“Shit!” She rolled away as a bullet kicked up a dust cloud.
A woman dashed to her side, while a distinguished looking older man wearing riding breeches calmed her horse.
Nik narrowed his eyes at the assassin on the hill. Gone. Go after him or protect the woman? He turned to join her. She sat. Her helmet off, she flipped her brown braid over her shoulder. She had been the assassin’s target, Emma York, Ms. H. Code name Cloak, because of her brilliance in disguise.
The woman helped her up. “Are you hurt?”
Emma wiped off the dust from her pants and glared at Nik. “I’m okay. He just spooked.”
The British woman shook her head. “I’ve never seen him spook, ever.”
“He rarely spooks, but when he does it’s major,” explained Emma.
The older man brought the horse to Emma. “Thank you, she needs to get back on.”
The British woman nodded and left.
Nik frowned. “It’s not safe to ride
.”
Emma sighed as if he had done something completely wrong. “Keep an eye out, I won’t be more than fifteen minutes.”
Before he could protest about the possibility of her suffering from some injury or the fact the assassin might return to finish the job, she mounted the nervous horse and galloped around the arena. Once calm, she repeated the earlier routine.
“And who are you?” asked the man.
“A friend.”
“Bullshit. You were here to stop the shooter. You must be her new asset.”
How much did this man know of his mission? “Yes. I’ll be right back.”
Nik headed up to the knoll where the sniper had been. If he hadn’t been so infatuated with her, he might have noticed the man earlier. He sniffed the area. A human male. He followed the man’s scent down the hill toward the freeway. A black car sped away. Damn.
He returned just as Emma said goodbye to the older man.
“Boris is driving me to the airport after I get cleaned up.”
“My name is Nikolay.”
“Have a safe trip, Andrea.”
“Thanks. Take care of Capriccio.”
“I will.”
“Come on, Boris.”
He rolled his eyes. “Nik.”
Emma stopped and glowered at him. “Code name Dagger, right?”
“Da.”
“You spooked my horse and almost killed me, Wolf.”
“I had no choice. The assassin had you in his sights.”