Page 60 of Liam
Shit!
He ran desperate fingers through his hair as police sirens wailed behind him. Then Officer Carlson was there. He’d just exited his vehicle when the radio on his uniform squawked.
“We have reports of a shooter in the Pandemonium Shoe Store on Wight Street.”
Liam was moving before the radio call finished, ignoring Carlson’s shouts behind him. He pushed his body to move faster than it had ever moved before, feet pounding pavement, arms pumping.
He hit the street, his gaze whipping to the shoe store. To the shattered glass and open door.
He lunged inside. A woman peeked out from behind a desk, phone to her ear.
Sounds from the far aisle pulled him to the right. The thumping of two hearts. The rustle and thud of fighting. He grabbed his Glock from the holster and ran toward the sounds.
When he saw the man on top of Nylah, rage shot through his body like a whip.
He fired, hitting the asshole in the shoulder.
The guy dropped, but before his weight could fall onto Nylah, Liam was already there, grabbing and wrenching him away.
Nylah started coughing and grabbing at her throat. The air whooshed out of Liam. She was okay. Thank God!
Liam dropped on top of the attacker, shoving the man to the floor while pressing the muzzle of the Glock to his head.
He recognized the guy immediately. Miles fucking Paston, the man they’d been hunting.
“Why is she a target?” Liam shouted, every word so loud, they echoed off the walls of the small shop.
“Get off me!” he growled.
Not a fucking chance.
Liam lowered his head, his voice now deadly quiet. “If you don’t talk, you’re useless to me and I end you. And trust me, it’s taking everything in me not to do that already. One more chance.”
The air moving in and out of the guy’s chest was loud, a mix of anger and pain swirling through his dark eyes. “I don’t know. The orders were emailed by Hawk. I was told she was a threat to our objective and needed to be eliminated.”
A threat to their objective? How, exactly? He needed more. “That’s all you know?”
“Yes.”
At the ring of truth in his voice, Liam’s chest constricted, frustration brimming that this asshole couldn’t be more useful.
He pressed the pistol harder to his skull. “What doyouget out of this?”
The guy laughed. “Not money, if that’s what you’re thinking.”
“Then what?” Liam growled.
“I get to save our nation fromyouand your fucking friends. People may not understand the threat you pose, but those of us who are trained in combat do. We understandexactlyhow dangerous it is for you assholes to remain alive when you have a background in special forces and so much fucking power.”
The door to the shop opened, and three police officers rushed in at the same time as Nylah’s head dropped to the floor with a thud.
Fuck!
The officers took Miles while Liam went to Nylah. “Nylah? Baby? Talk to me!”
She couldn’t. She was unconscious.
Real fear sliced through his limbs, making the world darken around him. The only thing that kept him calm was the thudding of her heart.
