Page 81 of Silk Shadow

She was alive, but only because of him. Tears threatened, but she blinked them away. Right now, she didn’t care that their lives were different or that on paper it really shouldn't work. All she wanted was to be in his arms.

Biting her lip, she tried not to cry.

But she couldn’t risk his job.

Lewis came back. "The police are on their way. I didn't get a look at them, did you?"

"One driver, one shooter," said Viper, matter-of-factly. "But I couldn't see their faces. They were wearing ski masks."

How had he noticed that? She hadn’t even seen the SUV until it was right on them.

"There are security cameras outside this building," Lewis said helpfully. "The cops might be able to pick up something from that."

"Yeah, maybe. There were no plates on the vehicle."

Again, he’d noticed the finer details while she’d just cowered in the backseat.

“Only a handful of people knew you’d be here,” Viper said, thinking out loud.

“From the meeting?”

He gave a tight nod. "They were waiting for you to show up."

A sob escaped her then. She couldn’t help it; she was just so afraid. "I'm not safe anywhere. Should we go somewhere else? We could hide until this is over."

He hugged her then, enveloping her in his strong arms. “It’ll be okay. I promise. You don’t need to panic. We’ll get these guys.”

She clung to him, absorbing his steady presence, but didn’t respond. She only hoped he was right. She wasn’t sure how much more of this she could take.

After the police had cordoned off the attack area, Viper retrieved the grocery bags and handed them to Lewis, who took them up to the apartment. He looked around, taking in every detail. The spent casings on the ground were from a 5.56 NATO round, typically used in M4 carbines.

He frowned. Different cartridges to the mercenaries who’d kidnapped Izzy.

"Did you see the shooters?" asked the officer in charge, a rugged, worn-looking cop who didn’t bother to give his name.

Viper shook his head. "No, they wore masks."

"Did you get the make of the vehicle?"

"Yeah, it was a black Jeep. Couldn't tell you the model, though."

The cop scribbled in his notebook. "Thank you, sir. Since this is related to Miss Beaumont's kidnapping, a detective will be in touch in the next few hours."

Viper nodded. He knew the drill.

A silver BMW skidded to a halt outside the cordoned-off area, and Pat jumped out. "She okay?"

"Yeah, she's fine. Just a little rattled."

"Did you see anything?" Pat asked as they took the elevator up to the apartment.

Viper shook his head and told him the same thing he’d told the cop. Two men, black Jeep, no plates. Then he handed him the bullet casings. “Found these on the pavement.”

Pat stared at them. “These are new.”

“Yes, sir. They were waiting for her," he added as they got out of the elevator.

Pat huffed. "How the hell did they know she was back?"

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