“A professional?” I move to get a better look.
“Yep. No way they got this off the street. It’s been modified here, see?” He adjusts the angle of the rifle to show me the barrel. “And here too. You pull the trigger and this gun fires a bullet that catches here, then immediately fires a second. Both come out of this so fast that whoever is on the other end is dead before they know it.”
“Explains why I can’t find anything about them,” Pidge groans. “Their IDs were fake, and I ran their faces through every database I could think of. No hits.”
“Any tattoos?” I glance at Pidge.
“No but I’ve reached out to someone who can dig a little deeper into who these bastards were.”
“Thanks Pidge.”
“You got it.”
“Shit,” Rex mutters suddenly and he winces at the phone in his hand. “Falco, you want to see this.” He passes me the phone with a look of disgust and my stomach sinks the second I glimpse the screen. They filmed her. From the back of the car, they took her in right up until the moment I burst down the door and shot the first man in the throat. I watch every second of the video, and asI do fury ignites hotter in my heart. This wasn’t just a hit, and it wasn’t opportunistic either.
This was planned.
“She said no,” I murmur through a jaw so tight my head throbs. “She said no and they—” I cut myself off as the phone creaks slightly and the screen warps from how tightly I’m clutching it. “I killed them too slowly.”
“The one who sent them,” Rex says with a sigh. “Kill that bastard slow.”
“What is that noise?” Bullet asks suddenly, lifting his head. He glances around the room, then locks eyes with me. “Is that your ass?”
“Huh? Oh.” Being so focused on the recorded footage, I didn’t even hear my own phone buzzing frantically in my pocket. I pocket the attacker’s phone and pull my phone out, grimacing. “It’s fucking Giacomo.”
“The brother?” Pidge asks.
“Yeah. Wants to know where I am. Where Aerin is.” Gritting my teeth, I slide my phone onto silent. I sent a single message to Guido letting him know that Aerin had been found, but that’s as far as I’m going until I know every detail of what happened tonight—and how. Which is why Aerin’s been brought to one of Pidge’s safehouses rather than an approved Paramatti one.
I’m not taking any chances this time.
“You’re not telling him?” Bullet glances up and our eyes meet.
“No.”
“Should we know why?”
I shake my head. “I don’t have enough of a reason. Just…a feeling. Uncertainty.”
“Good enough for me,” Rex replies. “In fact I—” He cuts himself off suddenly as a soft creak in the doorway draws everyone’s attention, mine included.
Aerin stands in the doorway clutching my jacket around her shoulders, her bare feet nudging against one another. My heart stalls in my chest for a full second as our eyes meet, and it’s like she’s not quite seeing me.
“F-Falco?”
I’m by her side in an instant. “I’m here.”
“I…” She shakes her head as I slide my arm around her shoulders, blocking her from the view of the others. “M-My tongue is…”
“Thirsty?” I ask softly.
She nods.
“Come on, let’s take you back to bed and I’ll get you some water.”
Tears cling to her eyelashes, but none spill down her cheeks, as if she was crying in her sleep.
We walk slowly back to the bedroom, and once inside I rummage in the drawers for something warmer than my jacket.
