Sharpshooter (Shadow Agents 3)

“You think you’re safe with him?” Slade shouted. He wasn’t going easily. Kicking, head-butting. “You don’t know what he’s really like!”

At that moment, she felt as if she didn’t know what anyone was really like. Her jaw hurt from where he’d hit her, and her arms throbbed. Nausea rolled in her stomach, and her cheeks seemed to be going numb.

“He wanted you, so he took you!” Slade’s voice was just getting louder. “He got me out of his way once, and he’s doing it again now!”

“Damn it, I’m trying to get you well!” Gunner snapped.

“He won’t let you go—he won’t! If he can’t have you, then he’ll make sure...he’ll make sure that no one else does, either! That’s why he’s sending me away, that’s why—”

The guards pulled him through the door. Sydney kept trying to suck in some much-needed oxygen. The room was spinning on her. Why was the room spinning?

“I’ll take care of him,” Mercer said as he slipped away to follow the guards and the sound of Slade’s yells.

Her cheeks didn’t feel cold anymore. Pinpricks of heat were shooting across them.

“Sydney...” Gunner turned back to face her. His face was locked in tight, angry lines. “Did he hurt you?” His gaze locked on her jaw. “Hell, of course he did. I see the mark he left on you.”

She shook her head. “I—I’m fine.” The words were such a lie. Sydney took a step forward. Don’t fall apart now. Don’t. Soldiers never fall apart. That was what her dad used to tell her. “A good soldier never falls. You carry on, no matter what.”

She took another step, trying to carry on.

But the spinning wouldn’t stop. And the room got dark so fast. She tried to grab for Gunner, but then she couldn’t grab anything. Her body went limp, and Sydney felt herself crashing to the floor.

She couldn’t even cry out Gunner’s name.

Couldn’t do anything...but collapse.

* * *

“SYDNEY!” GUNNER CAUGHT her before she hit the floor. He dived forward and wrapped his arms around her. He pulled her up into his arms, against his chest, holding her as carefully as he could. “Syd?”

Her head sagged back. Her eyes were closed.

Fear stabbed into him as he rushed for the door. “I need help, now!” His bellowing voice seemed to echo down the hall.

Slade was near the elevator. He turned, and his face went slack with shock when he saw Sydney in Gunner’s arms.

“What did you do?” Slade shouted.

Slade had been the one to hit her. The one to hurt her. And Gunner had never wanted to attack another man more in his life.

His brother.

And he could have ripped him apart. When he’d seen Slade punch Sydney...

“Get a medic!” Mercer barked; then he was running toward them. “What happened to her?”

The guards pulled Slade onto the elevator.

Gunner kept his tight hold on Sydney. “She passed out.” She’d been trying to reach for him. There had been confusion and fear in her eyes. She’d wanted him.

He hadn’t been able to get to her fast enough.

He pulled her closer, held her tighter.

Nothing could be wrong with Sydney.

As he stared down at her, desperate, Sydney’s eyelashes began to flutter.