Glitter and Gunfire/Bulletproof (Shadow Agents 4)

As the men closed in, one agent swept a light inside.

The light fell on a dead body.

Gunner’s eyes narrowed. Two shots. One had hit the man in the stomach. One had blasted right into his heart. From the look of the wounds, both had been administered at a very close range.

Cassidy had told Cale that she shot her attacker—that she hit him once.

Had she been mistaken, or had another scene played out here?

His gaze searched the van. No driver. But someone had been behind the wheel while Cassidy had been held captive in the back.

His stare returned to the body.

Cassidy shot him in the stomach. That would make sense. The first bullet, ripping through him, gave Cassidy the precious moments that she’d needed to escape.

But that wound hadn’t killed him.

The wound to the heart had ended the man’s life.

His partner shot him in the heart.

It was the partner that they had to find.

He turned away from the van and began to slowly scan the street. He was good at tracking, almost as good as his grandfather had been. He’d been trained on the reservation as a child, and when it came to hunting, he did the job well. Maybe too well.

Gunner crept to the edge of the road. Let his light sweep over the grass.

There. Bent grass, broken by feet running too quickly.

He followed those telltale marks. The bent grass, the snapped twigs.

The driver had come this way for a reason. He’d abandoned the van in that spot for a reason.

A few more feet, and he found that reason.

Tire tracks. A second vehicle had been stashed there.

The killer was on the move again, and he could very well be closing in on Cassidy.

* * *

CASSIDY’S EYES SLOWLY opened, the green color muted, her gaze confused. “C-Cale?”

He didn’t like the slur in her speech. He’d been right there, right beside her, and she’d been drugged.

He couldn’t believe Mercer had been dumb enough to think that Cale would let her walk away. Or just be taken away.

“What’s happening?” Cassidy asked as she tried to sit up.

He put his arm around her, helping to steady her. He’d already dressed her—well, done his best, anyway—in jeans and a T-shirt that he’d gotten Tina to sneak up from the gift shop. “Mercer wants to take you out of D.C.” There was no time to sugarcoat. He figured they had all of about five minutes to get a plan in motion.

Mercer moved fast.

So did Cale.

“Out of...” Cassidy put a hand to her head.

“You have a choice to make.” He kept his voice steady. Kept his hand on her arm because she was weaving a bit on the bed. “Do you want to go with Mercer? He can put you on a plane and take you out of the city. You’ll be safe while the EOD hunts the people who took you.”