“Okay, file a police report.
See if you can catch a-” I stop myself before I say scent. “Any trace of who was there.
And check the surrounding area.
The place may be watched.
If so, take them down and bring them in for me to deal with when I get back.”
“On it, boss.”
The warning prickle at the back of my neck doesn’t ease.
I scan our surroundings, even though we’re 4000 miles away from Manhattan.
My body’s in motion before I even register what I’ve seen.
A sniper, 200 feet away.
I tackle Aubrey to the ground as a bullet pierces my skin and embeds in my back.
Aubrey
I scream.
I’m not sure what’s happening.
Why Billy threw me onto the ground.
The pavement scrapes and bruises my knees.
His body blankets mine, heavy as a rhino.
The way he covers my head with his arms makes it clear what’s happening even before he rasps, “Stay down.
There’s a shooter.”
A shooter.
What the fuck?
Is this random gun violence or related to Sentience?
Billy has his phone out, and he barks.
“I need back up now” before he pulls me to my feet.
His hand stays on my head, pushing me, so I’m folded in half at the waist like him ducking from whatever or whoever is after us.
That’s when I see the blood soaking his clothes.
“You’re hit!”
Oh no.
No no no no.
Oh my God.
“Billy!”
This is unreal.
Catastrophic.
I gulp breaths to try to think.
He pulls me in a ducked run behind a low garden wall, keeping his gaze on a point in the distance.
I don’t hear the sound of shots, but glass explodes behind us.
Screams sound from every direction.
They must be using a silencer.
No one heard the first shot, but now everyone in the outdoor mall knows there’s a shooter.
My heart beats so hard I swear it will come out of my chest.
“You’re hit.
Oh my God.”
The amount of blood that soaking Billy’s clothes scares the shit out of me.
We need to get him to an ER.
“Help!”
I scream, looking around.
“Someone call an ambulance!”
He’s going to die, and it was because he was saving me.
He can’t die.
A bullet hits the brick wall to my right.
I bark a sharp shriek of surprise.
“We’re okay,” Billy says calmly although he has to be seconds from collapsing from the amount of blood he lost.
“Just keep your head down, and he can’t sight us.”
“Are they here for me?”
He scans the environment again then pulls me at a crouched run behind the next wall.
“I won’t let them get you, Silver.”
Sully, Vance, Nickel, and Jake race around the corner.
“Shooter, two o’clock.
Aubrey’s the target.
Get transport,” Billy barks information with military precision although his movements are slowing, like the blood loss finally caught up.
He wasn’t in the military, was he?
Even more baffling, the guys react as if they are part of an elite navy SEAL team.
“Already on it.
Jake, Vance, find the shooter.
We’ll cover Aubrey,” Sully replies.
Sully and Nickel flank us, providing me with even more body coverage as we run, en masse, toward the street.
Billy collapses, dropping to one knee.
“He’s hurt!”
I cry, stating the obvious.
Nickel hauls him up, putting his shoulder under Billy’s arm.
“Cover Aubrey.”
Billy’s voice sounds thin.
Oh my God.
He’s going to die.
I can’t let him die.
This can’t be happening.
“We need to get him to a hospital,” I cry.
Brick, Madi, Scarlett and Ruby, and Eagle run around, and one of the guys barks, “protect the Luna.”
Brick and Scarlett sandwich Madi.
Sirens sound in the distance.
The limo stands out front, doors open.
The guys hustle us toward it.
Billy’s still hanging onto me like I need protection when he’s the one about to bleed out.
“Wait!”
I call, pointing in the direction of the sirens.
“That might be the ambulance.
Billy should go in an ambulance.”
They ignore me.
“Put Aubrey in the front,” Brick snaps from behind us.
He takes my arm to try to separate me from Billy.
“Right,” Madi agrees.
In the front?
With the chauffeur’s glass separating us?
Hell, no.
“Why?”
I screech.
“Aubrey-” Madi’s also now trying to tug me away.
Billy collapses at the door of the limo, and Nickel and Sully have to pick him up to toss him like a hay bale onto one of the seats.
The reality that Billy may die turns me icy cold.
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