Sharpshooter (Shadow Agents 3)

“Yes.” A word that barely rose above the roar of the motor.

“You’re going to be safe now,” Logan told him. “We’re going to get you home.”

Gunner wasn’t touching her now, wasn’t looking at anyone.

She frowned at him, and realized that she could smell blood.

Sydney’s hands flew over Gunner.

“Stop!” he told her.

She wasn’t going to stop touching him because, right there, high on his left shoulder, she’d just felt something wet and sticky. Blood. “You were shot.”

His fingers curled around hers. Pushed her hand away. “It’s nothing.”

Yes, it was a bullet wound. Not some nick

. “Is the bullet still in you?”

He didn’t answer, and that silence was an answer for her.

“You deserve more than that!” came Slade’s snarling voice. “Brother.” The word sounded like a curse. “You deserve to die.”

Sydney gasped at the words. “Slade, you don’t even know what you’re saying!” She remembered Gunner shoving her to the ground. The bullet that had hit the side of the jeep. Only...hadn’t she heard two shots then? Two shots, but only one bullet had gone into the jeep.

The other bullet had been meant to go in her.

Gunner took a bullet for me.

“I know...exactly...what I’m saying,” Slade growled.

No, he didn’t. He’d been in captivity. Been hurt, tortured, but the man talking, that wasn’t the man she knew. “Gunner just risked his life for you.”

They all had.

“The bullet has to come out,” she whispered to Gunner. She tried to inspect the wound again.

He gave a grim nod. But...he pushed her hand away once more.

The move just hurt.

“When we’re secure,” Gunner said, no emotion slipping into his voice. “I can handle it ’til then.”

Of course he could. Gunner could handle anything. Handle it, and keep on going. Never showing emotion.

While emotions were about to rip her apart.

They didn’t immediately head for civilization. If they were being tailed, they didn’t want anyone following them.

They changed vehicles. Once. Twice. Logan picked up the emergency cash that had been sent ahead for the mission, and only then did they head back for the coast. The sun was rising in the sky, and Sydney glanced over to see the haggard lines on Slade’s face.

He’d aged ten years in two.

The laughing man she’d known was gone. He’d never be coming back.

And as for Gunner...

His eyes weren’t meeting hers. He talked only when he had to do so, and the scent of his blood was still heavy in the air.