Page 57 of Deadly Target
“Ding, ding, ding. Give the director a gold star.”
“If you’re after me, then let Tracee go. She has nothing to do with my work.”
The man rubbed the side of his head against hers, and Tracee began crying softly. “Actually, this is about both of you. Tracee is collateral damage, true, but she brought it on herself, so you can die guilt-free about her impending death.”
Tracee made a hiccup-y scream, too soft for Leon to hear. Victor could only hope Roman was already on his way up. “Will you at least tell me who you are before you kill me? I think I deserve to know. Are you the one who shot my San Diego taskforce leader? The one who put the bomb under another agent’s car?”
Big, fat tears ran down Tracee’s cheeks. “He’s—”
Shouting came from the hallway, followed by the sound of someone kicking at the door. Ski Mask jerked Tracee backward and pointed the gun at Victor, but the distraction was enough to give him the two seconds he needed to dodge out of the way as the gun went off.
Pfft, the silencer on the end of the gun deadened the sound. A porcelain vase exploded behind Victor’s head as he dropped to the floor, using the sofa for cover.
Bam, bam, bam…the kicking continued, accompanied by more shouting. The sound of a gunshot going off on the other side made Tracee scream and then everything seemed to go in slow motion.
Anotherpfftfrom Ski Mask’s gun, the sound of a body crashing into a lamp and sending it to the floor not far from Victor’s hiding spot. As the glass shattered, he was horrified to see Tracee’s face hit the wooden floor, eyes wide but empty.
“No!”
The door exploded open, Roman running in, gun raised and ready to fire. A woman followed. Victor had seen her before—she was FBI.
“Stop! Homeland Secur—Aw…fuck!” Roman’s words were followed by a gunshot, wood splintering, and more swearing. He disappeared down the hallway, the plainclothes agent on his heels.
Staying low, Victor crawled toward Tracee. Her eyes stared at him for a second longer, then fluttered closed.
Glass crunched under his knees, the distant sensation of a jagged piece cutting through the fabric covering his left. He reached her and felt her neck for a pulse.Do not die on me!
Blood, thick and dark, pooled underneath her, and he visually searched for the wound, but she was laying on her belly and he couldn’t see it.
“Victor?” Roman returned a moment later, dialing his phone. “Are you all right?” He spoke to the operator before Victor could answer. “Get me an ambulance. Now!” He gave the address of the hotel.
Victor felt the slight pump of Tracee’s pulse under his fingers and rolled her over. The blood was extensive and soaked her shirt. He ripped it open and saw the wound at her lower left ribs. “She’s still alive, but barely. Tell me you got the bastard.”
Roman put his phone away. “Sorry, man, I missed the shot.”
Victor grabbed a pillow from the couch and put pressure on Tracee’s wound. “Is he still here?”
“Jumped off the bedroom balcony onto another one below—I would’ve fired at him, but there were people on it. He disappeared inside that suite. Nadia has gone after him. I already locked down the first floor. He won’t get out of the building.”
Victor kept pressure on the pillow and Tracee’s ribs, using his chin to point at a turquoise colored throw on the end of the couch. “Grab that. She’s lost a lot of blood. We need to keep her warm. She’ll go into shock before the ambulance arrives.”
Roman scooped it up and snapped it out to lay over her. “I tried to get here sooner, but I ran into some issues—two Suarez Kings took up residence outside the entrance right after you set foot inside. I had to take care of them before I could get up here.”
“What the hell were they doing?”
“Backing up our mystery man, I assume. I missed some of your conversation with him due to the flying bullets. Did you get any information?”
“It wasn’t so much what he said, but what she did.” He looked down at Tracee. From the street, he heard the approach of sirens. “She said, ‘this wasn’t the deal.’ What the hell does that mean?”
Roman sighed heavily. “That she was working with him to get you here?”
“Yeah, I sort of guessed that. This guy was no member of the Kings, though.”
“Mafia?”
Victor’s head felt like it was going to explode just like Tracee’s door, now barely hanging on its hinges. “He was definitely after me, and planned to kill her too. She must’ve known who he was. He could be our shooter from the park.”
“Why does he have a boner for you?”
