Evidence of Passion (Shadow Agents 7)

Tires squealed. Doors slammed. Rachel looked over and saw what looked like a mini-army of vehicles in the harbor’s lot.

Familiar vehicles. Those black SUVs were favored by one particular D.C. group.

The EOD.

Mercer jumped from the first vehicle. Mercer?

Rachel shook her head and held tighter to Dylan.

“We’ve got an injured agent! Get him a medic now!” Mercer thundered even as he ran to the dock.

He paused for just a second next to Kenneth’s body. He bent, checked for a pulse. Disgust tightened his lips. “You got off easy,” he muttered and he left the dead man.

Two medics swarmed Dylan. They took him from Rachel and loaded him onto a stretcher.

Mercer grabbed her hand. “I heard it all, Agent Mancini.”

She shook her head. “How are you even here? The blast—”

“We were already out of the EOD when I got your call. I just didn’t have time to tell you before the whole place went to hell.” His jaw locked. “I remembered what Noelle said, about you being the thing the guy cared about the most, and he was so hell-bent on getting you out of there...”

She barely heard him. Rachel couldn’t take her eyes off Dylan and the medics. They were taking Dylan away.

“When my instincts scream at me, you can believe that I listen to them.” He moved, shifting his stance so that he blocked her view of Dylan. “My instincts about you and Agent Foxx were dead-on from the beginning.”

She could only shake her head. She didn’t even know what instincts the guy was talking about.

“I knew right from the start that Dylan Foxx would be willing to die to keep you safe.”

She spared a glance for Kenneth’s still body. And I killed for him. Her gaze went back to the person who mattered. She eased a bit to the side of Mercer so that she could clearly see Dylan.

The medics were about to take him away. “Sorry, Mercer, but he’s not leaving without me.” She raced to keep up with them as they left the dock.

Dylan was still conscious. She saw that as she neared him. He was injured so badly, but he still reached out to her.

She caught his hand. Held tight.

“This won’t...hold me back...for long...”

His words seemed to be a warning.

“When they...stitch me up...”

The medics loaded him into an ambulance.

“I get to...savor you...”

Her heart jerked in surprise. He hadn’t just said—

He had.

“Takes more than this...to stop me...”

Yes, it did. Then, right in the middle of a nightmare, Rachel found herself laughing.

She knew then—Dylan was going to be just fine.

And so was she.