When Hidden Lanterns Glow We Find Roads Toward Peace by Ryn Arlo Dane 142

Giving In Part II 

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Original composition by Tatienne Richard exclusively for My Fiction. If you’re reading this elsewhere it has been stolen from the platform. 

January looked between Glenn and Ford who were nodding their agreement. 

“I have a vest I usually wear when I’m out on business. As the Raptis prince,” he mocked, “I’ve had more than one attempt on my life. It’s a nearly paper–thin vest which is made of a bullet resistant material. It protects my back and my heart and my belly. It goes on under my shirt and doesn’t feel like anything than clothing.” 

“You are wearing that!” she spit out forcefully. 

“Yes, January. It was always the intention.” 

“Damn right it was.” 

“There is one unknown,” Gulliver looked around the table, “and we all know why I am not as into this plan as Grandfather.” 

“Duchess.” Glenn said with a deep inhalation. “She’s fucking crazy.” 

“She might have told Davis she wants me for breeding purposes and to steal my family but if we put January in her vicinity, she’s going to try to kill her. You heard her the night she was arrested, 

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Glenn. She was blunt. If she ever got January alone, she’d slit her throat. By then she’d figured out I was playing her and looking for my missing woman. She hates you January because she is of the opinion, I would have looked the other way at her foolishness. She didn’t believe I was investigating her before you and that I only agreed to marry her because of the espionage. She wants to kill you in the most Brutal and desperate way possible.” 

“Well, that’s kind of sad.” 

“Sad how?” 

“Well, she’s spent all this time dreaming of reaching her goals and we’re going to kill her before she gets the chance. It’s like someone running a marathon and croaking three steps before the finish line. Sad.” 

At her words, Avner burst into laughter and Grandfather chuckled. Thisbe squeezed her shoulder as she moved to stand behind her. 

January patted her hand softly, “I’m going to be fine, Thisbe.” 

“How are you not scared?” Thisbe asked. 

“I’m terrified,” January confessed honestly. “I am going into a situation where there are multiple crazy people in one room and all of them want to murder someone I love or me. I’m scared, Thisbe but it only means I really need to be vigilant, not go in thinking I can do more than I can and make sure I come home to my daughter when it’s all said and done.” 

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Thisbe hugged her from behind, “I don’t want to lose you again.” 

“You won’t. I’ll listen to Gulliver.” 

“Like you’re doing a good job already?” he argued with her. “I mean I’m telling you to stay home but you’re not listening.” 

She shot him a withering glare, and he smirked back with one eyebrow quirked high in his forehead. 

“You two are adorable,” Glenn said suddenly. “Even in the face of danger the sexual tension between you is palpable. My money is on Kaylee having a sibling in under a year.” 

January held up her middle finger but under the table, Gulliver’s feet intertwined with hers. 

“Gulliver, I know you will keep me safe. We’re going to be outnumbered at the beginning but the minute we get Ernst out of the way, everyone else can converge. You mentioned to me before you are very good with a rifle and could pick people off at a distance. I could go in alone and you could …” 

“You are not going in alone,” Gulliver rolled his eyes and looked at Ford, “though her idea for someone in a sniper position isn’t a bad idea.” 

“That is true but,” Ford held up his phone, “I have the sat image of the motel. Just came through from tech. There’s no place to put me in a perch. There is, in fact, no way for any of us to approach without being seen. If he has a team on the highway in 

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either direction.” 

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“Then you come in by chopper, hot and fast.” Gulliver motioned to Thisbe. “Go down to your room. Get those flared leg pants about which you were talking. January, hair in a ponytail, as tight as possible, a bun even if you can. I want when Glenn and Ford and our team get there, that your hair isn’t in the way of a clean shot. Find whatever jewelry you think you can defend yourself with. Thisbe, check in your jewelry as well. Glenn, get me a knife and a Velcro wrap for January’s ankle.” Gulliver got up, “January, I need to know how hard you can punch.” 

“What?” 

“How hard can you punch? You told me you were doing self–defense before. You kicked me in the knees and smashed my nose, damn near broke it, but were you pulling the punch when you hit me?” 

“No,” she paused, “a bit. I was pulling it a bit but not much. I was angry.” 

“You need to hit harder than you did with me. Davis is an FBI agent second, but he is not in bad shape. He’s going to be strong. I need you hit hard and in all the spots that count. If you can’t stab him, you hit him.” 

“Okay.” 

“Duchess may come at you. You fight dirty if she does. She’s trained. She’s been training to take as an assassin in her family since she could walk and talk. She will slit your throat with her 

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fingernail if she can. You slit hers first, am I clear?” 

“Yes.” 

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“January, if I go down, you leave me down. You do not run to me and let them hurt you because you’re distracted by me. You keep fighting until Glenn and my father and Ford get there. If I take a bullet to the head, you keep fighting. You do not let our daughter grow up without a parent.” 

“Gulliver,” she whispered at his words as fear pulled her upright. 

“Promise me you will fight. Grandfather is right. They want you alive, but they want me dead. I could go in there and a sharpshooter could say fuck the heart and take the head. Do not do that girly thing from movies where the character screams and boohoos and tries to save the man dying on the floor. You keep fighting. Do you understand?” 

“Yes.” 

“You do what you’re told, when you’re told.” 

“Yes, Gulliver.” 

Gulliver nodded, “then you make sure you break that fucker’s nose, his balls, his ribs. You punch, you kick, you bite and you scratch. Pluck eyeballs if you have to but you fight and you stay alive until our backup arrives.” He looked to Glenn, “get us the choppers we used for the deal we did. I want you no more than ten minutes behind our arrival.” 

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“What is special about the choppers?” January asked. 

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“Unmarked, dark, special ops and they have a new–fangled thing where they hum instead of a real engine sound. They won’t hear them until they’re almost on top of them.” He looked at Glenn, “I want them dead. You make sure every single one of these pricks is dead. You get her out. You get Ernst out. Then we kill them all.” 

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