Page 6 of Shadow of the Moon

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Dev broke into a jog, running along the roofline as he shadowed Amberly’s progress.

Looking ahead, he tried to find an easy way down, because there was one more shooter he needed to get rid of. The Gods must have heard him, because within moments he found a wrought iron fire escape. He pounded down the landings, jumping when he could, until his left knee began to protest. It had been a while since he’d used it this hard. Yeah, he went jogging to maintain and he worked out, but combat situations tested you differently.

And he thought he’d been done with combat situations. He was no slouch, by any means, but he definitely wasn’t in top fighting form. At his age, he didn’t think he needed to be.

Amberly’s life was in danger, though, and he would save her.

Scanning the area, he took off in the direction he’d last seen her running. Then he spotted the blood. It was in a long scrape, and bright red. It was obvious she’d bounced against the wall. It gave him a definite direction of travel, though. She was heading toward the L. Good girl.

The distinctive sound of the elevated train was straight ahead. Dev wasn’t sure which line it was, but it didn’t matter. It would get her out of the proximity of danger, and she could recoup her losses.

As he jogged along, he tried to imagine what it would be like to look into her silvery eyes again. It had been a long time.

Up ahead, there was a flash of movement. Picking up his speed, he headed for it. Dodging puddles of unknown substances, he did his damnedest to catch up with Amberly, but she was literally running for her life. And she’d always been faster than him. He could do longer distances, but in shorter bursts, she had the advantage.

Then the movement stopped. Dev glanced around, but he continued to move forward. Had she ducked into a hole or open door somewhere?

A garbage truck rumbled into the alley behind him, and he glanced back at it. When he looked back, Amberly stood less than fifteen feet away, the barrel of her gun pointed steadily in his direction.

Fuck.

He watched the emotions cross her face and felt like shit. Obviously, she thought he’d come after her. “Amberly,” he said softly, refusing to raise his own weapon against his wife. Paperwork or not, he still considered her his wife. “I’m not here for you. I’m tracking who shot you.”

She blinked, her pale eyes going hard. Her arms didn’t waver in her stance, and he knew how much pain that had to cause. Fresh blood dripped from her left arm through the jacket.

“Right. Do you seriously expect me to believe that? I’m sure you were just waiting for a chance…”

Movement flickered beyond her, and Dev knew he was about to die, but… Raising his own rifle, without even lining up the scope, he fired over Amberly’s shoulder, taking out the second man with a shot through the heart. He waited, breath held, for her to shoot him, but there was no sudden, sharp, burning pain. Instead, she turned to look behind. When she saw the man on the dirty alley pavement, her entire body sagged. Then she spun to look at him again.

Lowering his rifle, Dev moved to go through the man’s pockets he’d just killed, and he found a wallet almost immediately. When he flipped it open and saw the CIA badge, he wasn’t surprised. Amberly gasped, though, a sound she very rarely made.

“What?” she asked, faintly. “They were CIA. Were they after you?”

Dev gave her an incredulous look as he took out his cell phone and took a picture of the man, as well as the ID. “You know they weren’t, babe. They were after you.”

Dev twisted the barrel of his rifle, removing it from the receiver. Swinging his backpack down off his shoulders, he pulled out a hard metal case and fit the separate pieces down into the shaped foam. Close quarters like this required a smaller weapon. He snapped the lid closed, then fit the hard case into the backpack. His Beretta was in a shoulder holster, but he left it concealed under his jacket. Amberly was already spooked and he didn’t want to spook her any further.

“Come on,” he said, walking forward with his hand out. “Let’s get out of here before someone realizes that was a gunshot and not the garbage truck making noise.”

Her pale eyes flickered, and she nodded. She didn’t reach for his hand, though. Turning her back on him, she continued toward the elevated train. It shouldn’t have stung, but it did.

Then Dev grinned. Yes, her pale gray eyes were as hard and calculating as he remembered. But that haircut… it was damn sexy. He’d never seen her in short hair like that, with one long wing hanging down across her face. Edgy. Made her look badass. And sexy.

They slid through the doors just in time, and Dev followed her as she headed toward the back of the car, guarding her hurt arm. The elevated cars were mostly glass, so there were no real hiding places. And they were moderately crowded, so they had to make do with what was left. The two of them garnered a few looks, but most of the watchers knew better than to dig into anyone else’s business.

When Amberly chose a seat, he squeezed in beside her. “Are you okay?”

She glanced at him from beneath her lashes. “I’m fine,” she snapped. “What the fuck are you doing here, Devlin?”

Scanning the car, he leaned into her shoulder. “I got a call to come to save you.”

She looked at him incredulously, her eyes narrowed with pain. “Right. No one knows I’m here.”

Dev looked at her askance. “Really?”

The meaning was clear. He was here, so someone knew she was here…

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