Page 118 of Eyes in the Shadows

“Shit. This is going to be bad. Eleanor, start slowly moving away,”Wesley instructs.

Before I can even try, the lights come on and everyone is blinded. I cover my eyes, lowering my head. Rossi staggers and throws his free arm over his face, the one holding the gun.

When the stars clear from my vision and it doesn’t hurt too much to look up, I can see that it’s the mayor, standing in the bay door, flanked by two big guys.

“Told me what?” The mayor glances at me, lifts a brow, then turns his attention to Rossi. “I didn’t want to believe it. Even when I saw your car, I thought to myself… no. No way. Not Jay Rossi. Not my business partner of five years. He couldn’t be trying to cut me out.”

“I’m not!”

“And yet, here you are. And here they are,” the mayor gestures to the crates inside the truck.

The two guys on either side of the mayor lift the big guns they’re carrying and point them directly at Rossi and McCloskey. I’m close enough to Rossi that it probably won’t take too much to shoot me, too—just a slight shifting of their aim.

Oh shit. Wesley wasn’t kidding. This is going to be bad.

I take a slow step back and whisper, “I love you, James Mackenzie.”

42

Mac

No shot I’ve ever made has been more important than this one.

Laying in the field, on my stomach, I’m transported back to a time where heat was the enemy instead of cold, and sand stuck to my face instead of whatever wet leaves are waving around in this clearcut field. Every sniper in our unit had his preferred distance for a kill shot. With a gun small enough to be mistaken for a close-range shot, mine happens to be 100 meters. It’s a good enough distance that staying low on this side of the road meant that Mayor Anderson and his goons never saw me when he rolled up to the warehouse just a minute after Rossi and Eleanor walked through the fence.

I close my eyes, center myself, focus on a deep inhale. I have one chance at this. There are too many guys, too many guns, too many factors. I have one chance, and five quick shots to make. If I don’t recover from the recoil fast enough, and they start shooting, Eleanor is very likely to catch a bullet in the crossfire. Or if I miss, and she’s standing so close to Rossi…

Nope. Not going there. I don’t miss.

The mayor is part of this. He’ll die. His guys have guns pointed way too close to my girl, so they’ll die, too. McCloskey will die for calling her a bitch. In fact, I may shoot him in the stomach so he’s in agony for a little while, too.

Rossi? He’s last. He’s going to be pissing himself in fear, then he’s going to bleed out from the blown-out hole where his dick used to be. He’s going to be fucking riddled with lead in all the peak pain places—knee caps, mid-thigh, stomach. I bet I can even get the bullet right through his femur without hitting the femoral artery, which will cause the muscles to contract and send him into a world of the worst pain a human can endure.

They’re almost squared up in my shot, but a strong gust of wind kicks up and I curse and wipe the drizzling rain from my forehead. Wind makes a huge difference in shots at a distance, and everyone’s a giant clusterfuck in there. Mayor Anderson and his two guys are silhouettes in the bright warehouse lights, and I can see straight into the back of the truck where McCloskey is elevated—he’s probably the easiest target.

“I love you, James Mackenzie.”

My heart kicks me in the ribs. Did she just…

“It was McCloskey,”Rossi accuses.“He wants Chief of Police, tried to blackmail me for it. He was probably going to try to sell our shipment right out from under—”

“What?”comes the horrified voice of McCloskey—and his face matches the tone.“I didn’t—”

The mayor calmly points the handgun he’s got at McCloskey and pulls the trigger. Eleanor’s scream fills my ears, the sound of her fear making my stomach turn over, as McCloskey staggers back into the trailer and falls to his ass, clutching the fabric that’s blooming with red on his chest.

“Shh, honey,”Anderson says to my girl.“I can see from the duct tape that you’re about as thrilled to be here as I am, but I’ll shoot you, too, if you don’t shut the fuck up.”

I grind my jaw. He won’t get the chance.

“She’s the Russian’s girlfriend,”Rossi explains.“He’s behind it all, we can use her—”

“Maybe I’m confused here—is it the Russian, or was it McCloskey?”

Rossi’s bluster is gone and now he’s just a scared, cornered deer.

“Not answering is the wrong answer, Jay,”Anderson says.“Now, the Russian will die because I don’t need theBratvain my business. But McCloskey died because he picked the wrong side. That’s you, Jay. You’re the wrong side.”

“Kevin, I wouldn’t—”

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