Evidence of Passion (Shadow Agents 7)

The sunlight fell on him, showing that it wasn’t just water that soaked him. It was blood. “No.” She put her hands on him and tried to apply pressure to the wound. “Noelle, help me!”

The profiler ran toward her. Rachel heard the other woman, talking on her phone, demanding help.

But who would come? The EOD was gone.

“Don’t do this to me, Dylan,” Rachel begged him. Her gun was on the dock, near her knees. Her hands were hard on his wounds. “You stay with me, you got that? You stay with me.”

His eyelids flickered. She saw the darkness of his gaze for a moment. It fixed on her.

“Love...” he rasped.

“I love you,” Rachel told him, leaning close, desperate now. “And you’re going to be with me for fifty more years, got it? This isn’t the end. You’re a SEAL. SEALs are tough—”

His breath heaved out.

Noelle’s hands joined Rachel’s. They both put pressure on the wound. “The bullet tore right through him,” Noelle said, voice ragged.

Rachel felt as if the bullet had torn through her. “You’re the good guy,” she said to Dylan, remembering their first meeting. “You promised to keep me safe. Keep that promise. You have to stay with me. That’s the only way. You have to make sure that I’m safe—”

Because without him, Rachel thought she’d be lost.

His eyes tried to focus on her. “Safe...”

She nodded, too aware that tears were sliding down her cheeks.

“Hate...when you...cry...” he whispered.

“Dylan—”

His eyes widened. He was looking right over her shoulder. With a sudden strength that stunned her, Dylan pushed Rachel and Noelle back. She followed his gaze and saw that—

Kenneth stood on the dock, dripping water. His lip was bleeding, and a snarl twisted his mouth. His eyes were on Dylan. “I’ll finish you!”

Kenneth leaped forward.

Dylan staggered to his knees. He was trying to shove Rachel behind him as he still attempted to protect her.

Only it was her turn to protect him.

She lifted her gun. Aimed.

Fired.

Kenneth stared at her with wide, stunned eyes. He glanced down. “Such...fighter...” His legs buckled.

Then his face slammed into the dock.

Rachel wrapped her arms around Dylan. “Now it’s over.”

Sirens screamed in the night.

Dylan shuddered against her.

“Hold on just a little longer,” she told him. “Please...”

His hand l

ifted. Found hers. He had to be in agony but he said, “For you...always...”