The Girl Next Door (Shadow Agents 6)

She didn’t have a weapon. His gun was jamming into her temple.

This was it, then.

Cooper was too badly hurt to help her. She didn’t even think he was conscious.

She’d attack Deuce. She would fight—she would try. And if she failed, she’d die.

Her fingers squeezed Cooper’s.

He didn’t squeeze hers back, but his chest rose and fell. Cooper was still alive.

I’ll keep him that way.

“It’s over for you, Deuce,” she said, speaking quickly. Distraction would be the key here. “Rachel survived your attack. She’s at the hospital, and she’s going to tell everyone that you were the one hurting her—”

Cooper’s phone rang again.

Gabrielle flinched.

Luckily, Deuce didn’t. If he had, his trigger finger might have squeezed and she could have died right then.

“Th-that could be Dylan. He was at the hospital with her. I bet they already know you’re the D.C. Striker.”

“Doesn’t matter,” he told her, sounding too confident and not at all distracted. “You think I don’t know how to vanish? I’ll just reappear in another city, with another face, another name, and I’ll keep hunting. I won’t stop until I destroy the EOD agents. The EOD took away Vivian, and I’ll make Mercer and his attack dogs pay.”

Distract. Distract. “No one under

stands why you’re doing this—the public just thinks you’re a serial killer.”

He grunted at that.

She licked her lips. “I can help you to make them all understand.”

The pressure of the gun’s barrel eased. “That’s what you were supposed to do.”

Keep him talking. “It’s what I will do. L-let me get to a computer. I can write your story. I can publish it. I can make everyone understand about the EOD and what they cost you.” If he’d just back away from Cooper, then she’d be able to breathe easier.

Getting him away from Cooper was priority one. Getting that gun away from her head? A definite priority number two for her.

“Yeah, yeah, they need to know,” Deuce muttered. His eyes had narrowed to slits. “We’re gonna tell them.” He grabbed her arm and yanked her to her feet.

Then he drew back his foot and kicked Cooper as hard as he could, right in the wound on Cooper’s side.

“No!” Gabrielle screamed.

Cooper didn’t move.

“He’s already dead,” Deuce said and there was satisfaction on his face. “His heart just doesn’t know it yet. A few more pumps, and he’s gone.” Then, seemingly certain that Cooper wasn’t going to trouble him, he started pulling Gabrielle toward Cooper’s computer.

The gun wasn’t at her head.

And Cooper wasn’t already dead.

His phone stopped ringing.

“Come on,” Deuce demanded as he yanked harder on her arm. “It’s time for the world to know—”

The front door smashed in.