Page 69 of The Sniper

To make sure she was still there.

Still his.

Reyna turned her head slightly, pressing her lips against the pad of his thumb.

Daniels sucked in a breath.

And then?—

The comms crackled.

“We’ve got movement!” Fitz’s voice was sharp, cutting through the moment like a blade. “Artemis is on the run!”

Daniels’s eyes snapped to the skyline. The dust had settled just enough to see the faint outline of a figure moving fast across the rooftops.

Artemis.

She was getting away.

Daniels muttered a curse under his breath and pushed off Reyna, dragging her up with him.

“You good to move?” he asked, already checking the magazine in his sidearm.

Reyna rolled her shoulder, ignoring the sharp protest from her ribs. “I’m good.”

He shot her a look that said he didn’t believe her, but there wasn’t time to argue.

Artemis was running.

And this time? They weren’t letting her get away.

Daniels touched his earpiece. “Mitch, Fitz—cut off her exit.”

“Already moving,” Mitch confirmed.

Daniels grabbed Reyna’s wrist, holding her steady for just a second longer. His grip was tight, grounding.

Then he released her, helping her to her feet as they raced across the rooftops after their quarry.

The hunt wasn’t over; it was just getting started.

Daniels barely felt the burn in his lungs as he ran.

His world narrowed to the figure ahead—Artemis, bleeding, staggering, but still standing. Still holding the detonator.

She was waiting for them.

The rooftop stretched out under the night sky, the city humming far below, oblivious to the war being waged above it. Not completely oblivious—they could hear sirens in the distance. Wind rushed past, kicking up dust and debris from the last explosion. The entire structure groaned under the damage, unstable, fragile.

And yet, Artemis stood there like a queen at the end of a ruined empire.

Her dark hair was tangled, face smeared with blood and soot, but her eyes—those sharp, vengeful eyes—held steady.

“Daniels,” she breathed, lips curling into something too bitter to be a smile. “Took you long enough.”

Daniels slowed, stepping into the light of the broken floodlamp. Reyna was at his back, moving just as carefully, the barrel of her pistol steady. Fitz and Mitch flanked them, securing their exits.

“Drop the detonator,” Daniels ordered, his voice cold, lethal. “It’s over.”

---