Will tipped his head back and forth as though weighing her words. “That’s debatable, actually. There’s this thing called National Security. And until we have the shooter identified and in custody, we need that video to remain confidential. Honestly, I’m not sure they’ll let you sell it, even after we catch the guy, but that’s beyond my pay grade.”
Hannah felt her golden ticket slipping away. “Then go catch him. You said he’s right there, right?”
Will nodded slowly. “Yeah. He is. And my team is waiting to make a move on my go ahead. But what I need is for you to give me your video and promise you’ll stay right here until we get him. For right now, my team is only three guys, including me. Which means I can’t be in here babysitting you while we grab him.”
Hannah’s irritation rose at every comment. “I’m not a child, Rambo. I can take care of myself.”
His expression grew serious. “Ms. Byers, I don’t doubt that you are capable and strong in your own right. The fact that you kept your senses about you during the attack is frankly impressive for a civilian. But right now, there is a trained assassin with one goal in mind: Eliminate you and disappear.”
She swallowed as the fear momentarily stole her breath. He leaned in closer, and Hannah felt her heart flutter at the intensity of his words. A bit of the fear, but also… something else. This man wasn’t one to be trifled with, but he wasn’t cruel. She recognized cruelty when she saw it. No, she wasn’t afraid of him. The intensity in his steely eyes was drawing her in, and she was desperate to know more about him.
But she needed to sell this video.
He kept talking. “I understand that this is your opportunity to get out of that shabby apartment. But your life is at stake. I have one goal in mind also: I’m going to catch the man that fired on our president in a cowardly act of terrorism and bring him to justice. I’ve been trained specifically for situations like this, and I will do everything in my power to protect you.”
Her heart kicked up a notch at his promise of protection. She’d been protecting herself for a decade. Not from snipers though.
“I need you to trust me,” he said firmly.
Hannah hated to admit it, but from the sound of it, she didn’t have another option.
CHAPTER
TWO
Will studied Melanie’s expression carefully as she reacted to his words. He saw the moment her denial turned to resignation. He couldn’t fault her for pushing back. In fact, it said a lot about her character. She wasn’t some beaten-down, helpless waif, despite the crappy apartment. She had moxie, that was for sure.
His pulse had raced at the fire flashing in her eyes when he laid out her options—or lack thereof. He wanted to protect her.
But she clearly didn’t want to be protected.
That didn’t mean she wasn’t way out of her league here. He couldn’t forget that Melanie Byers was just an innocent bystander, caught in the crossfire of a conflict that was far bigger than her.
Kind of like Amira, making the best of a terrible situation.
He shook his head to clear the memories, glancing around the busy coffee shop. Melanie wasn’t Amira.
And this certainly wasn’t Kabul.
The updates from his team had been coming in through his earpiece during his entire conversation with the witness. When Stephen had spotted the sniper on the satellite from his post in Virginia, Will had breathed a sigh of relief. They could prevent her from coming out of the restaurant until they had him apprehended.
“We’re in position,” Pierce said in a low tone.
“I’m going to go back outside,” Will said to Melanie. “Do not move until we come back for you. Do you understand?”
He needed her to acknowledge her orders. He stared at her until she nodded, her wide eyes blinking once. She was stunning, with delicate features and skin so smooth he thought it might break if he touched it, like his sister’s porcelain doll.
The poor woman was in so far over her head, she’d be lucky to find the surface again. He couldn’t stop comparing the woman in front of him to the photos he’d seen of her when she was younger. What had changed? How had she ended up here, selling the video of an assassination?
But this was no time for curiosities. There was no time to be distracted by this undeniable attraction.
He rapped a knuckle on the table. “All right then. I’ll be right back, and we’ll wrap this whole mission up and get you back to your normal life, Ms. Byers.”
A strange expression crossed her face, but Will shrugged it off. Probably just her reaction to being reminded of the rundown apartment and car that was her normal life.
He spoke to the rest of the team as he left her table. “I’m on my way out. Is he still across the street?”
“Affirmative. Target hasn’t moved.” Pierce was watching the drone video feed from a portable screen while he watched the back entrance.
Will checked his watch. The meeting had been scheduled for twenty minutes ago. He was worried the shooter was going to get impatient. Frankly, they were lucky the guy hadn’t decided to take Melanie out on her way into the Screaming Peach.
“Ready to breach the roof,” Tank’s gruff voice came through the earpiece. “On your go.”
“Give me ten seconds to secure the front entrance. Pierce, what do you see?”
“Eagle shows shooter still prone on the northwest corner of the roof.”
Will jogged casually across the street. There was no traffic to speak of. “Almost there.”
“Will,” Joey’s voice cut in. “Local police are inbound responding to a report of a sniper on the roof.”
“Time’s up. Move,” he commanded his team.
“Moving,” he heard Tank confirm. “Get your hands up! Drop the weapon.”
Tank yelled at the shooter and Will imagined what would be happening.
Instead, Tank’s urgent yells came over the comms. “It’s a decoy. Repeat. Sniper is a decoy. No target. Repeat. No target!”
Son of a–
Will ran back across the street, desperate to lay eyes on Melanie. He wrenched the door open and saw her walking toward him with a hesitant smile on her face. Relief flooded him.
Until the ground shook and a flash of light behind her made his heart stop.
A wave of heat pressed into him, pushing him back as the glass exploded in the windows beside him. He forced his eyes open, searching in the dust and smoke for Melanie, finding nothing in the place she’d been moments before.
“Melanie!”
He was yelling but couldn’t hear anything. A few people ran past him toward the street, but he fought his way forward until he found his target. Nothing mattered but getting her out.
Whatever the shooter had planned, clearly Will had underestimated him.
As the dust settled, a flash of red near the ground caught his eye. Her scarf.
He reached down, pushing aside pieces of tables and ceiling tiles. Easier to dig through than the fallen stones last time he pulled a woman from the wreckage. Still, his skin caught on jagged metal, and his eyes stung in the dusty air.
He scooped Melanie into his arms then ran out of the building. She was breathing, he could tell that much. If his team was talking to him, he couldn’t hear it. Either the comms were shot or he was temporarily deaf from the blast. Maybe both.