Page 5 of Dead Drift

Luke nodded and followed Declan out to the curved sofa that the gang was seated around. There was an open spot beside Katie, but he leaned against a wooden post instead, Declan beside him. Everyone was present except Avery, who Parker said would be right back. She’d just run to grab something from their office down the hall.

Luke exhaled. “Where do you want me to start?”

Declan rubbed his hands together. “Let’s start with the anthrax.”

“I know—” Parker paused and smiled at Avery as she entered the room and passed between him and Luke.

A shot pierced the glass. Shock paled Avery’s face, and Luke lunged forward, knocking her to the ground. “Everyone down!”

Another round of shots cracked the windows along the back wall above the sofa, shards of glass cascading around them.

Parker army crawled to Avery, horror on his face. “Avery?”

Her breathing was labored, and blood seeped from her shoulder.

“She’ll be okay,” Luke said, having made a rapid but sure assessment. “Someone call 9-1-1. We need an ambulance.” That was a luxury he often couldn’t afford when undercover in the field. He’d self-bandaged more wounds than he could count and removed two bullets from his own flesh.

The shots stopped.

“No one get up. Not yet,” Luke instructed. The sniper could just be waiting, though it couldn’t have been a professional sniper taking those shots. Luke was almost positive he had been the gunman’s intended target.

“I called 9-1-1,” Griffin said. “Two minutes out.”

Luke slid off his jacket, bunched it up, and pressed it to Avery’s wound. “Apply pressure,” he instructed Parker. “She’ll be okay. No organs hit and straight through.”

“It’s okay, baby,” Parker said, kissing her brow.

Luke surveyed his friends, his loved ones crouched low on the ground, glass shards in their hair, anger and concern marring their brows. It was surely his fault. He’d brought this on them. If Avery hadn’t walked in front of him at just that moment, he’d be dead. Ebeid not only knew he was in town but knew where he was and, far more frightening, knew who he was with.

3

Sirens wailed in the distance, growing closer in sync with the pounding of Luke’s heart.

How had Ebeid found him so quickly? Or . . .

Maybe the shots were in retaliation for Declan stopping the Bay Bridge attack.

Declan had been standing right next to him. What if that shot had been intended for Declan?

Either way, Ebeid had just knocked on their front door, and from this point on they had to ramp up security.

Parker held Avery in his arms, keeping pressure on her wound, whispering words of love to her as she grew paler, all color leaching from her cheeks.

She was going to be okay, but he was sure that didn’t make this hurt any less for her or Parker.

Sirens howled out front, and soon the stomping of boots filled the room as SWAT swarmed in, their own snipers no doubt already in place.

The team moved quickly, medics taking Avery to the waiting ambulance, Parker going with her. He glared at Luke as he followed the medics out.

Kate stood, glass shards still clinging to her hair, shock blanketing her face, though she moved with purpose and spoke with the agents questioning her with a steadfastness few possessed in such crisis situations.

Declan strode over to him as he stood back and watched Declan’s FBI cohorts handle the situation valiantly.

Declan cleared his throat. “You think that was intended for you or me?”

Luke swallowed. “I was just wondering the same thing.”

“Either way, Ebeid just declared war on us.”