Alone in the Dark

‘And she’s got ears like—’

He never finished his sentence. The tail lights on the ambulance suddenly shattered and Davenport staggered, before falling to his knees. He looked down at the blood that already soaked his shirt, his face frozen in shock.

‘Everybody down!’ Deacon shouted.

Marcus threw himself over Scarlett, hurling them behind the parked ambulance. She gave a little grunt of pain when they hit the ground. Dammit. She’d already been bruised by the bullet that her Kevlar vest had stopped earlier. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘Are you okay?’

‘Yes. Let me up.’ She rolled out from under him and onto her hands and knees. Her eyes darted around as she evaluated the scene, then abruptly widened. ‘Holy shit. Kate!’

Kate had taken off ru

Marcus followed Scarlett, sparing a backward glance at Deacon who was kneeling next to Davenport, who wasn’t moving at all. The paramedics had Davenport’s shirt off and . . . Shit. It didn’t look good. The undercover agent’s face was growing paler by the second as the paramedics tried to stop his bleeding.

Suddenly gunfire cracked the air, three rapid shots, followed seconds later by the loud crash of metal and glass. Marcus’s heart went into overdrive as he sprinted after Scarlett.

He found her around a bend in the road, staring into the distance, where a black car had just crashed into a clump of trees. Kate stood midway between Scarlett and the wrecked car, her rifle still shouldered and ready to fire at anyone who emerged.

‘She shot out their back window and two tires,’ Scarlett said, sounding slightly in awe. ‘From a half-mile away as they fishtailed.’

Wow, Marcus thought, damn impressed. ‘Davenport’s down. Deacon’s okay.’

She nodded brusquely, her eyes never leaving the black car as she began approaching Kate and the crash scene. Three of the cruisers and two of the Feds’ unmarked cars that had been stationed up by the ambulance came roaring past them, surrounding the black car.

‘One of the passengers fired at Kate as they tried to get away, but his aim wasn’t nearly as good as hers,’ Scarlett said, left forearm still braced against her ribs. ‘Hopefully she got the little cocksucker who shot Davenport.’

‘Are you all right?’ Marcus asked, pointing to her side.

‘Probably a few bruised ribs. Not likely anything broken. And yes, I’ll let the ER look at it,’ she added irritably. ‘After we get this scene secured.’

When they got close to the black car, Marcus could smell the odor left by the deployed airbags. There were three people inside the car and none of them had been wearing seat belts. None of them appeared to be conscious.

Marcus watched carefully as the officers and Feds checked out the interior of the car, confiscating weapons and ensuring that none of the passengers were still armed before cuffing them. The driver, a young man who appeared to be of Italian heritage, had been faking his unconsciousness and tried to knife one of the cops, but the crash had left him off balance and groggy. The cop was able to easily disarm and cuff him.

The front-seat passenger was genuinely unconscious, as was the man in the backseat, who was missing several fingers and toes. Sweeney’s son Sean, Marcus thought. The SOB.

Kate had come close to the car, but her eyes were on the trees around the wreck rather than the passengers. She was sca

Deacon had been following the ambulance in his own vehicle, but pulled over when he got to where they waited. ‘They’re taking Davenport to the hospital. It’s pretty bad, Kate.’

Kate’s back stiffened. ‘Dammit. Davenport could have ID’d these guys.’

Marcus knew that civilians might hear Kate’s words and believe her calloused, but that wasn’t true. He’d seen her with the Bautistas that afternoon. She’d been patient and kind. Right now Kate was focused on the job, her adrenaline still pumping from the expert shots she’d just taken. Marcus remembered the focus. It had kept him alive more times than he’d like to recall. When her heart and brain slowed back to normal, Kate would feel fear and sadness, just like everyone else.

‘Which is why they targeted him,’ Deacon said logically. ‘It was a through-and-through. He might have a collapsed lung.’

Marcus winced, remembering his own pierced lung nine months before. ‘That won’t kill him,’ he said to Kate. ‘It didn’t kill me. Hurt like a bitch, but I’m still standing.’

Kate met his eyes and he could see she was already returning to normal. ‘Thank you. He has a lot of information that we need. Obviously Sweeney’s holdouts felt the same way.’ She took a look at Scarlett. ‘Go get yourself checked out. We have this under control. And thank you for backing me up.’

‘You didn’t need me,’ Scarlett said. ‘You had it all under control. Keep me apprised?’

Kate gave her a hard nod. ‘Absolutely.’

Cinci