Page 22 of Silent Target

Then a rifle fires from across the street.

One shot.

A second answers from the neighboring rooftop.

A third comes from the alley.

I press Evie lower as bullets tear through the walls.

They didn’t simply find the safehouse.

They surrounded it.

5

CALEB

The explosion hits like a freight train.

The front wall disappears in a roar of fire, shattered brick, and splintered wood. Glass rains across the kitchen. The force slams into my back, but I keep my body over Evie as pieces of the ceiling crash around us.

The lights die.

Smoke swallows the room.

For half a second, everything goes silent.

Then the gunfire begins.

Three separate rifles.

Exactly where I expected them.

One across the street.

One on the neighboring rooftop.

One covering the rear alley.

A kill box.

Professional.

Not Langley security.

Mercenaries.

“Caleb!”

“I’m here.”

I push myself up enough to see her face.

Dust streaks her skin. A thin cut crosses her forehead where flying glass caught her.

“Are you hurt?”

“I’m okay.”