His shoulder burned. Warmth soaked down his sleeve.
Tessa.
Inside.
Don’t let this be the end.
Not like this.
Not before he told her.
Not before she knew.
The dark closed in.
Special Agent Tessa Quinn
She saw it the instant the light changed.
The skylight flared bright.
And in that white glare?—
Scout.
His silhouette.
Her heart stopped.
“Scout—”
The rifle cracked.
His body jerked.
Glass exploded downward in a violent rain of shards.
Then he was gone.
“No!”
She moved on instinct.
She flipped the desk.
She dropped behind it as glass knifed through the air. Cold, dusty air poured in through the broken skylight. The typewriter crashed. The violet pottery shattered.
Her ears rang.
No second shot.
No footsteps.
No sirens.
Had he come alone?
God, please don’t let him have come alone.
