Love and Let Die (Masters and Mercenaries #5)(64)

Alex had his back flat against the wall, his gun up, right beside those glass doors. He hit the lights, sending the room into darkness, taking away the sniper’s advantage. Unless he had night vision. Which he probably had if he was halfway decent. Fuck. He knew he should just wear a pair around his neck, but Grace had convinced him he would look like a douchebag. He was damn straight keeping a set in the car from now on. Everyone on the team would. He would make it a rule.

“How many?” Alex asked.

Eve moved quietly, not panicking at all, over to where Charlie huddled with her sister.

Ian stared out. “I don’t know. One, I suspect, since that was how many little red lasers got pointed at my chest. How do you feel about lasers now, Alex? You worried about kitty cats?”

“Fine.” Alex shot the word his way. “I’ll install lasers and be the mean old man at the end of the block who murders everyone’s pets. How are we getting the women out of here?”

“We kill the bad guys and then we can get the girls out.” He really wasn’t sure there was another way. Unlike the earlier attempt, this asswipe had them pretty well pinned down. If Ian was the operative, he wouldn’t give up in this case. He would move positions and wait for the target to come out of hiding. He really wasn’t sure how many of them there were. If he took them out the front, they would be easy targets if the f*cker had a partner or was a really fine sprinter.

“Call the police,” Eve said. “I’ll get to my cell.”

“No,” Ian shot back. “We call the police and she goes on their records. No police.”

“Call the police, Eve. If someone locks me up, then so be it. I’m not getting everyone else killed,” Charlie said. “The sirens should scare him away for now.”

What was she thinking? “Don’t you dare pick up that phone. She won’t just get carted off to jail. She’ll go someplace where no one will see her again. Do you understand me, Eve?”

Eve nodded and didn’t make another move for her purse.

Unfortunately, Charlie had her own purse. She reached in.

Now she decided to be self-sacrificing? “Charlotte Marie Dennis, I swear to god, I will make sure you never sit down again if you dial that phone.”

“Ian, this is serious. I can’t let other people die for me.” She started to move her finger across the screen.

Chelsea reached up, grabbed her sister’s phone, and before Charlie could stop her, lobbed it across the room.

“Damn it, Chelsea.”

But he was on Chelsea’s side this time. And he had to deal with this f*cker because Charlie was his responsibility. “Give me cover fire.”

“Ian?” Alex started. “What the f*ck are you going to do?”

He was going to do something stupid, and he didn’t have time to argue about it. The glass had shattered into neat little pieces all over Alex’s brand new floors. Ian jumped over the glass and out into the yard.

He heard Alex curse and then lay out a quick pattern of gunfire. Alex’s lot was at the end of the street in a sprawling, wealthy neighborhood. It looked like his closest neighbors were a quarter mile away, but the cops could still show if someone was awakened by gunfire.

He was so sick of this. Usually he only had to deal with one attempt on his life a day, but Charlie just had to raise the stakes. Given where he’d been standing and the trajectory of that red laser, the man had to be in the woods behind Alex’s house.

Ian ran to the left of where he suspected the shooter had been hiding.

Sure enough, he felt something ping by his shoulder, grazing him like a near miss with a lightning bolt. Awesome, now he was bleeding. His night was turning into a clusterf*ck.

He changed course, moving behind the big trees, using them as cover. He placed his back against one and focused on the sounds around him. His sight wouldn’t do him as much good as his hearing. It was a new moon, and Alex had to pick a house that didn’t have street lamps.

He stilled himself, slowing his heart rate. There was no need for adrenaline here. This wasn’t fun. This was a job, and he would do it quietly and efficiently. Silence. He heard the wind and someone breathing. His opponent wasn’t as professional as he should be. His adrenaline was up. He was dragging air in his lungs and choosing between fight and flight.

Ian could have told him the decision had been made the minute he took that shot.

The ground underneath his feet was hard, and he had no doubt that the minute he moved, something would shift. But that meant the douchebag assassin would make some noise, too.

Ian held his position, trusting Alex to keep the women safe and Charlie in line.

No sound except the idiot’s breathing, and he couldn’t pinpoint exactly where that was coming from. Behind him and to his left, he couldn’t be sure where to fire, so he held. It never paid to play a card before he knew he had the winning hand. Patience was the name of this game. The first one to move lost, and he didn’t intend to lose.

Two minutes passed, maybe three. The woods became quiet, the world narrowing to the wait for that one sound that would tell Ian where the assassin was. Patience. Patience. Patience.

A twig snapped as the man made a run for it.

Ian pivoted out, his hand coming up. His eyes had adjusted but all he needed was that one flash of white where the man’s hood had drifted back, exposing pale skin.