Had Sebastian called someone here? Was there a problem?
She wondered if his mother had brought someone here to check Kyle’s work.
Still, a sneaking suspicion that something was off snaked down her spine. She grabbed the weapon she’d taken earlier from the safe and readied it, loading a bullet into the chamber.
A dark cloud blotted out the moon as she slipped from the car, easing the door closed so she wouldn’t draw any attention to her presence.
She crept forward, taking shallow, soft breaths as shereached the porch. With a wince, she inched up to the front door, finding it standing open.
Another piece of evidence that led her to believe something was wrong. She swallowed hard, sneaking through the door into the darkened apartment.
Muffled voices drew her attention to the floor above.
She hurried across the floor to the stairs as noiselessly as possible. With a glance up, she mounted the first stair, quietly ascending to the top.
Despite her wildly beating hard, she kept her weapon steady and pointed in front of her, readied for an attack.
With her eyes trained on Sebastian’s door, she continued forward until she could peer into the room.
Based on the way Vivienne clutched Sebastian’s hand and her tear-streaked face, the man looming over them wasn’t a friend. With the close-cropped hair, and tattoo on the back of his neck, she assumed the government car wasn’t actually associated with a real agency.
“Fine,” he said with a shake of his head and a chuckle. “No one cares anymore regardless of your rank. Time for you to exit The Board.”
Ava’s heart rose into her throat as the man freed a pistol from a holster and loaded a bullet into the chamber. He pointed it forward. “Only question is…do I make you watch Mommy die, or do I kill you first?”
“Neither,” Ava answered as she squeezed the trigger of her own weapon, hitting the man in the arm.
He managed to hang on to his weapon as blood exploded from his shoulder.
“Ava!” Sebastian shouted as he attempted to lunge forward, stopped by the wound in his gut.
She ducked instinctively as a wild bullet struck the door jamb above her head.
With the precision of an expert marksman, she didn’thesitate to lift her weapon and fire again, this time blowing the gun out of his hand before she hurried forward to kick it away.
Vivienne snatched it from the floor, pointing it with shaky hands at the man.
“Mom, wait,” Sebastian said, reaching for her arm.
Ava readied the weapon again, pointing it at the man’s leg. “What’s going on here?”
“He’s trying to kill us,” Vivienne shouted, her voice shaky.
“That’s not true,” the man said with a shake of his head. “I’m a federal agent. I’m here to arrest these two. They are the part of a criminal organization that is responsible for a number of disruptive terrorist activities.”
“No, Ava, don’t listen to him,” Sebastian said with a vehement shake of his head and a wince as the wound in his gut pulled. “He’s here to kill us. He’s Board.”
Ava flicked her gaze to Sebastian before she returned it to the man in front of her. “I don’t know what they told you, but I have the badge to prove it.”
He reached a trembling hand toward his pocket, but she shook her head. “Uh-uh,” she said with a shake of the weapon. “I want to see your wrist.”
He raised his eyebrows, pulling up his right sleeve, his features questioning.
“The other one,” she said, her voice sharp as her features twisted.
The man swallowed hard, hesitating for a moment before he lunged toward his boot. She fired two shots, killing him instantly before she lunged forward to tug up his left sleeve, finding the knight tattooed there.
Ava slumped to the floor with a heavy sigh before she eyed Vivienne, becoming acutely aware of the gun still pointed at her.
