There’s no hesitation on my end.
The bullet strikes the man right in the head, and he’s thrown back, hitting the ground on his back.
The shot was precise.
Blood splatters from the wound as he lands and Jackson jerks back in shock.
I know Jackson wouldn’t want me to kill him, but if I shot him anywhere else, there was still a chance he could take away the man I love.
How the fuck did all of this go so wrong?
A clap sounds behind me, making me turn and aim the rifle at the man leaning against the doorframe. I’d been so focused on Jackson that I hadn’t even heard him.
This is why Lucas never let me get to know anyone. Any relations I had with people were with ones I was going to kill because the very moment you throw someone else in, everything spirals out of control.
As I’ve shown today.
“That was fucking beautiful,” he says.
“What do you want?” I ask, tone sharp.
“I want the Sandman to come out of retirement. And it looks like I’m going to get my wish. I hope you enjoyed your present. I’d be happy to give you more,” he says before he slips out of the doorway and into the hallway. I debate going after him; I debate killing him too. It’s another man who knows my face, but worse yet, he knows my husband’s face.
Back when I was the Sandman, I was discreet. I could kill without anyone ever seeing, but it wasn’t like I did everything I could to keep my face hidden because it really didn’t matter to me. But now? Now, I don’t want this man to know anything about me. I feel like I should do something, but what? While he’s harassed us, he has let us go. And I’m not sure who wounded Tavish.
However, my desire to get Jackson away from this runs stronger than my need to follow the unknown man.
Since I didn’t want to alert the man holding Jackson at gunpoint, I’d shot through the screen, so now I push the screenthe rest of the way out and slip out of the window. I run over to where Jackson is rising to his feet, eyes fixated on the dead man.
When he hears me coming, he turns quickly, prepared to reach for the gun the man had dropped, but when he sees it’s me, he relaxes.
“I fucked up,” he says.
“It’s okay,” I reassure him. “Just get to the van. We’re getting out of here.”
I doubt Jackson realizes the way I place myself beside him, even as we move, so that if anyone shoots at us, they’d get me first.
“Where’s Henry?” I ask.
“Tavish and Everly have Henry,” Cassel says in my ear. “Just move.”
I glance at Jackson. “Cassel informed me that he’s with Tavish and Everly.”
“We have to go back for Cam,” Jackson says. “We can’t leave a kid here.”
I look back at that place and find myself feeling some weird sense of dread over it. Lucas taught me how to kill with precision, but wasn’t that because I never allowed distractions in my life? Because I had nothing to lose but my own life? And at that point in time, I wasn’t all that sure that was very important.
“Go back to the van,” I say.
“I’m not leaving you,” Jackson counters.
“No, either you go back to the van or we’re leaving. I’m not losing you.”
Jackson reaches out and grabs my face. “I fucked up, Leland, I know I did. I know my fuckup did nothing to settle your worries. I know that. And I’m sorry, but we can’t just leave.”
“I’m not saying we have to leave Cam. I’m saying that I need you to go back to the van and help the others while I get Cam.”
“No,” he says, holding firm. “I found the room he was in. I just couldn’t get inside without a key. Come on.”
