Just Bob (Assassins Inc. #1)(30)

“Uh, Bob, you do know that the two men outside the door are shifters, right?”

I grimaced. “Can’t you leave me with my illusions?”

“Sorry.”

I shrugged. “Don’t worry about it.”

“I just want you to be prepared in case you’ve never seen shifters before.”

While that was reasonable… “Shade’s a shifter.”

That kind of said it all.





Chapter Ten


Shade



“I just received a text from Sinclair. He says they are being held in the basement of council headquarters and that Councilman James is behind this whole damn mess.”

I glanced to the back seat through my rearview mirror. “James?”

Stone nodded as he stared down at his cell phone. “That’s what Sinclair said.”

“Does he have any proof?” Even if I believed it, without proof, I doubted anyone else would.

“The message wasn’t that big.”

Damn.

“Without proof, no one will believe us.”

“So, you believe Sinclair?”

I glanced at Stone again. “Is there a reason I shouldn’t?”

“No, not at all. That’s just a lot to take in. I wasn’t sure how you felt about it. I mean, James is our councilman. He holds a lot of weight, especially in the shifter world. Accusing him of murder is not going to be looked upon favorably.”

Very true.

“If we don’t have proof, we’ll just have to find some.”

When Stone nodded, I went back to watching the road. It wouldn’t do to be in a car accident before we arrived to rescue Bob and Sinclair. There weren’t a ton of cars on the road this far out of the city, but still. It never hurt to be careful.

“How hard do you think it’s going to be to get into the estate?” Stryker asked from the front passenger seat.

“We’ve been to the estate a hundred times,” I replied. “It shouldn’t be hard at all.”

I should have kept my mouth shut.

Ten minutes later, I crouched down behind my car and prayed none of the bullets spraying the area hit me. I couldn’t believe the guards were fucking shooting at us. The second we approached and announced who we were. We barely had time to bail out of the car before bullets rained down on us.

My car was a total write off.

Damn it.

I liked that car.

“We can’t stay pinned down like this,” Stone said. “Eventually, they’ll either call in more guys or get more firepower.”

“If I can slip into the trees, I can move around behind them,” Stryker said. “The sun has gone down far enough to hide me in the shadows.”

I shook my head. “Too dangerous.”

Stryker stared at me. His expression clearly said he thought I was insane. “We’re kind of in the danger business, Shade. This is what we do.”

I couldn’t argue with that, no matter how much I wanted to. “Just be careful.”

“Always.”

“Give us a minute to create a distraction.”

Stryker nodded before moving toward the front of the car. It was closest to the ten-foot-tall stone wall. I knew it would give him more cover as he went for the trees, which was why he was probably there. Stryker could assess the situation just as easily as I could.

I pulled my gun out of the holster on my side and then checked the magazine. Anyone who didn’t check his ammunition before shooting, was an idiot. Once I knew everything was in place, I glanced toward Stone.

When the man nodded, I stood and started shooting. I aimed just over the heads of the guards. I really didn’t want to kill anyone unless I had to. These guys were just doing their job. They didn’t deserve to die for that.

As soon as my gun was empty, I dropped back down behind the cover of the car. I quickly popped out the empty magazine and slammed in a new one. When I looked toward the front of the car, there was no sign of Stryker.

I stayed crouched down behind my car, knowing it wouldn’t be long before Stryker struck. The man was stealthy, even if he was better with a gun than he was at sneaking. He earned his name from always striking any target he aimed at.

One by one, the sounds of gunfire faded until nothing but silence remained. Taking a chance, I peeked up over the hood of the car. Stryker was there, tying the hands of each guard, none of whom were moving.

I stood, replacing my gun in the holster before heading over to Stryker. “Did you kill any of them?”

“No.” Stryker nodded toward one of the prone guards. “But he could probably use an ambulance. I broke his arm.”

Ouch.

Stryker shrugged when I glanced back at him. “He wouldn’t give up his gun.”

The guy probably deserved a raise after this.

“We’ll get him some medical attention once we find Sinclair and Bob.”

They were my first priority.

After everyone was tied up and placed in the guard shack—we didn’t want anyone to spot the bound guards if they looked toward the gate—we headed on in. I was guessing that all of the firepower had been placed at the main gates when we didn’t come across anymore guards.

“Where’s the basement?” I asked as we reached the front door.