Page 11 of Exposé

I picked up my pace, but my stride couldn't match his.

Fifty feet.

Thirty feet.

I stopped, plucked out my pistol, and aimed.

His hands reached out for the door, and I fired, sending him ass over end into the wall.

"Ahhhh."

His cries sent the birds soaring through the air in a scared black cloud as I inched towards him, my pistol aimed at his forehead. "Stay down. Or I'll put you down for good."

Manuel clutched his leg, the bullet skimming his flesh enough to fell him like timber.

Thank you, live target training.

"You're an idiot. You know that?"

He groaned and rocked on the ground, his black hoodie tainted in chalky dust. "I wasn't going to do anything with it. I just wanted assurances." He hissed through his teeth, his face scrunched in pain. "Ahhh."

"Stop crying like a baby. I barely nicked you." I stood over him, my hands firm around the pistol grip. "Assurances for what?"

"It burns, man." He glanced down at the wound, his hand tinged red.

How many orders did I violate?

Laughing, I tucked my pistol back into my holster, then kneeled beside him. "I've been shot worse and I didn't cry as much as you. Come on. Get up."

"I don't think I can walk."

I scraped a hand down my sweaty face. "Manuel, if I have to fireman carry you to my car, I'll put you in the trunk."

"What if I die back there? I could bleed out."

"God, you're as dramatic as a teenage girl." I stood, bent over, and hoisted him up by the straps of his backpack, his cries booming across the empty warehouse.

"What assurances were you hoping to gain by carrying around the list, Manuel?"

"Leverage." He hobbled as I shoved him through the exit door. "I want to be left alone."

"You thought carrying that dossier capable of burning every field agent in the vicinity would be your safeguard?" I chuckled, my fist tight against his shoulder as I relieved him of the backpack. "You really are a moron."

Dropping his backpack, I grabbed his wrist and wrenched it behind his back, securing him with thick plastic ties.

"I didn't know what else to do."

"How about not stealing classified information and feeding it to foreign dignitaries?"

"I thought she loved me."

I picked his backpack up and pushed him forward, keeping an eye on the deserted streets as we walked towards my vehicle. "That's what they all say." Manuel hobbled, his backpack flung over my shoulder, my hand gripping his thumbs—the easiest way to control a man. "News flash…they never do."

He groaned. "Speaking from personal experience?"

"Your IQ keeps dropping the more you speak."As if I'd give him personal information."You have no filter. How did you get a clearance, anyway?"

"It wasn't hard."

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