Sharpshooter (Shadow Agents 3)

He was in the EOD office. He’d been questioned, cleared, briefed. The cops had handed their investigation over to federal agents—FBI personnel who would report their findings back to the EOD.

“Gunner?”

He turned to see Sydney standing in the doorway behind him. There was worry on her delicate features.

“Are you okay?” Sydney wanted to know.

He wasn’t the one with a bullet in his heart. He should have tried for a nonfatal shot, but the man had been aiming his own weapon right at Gunner’s head. There hadn’t been time to do anything but fire. “I just killed our lead.”

She frowned, then shut the door. Then she was coming closer to him. “You just saved my life, that’s what you did.”

He didn’t speak.

“Why do you have such a hard time,” she asked him, tilting her head back to better study him, “ever seeing yourself as a hero?”

“I do my job, Syd. That doesn’t make me a hero.”

“It does to me.” She reached for his hands. The ones that had killed so easily before and, he knew, would again. He’d always been good at killing. “When I look at you, I see the man who saved my life today. The man who has saved me dozens of times in the field. You’ve saved so many. So don’t—” now an order snapped in her words “—ever see yourself as anything less, understand me?”

She stared up at him, her bright eyes telling him that he was good. That he was worth something.

The woman was going to tear him apart.

A knock sounded at the door then. Sydney still held his hands. She didn’t let go.

When the door opened and Slade stood there, Gunner wished she’d let go. He saw the flash of pain in Slade’s eyes, but his brother quickly schooled his expression.

“I heard what happened.” Slade’s color was better. Not the pale mask of death that he’d looked like when he first came back to the U.S. “I wanted to make sure you were both okay.”

Slade had been given clearance to come into the EOD office. Mercer wanted private updates with him, so Slade had access to some of the floors there.

Gunner carefully studied his brother. Did he know this man now? Had he really known him before? “I’m okay.”

Slade’s lips twisted. “Of course you are. Kil

ling has always been easy for you.” Slade’s words uncomfortably echoed Gunner’s own thoughts. “Aim and fire...” He laughed lightly. “Bet the guy never even saw you coming.”

Gunner stiffened.

“Killing isn’t easy for anyone,” Sydney said, voice stilted. “A life is a life.”

“Yeah, but some trash just needs to be taken out every now and then, right? And this bozo who targeted you...” His gaze focused on Sydney’s face. “I’m glad he’s gone. I don’t—I don’t want you in danger.”

Sydney pulled away from Gunner. Actually, she put her body between Gunner and Slade. Gunner was struck by the fact that...she’d always been between him and his brother. From the first moment he’d seen her and—wanted his brother’s girl.

She’s not his any longer.

“You heard about the fire, too?” Sydney asked.

Slade nodded grimly. “What can I do? I want to help.” He waited a beat, stepped forward, then added, “I need to help.”

“We’re not sure what’s happening yet,” Sydney told him, voice cautious. “Slade, we don’t want you putting yourself in danger. You just got out of the veterans’ facility. You need to recover more. You need—”

“I need to get my life back.” The faint lines near his mouth deepened. “I’m not the kind of guy to sit on the sidelines. After two years, I need to get back in action. I want to be normal again. I want to be me.” His voice roughed. “Let me help, both of you. I want to help.”

Gunner could see the struggle on his brother’s face, but he also didn’t want to put Slade back in harm’s way. Slade wasn’t in shape to handle any dangerous missions, no way.

Slade straightened his shoulders. “I can help here, okay? In the EOD office. I can do grunt work, I can read through files. I can do something.”