Page 68 of Critical Witness

The corner of Tank’s mouth slid up in the smallest one-sided smile and he nodded his head. “Only whispers.”

“I heard they let the inmates have fifteen minutes of sunlight a day,” Will said, watching Yuri’s face pale.

The assassin’s face morphed from dread to pain to horror as his body jerked against Will’s arm.

Will registered the crack of the gunshot. The blood began to seep from Yuri’s chest from the sudden hole directly over his heart.

Will’s eyes swung around wildly. Everything seemed to slow down. In a heartbeat, he saw Pierce tuck Hannah under his body and take cover behind the stairs they’d just walked down. Ryder was with them as well. His heart unclenched slightly, knowing that she hadn’t been hit.

Without instruction needed, Tank took Yuri and easily pulled him toward the safety of the cars. Will was scanning for the shooter, gun drawn. As though his little handgun was going to be a fair fight against a long-range weapon.

The airstrip was surrounded by trees, and he had no way of knowing where the shot came from. He crouched and ran, trying to make himself a smaller target. When he reached the SUV, he backed against it, breaths coming hard and fast—whether from the adrenaline or the jog, he couldn’t be sure. Jackson was in a similar position, taking cover behind the other SUV.

But no shots came. There was nothing but silence but for the sound of a dying man behind him.

How did this happen? Landing at this airport was an unplanned change. There should have been no way that anyone could know that they would be here.

“What’s the plan?” Tank asked, his voice low, with only a hint of the fatigue and frustration coloring his normal growl.

Will turned, placing his fingers on Kuznetsov’s neck. No pulse.

It was becoming pretty clear that the Syndicate had decided that Darkshade had served his purpose and concluded he was a liability.

Will wanted to slam a fist into the shiny black SUV, but he knew the reinforced steel would win that fight every time. His eyes went back to Hannah, huddled behind the stairs of the jet. Were they waiting for their next target? Or was Hannah even on their radar as a bigger threat?

“We have to get Hannah to BTS,” he said firmly. After a quick mental rundown of his options, Will told Tank to drive after they checked the vehicle for explosives. He put Yuri’s body in the back of the SUV. To Jackson, he pointed at the other SUV. “Get in. Follow us.”

“Go get Hannah,” he instructed Tank. He jogged beside the vehicle as Tank circled around and drove the two hundred feet to the jet stairs and a terrified Hannah.

The instant it was safe, with the armored SUV between them and the direction of the shooter, he jogged over to Hannah, wrapping her in his arms for a too-brief moment before pulling back to see her more clearly.

“Are you all right?” He studied her face for any sign of pain or fear. The idea of this woman being hurt gutted him. He’d just had a man killed while he held his arm, but all of his concern was for her. He knew he would never rest until she was safe.

She nodded. “I’m fine,” she said, clutching his arm. “What happened?”

Will’s eyes flicked to the rear of the SUV, where he knew Yuri’s body lay, unmoving.

“We’ll talk once you’re safe,” he said.

Her eyes flashed with something, perhaps fear, but she nodded. “Let’s go.”

Ryder met his eyes. “Want to go look for them?”

Will shook his head once. If they were still there, the shooter would have a huge advantage. If they were gone, then they were long gone and their team wouldn’t find anything. It was lose-lose. And Will hated to lose.

He covered her as they walked to the SUV with Jackson–the one that didn’t include a dead assassin. The ride to BTS would be long enough without the evidence of his failure laying cold, two feet away.

CHAPTERTHIRTY-SIX

Hannah never let goof Will’s arm the entire thirty-minute drive to Black Tower Headquarters. Whatever had happened at the airfield didn’t seem to be following them to the highways they traveled. Jackson calmly signaled and changed lanes as he exited the interstate and turned onto a side road.

Will, despite being next to her in the vehicle, was a million miles away. His hand was tight on his gun and his eyes constantly scanned behind and beside them.

She’d seen Yuri get hit and slump to the ground. Truly, she didn’t know what that meant for them. It was obvious Will didn’t feel like the danger had passed. But if they’d wanted to take out this team, they’d had every opportunity at the airport, right?

Even she knew enough to recognize that they’d been mostly exposed. But the gunman had fired a single shot, taken out Yuri, and called it quits. It turned out the assassin had been right when he said Saltykova wouldn’t let him live to tell any tales.

Hannah just wished she could help find the answers they weren’t going to get from him.

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