Page 98 of Fastest Kill

A figure crossed the lit window. Unhurried. Oblivious.

Frederica breathed out. The rifle popped softly. Glass shattered across the river. The target dropped.

Dario bit her on the neck, and Frederica came with a full-body shudder that she couldn't contain, a sound quickly smothered by his hand, and her whole body clenching around him. Dario followed her over the edge with a groan he could barely contain.

They stayed exactly as they were, both of them shaking, the cold air around them and the distant noise of a Christmas market and somewhere, far below, the first thin wail of a siren.

"We need to move," Frederica groaned, her voice was wrecked.

"Yeah."

"Now."

"I heard you."

Neither of them moved for two more seconds, then Dario pulled out, and they both dealt with their clothing. Frederica was already breaking down the rifle, the scope off, barrel folded, and into the case in under forty seconds, while Dario had the rest of the kit packed and the stone cleared of any trace of them. Another siren joined the first on the other side of the river.

They went down four flights of cold steps and hit the street door just as lights began appearing in windows across the square.

Two blocks to the car, not running, walking hand in hand like people who had nowhere else to be. Dario's pulse was in his ears, his body still thrumming in post orgasm bliss. Frederica's hand was trembling slightly when she opened the car door.

The sirens were louder now, coming from the direction of the river. Frederica put the rifle case in the back seat before climbing in the front, and Dario started the car.

They pulled out into the empty Christmas Eve street, steady and unhurried, heading for the extraction route Leo had mapped three days ago, and the sirens faded behind them. Dario started laughing.

"What?" Frederica was still flushed, still breathing too fast.

"Nothing." He grinned widely. "Just the best stakeout of my life."

She sighed. "You are insane sometimes."

"I told you I'd warm you up."

She punched his shoulder hard enough to make him swerve slightly as she started laughing too, the one she couldn't stop once it started.

"You could have gotten us caught," she said, wiping her eyes.

"We didn't get caught."

"We almost got caught."

"Almost only counts in⁠—"

"If you finish that sentence, I'm leaving you at the airport." She dropped her head back against the headrest, still laughing. The sirens were gone behind them, heading in the opposite direction.

They pulled up at a traffic light, and she pulled him close and kissed him.

"I love you," she said. "Your insanity is a bonus. Light is green."

Dario drove through the intersection, a little dazed, and reached over to take her hand. He lifted it and pressed his mouth to her knuckles.

"I love you too."

Frederica laced her fingers through his and looked out at the Prague night sliding past.

She pulled out the bag of her cookie payment from the glove box and started munching. "Let's go home."

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