Page 5 of Declan

Five minutes later we were at her hotel. I’d already been there, checked out the place, and broken into her room. One of the many reasons she wouldn’t be staying here. Three flights of stairs later, we stood in front of her door.

That’s when I noticed the tremor in her hand as she tried to put her key in the shitty lock.

“Babe?”

“Something feels off.”

“Step away from the door.”

Autumn craned her neck. Her eyes came to mine, her green irises a shade darker than her sister, Emerson’s.

“You think…” she whispered.

I didn’t get a chance to explain that we were leaving and there was nothing of value in that room because I’d already snagged her backpack when I’d searched it. I also didn’t get to tell her she’d picked the wrong fucking hotel before the explosion.

I barely got my arms around Autumn before the concussion of the bomb took us off our feet. I twisted, taking the brunt of the fall, then wasted no time getting us back to our feet.

“SITREP,” Thad barked in my ear.

“We’re hitting the back stairs.”

“ETA three minutes.”

“We might not be here in three minutes,” I returned and looked over at Autumn.

Gun out, eyes active, alert, and ready.

Jesus.

Pure Autumn.

I’d never met a woman like her. Not in the Marines, not in the CIA, and certainly not on the battlefield. That was saying something because I’d worked beside Jasmin Parker a time or two and she was one capable bitch. Not woman, not chick, not female—bitch. She’d proudly earned that title and the respect of every man who got to work beside her.

But Autumn? Autumn was a lone wolf on the hunt. She didn’t have the Army training Jasmin had. She didn’t have Red Team at her back. She was truly impressive. Something I knew not only because the three-inch file I had on her told me so, but because I’d seen it firsthand. When she found her prey, she didn’t leave them breathing.

She believed in her own brand of justice—swift and deadly.

My kinda justice.

“Go.” I jerked my head and surprisingly she went.

Not something that Autumn did. she didn’t take orders kindly, which meant she rarely followed them. Good to know after the hotel room was firebombed she could be a good listener.

Autumn got to the end of the hall, tucked her elbows close to her body. With short choppy steps, she cleared the corner. Fast, efficient, and tactically sound.

Impressive, but not surprising she’d known not to simply run around the bend into unknown danger.

The open stairwell was just ahead when a door opened. I quickly stepped into the doorway. The muzzle of my Sig pressed against a man’s chest. “Stay inside.”

The man nodded and slowly backed away. A quarter of a second later, I had the door shut.

Autumn had already disappeared down the stairs.

Yeah, we were having a serious fucking discussion about teamwork. I rounded the first set of stairs, finally caught sight of Autumn on the second set. She was taking them two at a time while keeping her back to the wall, weapon at the ready.

That’s when the first gunshot rang out. It was also the first time I’d ever felt a twinge of fear in an operational setting. Not once in all my years in the military had I allowed anxiety to creep in. Men died when focus was lost.

Autumn was on her ass, knees bent, cocked open, and she was returning fire from her position. I jumped down the last four treads and landed in front of her.