There, problem solved. He’d escort her all the way to Gina’s office and explain everything there. He walked around the wave-shaped desk and motioned toward a nondescript door next to the sandpit. A man stood with his broad back to them, turning for a moment and revealing a face covered by impenetrable sunglasses and a dark red cap sitting low on his head. He turned away, as if the display explaining the importance of tides was the most interesting thing in the world.
A distant bell of familiarity rang in Wyatt’s head. He couldn’t really focus on it, though, since that was the exact moment the door opened and out walked Gina Perez, her tight brown curls bouncing on her shoulder, nearly as bubbly as Gina’s personality was.
Wyatt waved, grabbing her attention. “Hey, Gina, I was just heading toward your office. This woman here was requesting to speak with you.”
“Hm? Who?”
“Her,” Wyatt said, turning and realizing he never even got the woman’s nam— “She’s gone.”
Except he saw her, walking out of the sliding glass doors and into the main entrance hall of the Science Center. She was different, though, no longer with short black hair but instead sporting brunette waves that fell down her back.
Why the hell was she wearing a wig?
“What was it about?” Gina asked, puckering her lips, her polka-dotted skirt blending with the pink-and-white floor.
“I’m… well, I’m not entirely sure. She wanted to talk to you about using the museum for a music video. It was kinda sketchy, though.”
Gina shrugged and squeezed Wyatt’s elbow. “Please don’t get me assassinated, okay? I’ve got a lot of secrets.” She tapped a red fingernail against her temple and giggled, walking around Wyatt and down the hall toward the cafeteria. Wyatt chuckled and started back toward his desk. He’d completely lost track of where he was in the string of code that filled the computer screen, but it would only take him a couple of seconds to pick it back up again.
The perks of being a techy savant.
And then, before he could even sit back down, everything went to hell in a handbasket.
A loud bang erupted in the room, followed by three seconds of ear-ringing silence. The eerie quiet was shattered by a shriek and a shout.
“Gun!”
Chaos broke out as everyone in the sunshine-soaked room bolted toward the exits, creating a crush of terrified parents and chaperones shielding their tiny, crying charges. They were all running from the three men standing in the center of the room, the tallest of them holding the gun up over his head, the two flanking him with guns of their own pointed in opposite directions.
Wyatt froze. He’d never seen a gun in person before, never been this close to a life-ending push of the trigger. He should be running, ducking for cover, crawling toward an exit. Instead, he just stared, jaw split open, pupils blown wide with fear.
A body slammed into him, sending them both to the ground. The impact was shielded by the two big arms that encased Wyatt, keeping his ribs buffered from a hard hit against the floor. The man rolled on the floor as two shots rang out, bringing them both behind a stone column.
“Stay down,” his savior said, and the bell of familiarity suddenly rang even louder than the bullets that exploded from the guns. He looked up, the man with the sunglasses and hat no longer a mystery to him.
“Roman?” Wyatt asked, shocked he could even say his name out loud.
The man took off his sunglasses and smiled, devastatingly nonchalant for the incredibly shitty situation they were knee-deep in. He pulled out a gun from under his shirt and stood up, back against the column.
“It’s been a while, Wyatt. You’re looking good.”
And before Wyatt could even process the words coming from the ghost standing above him, Roman cocked his gun and leaned around the column, aiming and shooting, the bullet hitting its target and shattering a shoulder. The man dropped to his knees with an anguished cry, letting go of the gun he was holding to push against the bleeding wound instead. Suddenly, another loud shot rang through the room, and the man to the left of the tall one dropped like a fly, holding his calf and curling into a ball, the pink-and-white tiled floor swirling with red.
“Nice shot, Bang Bang,” Roman said, stepping out of cover, leaving behind an incredibly shocked and insanely scared Wyatt wondering why the hell his old flame turned archnemesis had just saved him from being shot in the head?
Chapter 2
Roman Ashford
Roman Ashford was the kind of guy who believed in staying ready so he never had to get ready. When he planned today’s job, he had accounted for some interference by making sure Bang Bang had his back covered. He was hoping it wouldn’t come to a shoot-out in the middle of a science museum, but it looked as if that was exactly what was about to happen.