try smaller guns first." Elsie smiled at his remark.

"Well, I like the look of that one. I want to give it a try." Charles chuckled again and unlocked the cage, pulling the gun down from its hook. Relocking the cage and grabbing a box of ammunition from another locked cabinet, Charles stepped from behind the counter and led Elsie to a door at the back of the room. When they stepped into the next room, Elsie could hear a change in the sound. Charles noted her expression and pointed to the walls.

"Soundproof. This is a secure location. They don't use it anymore, but it's got the best money can buy in security so no one knew what it was."

"But if it's no longer in use, then why is it still stocked with weapons?" Not much got past Elsie, and Charles was continually impressed with her observational skills.

"He keeps it stocked for me. I taught his son once upon a time. Long story short we became good friends and now he lets me use this place whenever I want. It's a hobby of sorts."

Elsie knew there was much more to that story than he was sharing, but she decided not to push him just yet. She realized what they were doing was illegal in England, but somehow she knew she could trust Charles so she just took the ear protection he offered and slipped them over her ears. The thought of being bad made her feel giddier than she was comfortable admitting.

Charles took her by the shoulders and spun her around, directing her into a shooting lane. Elsie smiled to herself and enjoyed the warmth of his chest on her back. She pushed the ear covers down and listened to him explain the process.

"This is the magazine, the ammunition goes in like this," he pushed a bullet down hard on the spring-loaded opening of the magazine and slid it into the slot. He followed suit with another bullet, using his thumb to press the first bullet down a bit. Then he handed her the magazine and let her try. She struggled a bit but eventually filled the magazine to capacity. Charles smiled. "Well done. You made it look easy. I must be an exceptional teacher." Elsie snorted in response, laughing at the indignant look on his face.

"Oh, yes of course sir. Excellent tutelage. Now what?"

Charles picked up the mag and slapped it hard into his palm. "Do this so that the backside of the bullet is firmly seated in its place inside the magazine. It helps eliminate any possible misfires. Alright, make sure the safety is on," Charles pointed it out and Elsie clicked it to safe, "now insert the mag and push it until you hear it click." Elsie followed his instructions. When the magazine was appropriately inserted, she looked to him again.

"Ok, see this?" He pointed to the top of the gun. Elsie nodded. "This is called the slide. You have to pull it back to insert the initial bullet into the chamber." Elsie pulled it back, slightly shakily, as the gun was rather resistant to her efforts. But, she got the bullet into place on her first try and Charles beamed at her. "Ok, now never point it sideways or in any direction but down the lane. See that target there? It's ten yards away." Elsie giggled a little.

"That seems rather close, doesn't it?" She asked innocently. But Charles was all business now.

"For a beginner it's a good place to start. And besides, most things you'd shoot with a handgun aren't going to be much father away than that." Suddenly, Elsie sobered up. That was, until Charles wrapped his giant self around her to steady the gun in her hands, helping her set the center dot of the sights between the two outer dots as she pointed it at the target. He slid his hands down her arms, much more contact than was necessary, she thought. Then he wrapped his large hand around hers as she held the gun and set his chin on her right shoulder. He smelled absolutely delicious, she thought, and she closed her eyes for a moment to collect her thoughts. Charles said softly into her ear, "Once you have it aimed, take the safety off." Elsie slid her thumb up and clicked the safety down, making the gun fire-ready. Charles moved and pressed his body against hers a bit more. Elsie could feel him pressing into her backside, and with an involuntary clench of her hand she pulled the trigger and the gun went off. Charles reacted immediately, flipping the safety and removing the gun from her hands.

"I- I'm so sorry I-"

Charles looked shaken. Then he smiled. "No, don't worry about it. It was me, I should have told you not to put your finger on the trigger until you were ready to fire. Want to go again?" Elsie pushed away the thought that she certainly wanted to go again, but it had nothing to do with shooting a gun. This time, Charles remained a few feet back from her. Elsie smiled smugly, aimed the barrel, set the sights, flipped the safety, and pulled the trigger. And then she pulled it again. And again, over and over until she had emptied the magazine. When she was done, Charles just looked at her with a bit of astonishment. She stared at him as she flipped the safety back on, dropped the mag from the gun, and pressed the button to bring the target in. When it stopped right in front of them, Charles could hardly believe his eyes. Every single shot had gone through the center of the target, aside from that first one she had released by surprise. He grabbed the thick orange paper and looked at it in disbelief. When his eyes returned to hers, they were dancing with mischief.

"Either this is some bloody fantastic beginners luck or-"

"Or I've shot a gun before." Elsie smiled but offered no further explanation. Charles gaped at her for a moment. This woman was beautiful, deeply intelligent, funny, and now he found she was handy with a gun to boot. He could hardly believe his luck.

"How?" He asked. She shrugged.

"I have friends in the States. I spent a few years there and this was something we tried for fun. I just happened to be quite good at it." She smirked, loving the look of astonishment in his face.

"You are one dangerous woman Elsie Hughes." Charles smiled and pulled her in for a kiss.

ECECECECECECECECECECE

Joe Burns was an angry man, that was nothing new. Richard Carlisle had seen him choke a man to death over a card game and put a pool cue through another man's eye for lying to him. But, in the twenty odd years he had known Burns, he had never once seen him waste a perfectly good cigar in his anger.

Burns sat silently, stock still and fuming in his leather chair. Sitting on the large metal desk in front of him were a dozen photos. The curls of smoke from his cigar wrapped around a picture he was holding of a lovely woman, somewhere in her late forties or early fifties, who was cupping the cheek of Charles Carson. In at least half of the other photos, the woman was with him, smiling disgustingly at Charles.

As Carlisle watched Burns look through the photos he had just delivered him, the fine Cuban cigar crumbled into small fragments as Burns clenched his fist. The still-burning head of the cigar dropped, lit side down, onto a photo of Charles' face. As it burned through the black-and-white photograph, Burns uttered one word, "Elisabeth."

*a .40 caliber handgun s often just referred to as a ".40" in similar fashion to the way Charles's .45 caliber is referred to as a ".45". I actually own a .40, it is easily my favorite handgun and my weapon of choice haha. I felt like Elsie would chose something with more balls to it than a small gun, so I had her pick the .40 for that reason. Plus, she would know that the smaller the gun, the worse it kicks and therefore the more likely it is to cause injury. Elsie is one smart woman.

A/N:I am taking some liberties here with the gun laws in the UK. I couldn't find anything specifically that related to the laws regarding gun ranges, so I made the one in this chapter secret/private so I would hopefully avoid making any mistakes as far as laws went. Charles has his own gun, of course, as he is an active agent. However, revealing this to Elsie puts him at some risk of being discovered, but no worries we will answer all of those questions in the future ;) If anyone has any input, feel free to PM or review! Also, if I made any blaring mistakes please forgive me I have not had this chapter beta'd.