Page 127 of Silent Target

The vehicle strikes the closed steel barrier at the entrance to the right tunnel.

Metal screams.

The corroded gate tears free and collapses beneath us.

Cobra looks delighted. “That was almost as good as explosives.”

Falcon sinks against the rear railing, one hand clamped over his arm.

Blood runs between his fingers.

Evie reaches him before the vehicle stops swaying.

“Let me see.”

“It’s a scratch.”

She cuts through his sleeve with a trauma knife.

The round passed cleanly through the outer part of his upper arm. Blood pulses steadily from the wound, bright against the black fabric.

Evie’s mouth tightens.

“No, it isn’t.”

“I was trying to sound brave.”

“You can sound brave after I stop the bleeding.”

She presses gauze into the wound.

Falcon’s face loses color, but he doesn’t pull away.

“Can you move your fingers?”

He flexes them.

“Your thumb?”

He obeys.

“Good. Hold this.”

Shark takes over the pressure while Evie wraps the compression bandage.

I watch her hands.

Steady.

Quick.

No wasted movement.

The vehicle rattles deeper into the darkness.

Evie finishes the bandage and meets Falcon’s eyes.

“You got lucky.”