Page 44 of Lone Star Target

He went back to the mezzanine, which gave him a good view of both halls, both sets of stairs, and the entrance below. Jace frowned though when someone pushed through the crowd. A man who’d kept his head down but immediately donned a ski mask before Jace could see his face.

The man also donned two handguns that he’d had tucked beneath a long coat.

The guy immediately started shooting, sending a spray of gunfire all around the entry. People screamed. Ran. And tried to scramble out of the path of those bullets.

A woman didn’t make it though.

He shot her and sent her sprawling.

“Run!” Jace shouted to the handful of people who seemed frozen with shock.

That got the gunman’s attention, and the man looked up. He didn’t waste a second taking aim and sending some rounds of gunfire Jace’s way.

Jace had no choice but to dive to the floor.

He could no longer see the shooter, but he sure as hell could hear him. The SOB was firing into the ceiling now, and the bullets were tearing through the floor of the hall.

Hell.

The hall outside the witness waiting room.

Jace whipped out his phone to call Angel, and he cursed again when he saw he had no bars. Shit. The gunman must have managed to jam the signal.

The gunshots just kept coming, deadly projectiles that sent splinters and chunks of the floor everywhere. Jace glanced up the hall when some motion caught his eye.

Kit.

She had opened the door and was peering out.

He motioned for her to go back in though Jace couldn’t swear that was the safe thing to do. There were no absolute safe places now, so his best bet was to get to her. He didn’t want her on this mezzanine floor where she’d be a visible target. Right now, the gunman was just sending up blind shots, and while that was plenty dangerous enough, Jace didn’t want this asshole to see her.

Because Kit was the target.

He’d had known that from the sound of the first gunshot.

He levered himself up enough to look below. There was no sign of the gunman, just the dead woman. And maybe a blocked front door since no one was rushing in. But the shots were continuing, sprays of gunfire that were certainly hurting and killing people.

Jace heard a woman cry out in pain, and he scrambled across the floor to head down the hall.

Then, he heard the footsteps.

And he realized the gunman was on the second floor. He was right here. He was coming for Kit.

That meant a change of plans. Jace didn’t go to Kit after all but instead took up position by the mezzanine wall. At least the guy had stopped shooting. For now, anyway. Jace had no doubts, none, that the gunfire would resume if the shooter reached the witness room.

Jace couldn’t let him get there.

So, he waited, listening to those damn footsteps. Waiting for a killer to come into his line of sight.

The seconds crawled by, but the guy finally reached the mezzanine, and Jace struck out. He rammed into the shooter, sending both of them to the floor. Too bad the asshole managed to hold onto his gun. Especially this gun since it had a too quick trigger and the gunfire could spray everywhere.

Including through the wall where Kit was.

For now though, the shooter used it like a billy club. He held on and swung the barrel of it at Jace. It slammed into his jaw. Damn hard. But Jace fought back.

Had to.

The stakes were sky-high now.

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