The Girl Next Door (Shadow Agents 6)

He glanced up at her apartment on the top floor—the one on the far left end. All of her lights were off.

His back teeth ground together. “If you’ve hurt her...”

You’re a dead man.

He wasn’t scared of Thomas Anthony. No matter what stories circulated about the so-called Dragon, Dylan didn’t care. He’d take the man down in an instant.

And if Thomas had hurt Rachel...I’ll tear him apart.

“We’re going upstairs,” Dylan snapped. He’d see for himself that Rachel was fine.

Thomas turned around and headed toward the building. Dylan kept his gun at the man’s back. They knew the rogue was EOD, and Thomas—an EOD agent with a shady past—happened to be at Rachel’s place? To warn her? No way was he buying that story.

“I just left her,” Thomas said. “She was very much alive, I assure you.”

They climbed the stairs. No one else stirred in the apartment building.

Dylan’s hands were sweating. He’d been in every hellhole on earth during his time as a SEAL, and he’d been coolly calm during every single mission. Yet as he hurried toward Rachel’s apartment, his stomach knotted and fear thickened his blood.

A few more steps and they were at her apartment. He pounded on the door.

No sound emerged from inside Rachel’s home.

He reached for the knob. Locked.

“Rachel!” He called out her name. Her neighbors could just get angry with him for yelling. He had to see her. “Open the door!”

But there was still no response.

“Something’s wrong,” Thomas said. Fear flashed across his face. “She came to the door within minutes when I was here before.”

Dylan lifted his foot and kicked that door in.

He ran inside. “Rachel!”

A faint moan reached his ears.

He tore through the house, flying to her bedroom. It was pitch-black in there. He hit the light switch.

Dylan saw her crumpled on the floor. Blood was all around her. She was so still. So still.

“No!” The roar burst from him, and, in the next instant, he was on his knees beside her. With shaking hands he turned Rachel over. Her dark hair fell over his arm.

Blood.

“She fought him,” Thomas muttered from behind Dylan. “Not like the others. She had a chance to fight for her life.”

There were stab wounds on her chest, defensive wounds on her arms. And Dylan was afraid that she would die in his arms.

He yanked up his weapon, but didn’t let her go. “You did this,” he said as he took aim at the Dragon.

Thomas had his hands in front of him. No weapon, but that didn’t mean the guy wasn’t carrying a bloody knife. “It wasn’t me, I swear! I came to warn her, just like I said before.” He inched forward. “Let me help her. She helped me once, saved my life...”

“Take another step, and you’ll have a bullet in your brain.”

Rachel’s blood was on his hands. Rachel was dying in his arms.

“I didn’t do this,” Thomas told him. “The apartment was locked from the inside.”