He carefully laid his shotgun on the floor beside the final doorway, then raised his pistol and stepped into the room.
The room had two beds. One was empty, and on the other was a man who looked to be asleep. Standing beside the bed were two men, one of whom was pointing a gun at the sleeping man’s head.
Knowing he could not waste a second, Ed pulled his trigger. The bullet struck the man in the shoulder at the same moment he pulled his own trigger, causing his shot to hit the headboard instead of his intended victim.
Though both shots had passed through silencers, there was still enough noise that the CIA agent’s eyes fluttered open. Before he could react, the injured man tumbled onto him.
The other intruder whipped around and ducked just as Ed sent a shot flying at him. The bullet missed him by mere inches, and before Ed could fire again, the man slammed his shoulder into Ed, knocking him out of the way. He then disappeared into the hallway.
Ed caught himself against the wall but remained on his feet. As he turned back around, he saw the CIA agent struggling with his would-be shooter on the bed.
Ed rushed over and whacked the side of his gun against the man’s temple. The first hit dazed the attacker. The second knocked him out.
“Are you all right?” he asked the agent.
“Yes, I think so. You’re Ed Rawls, aren’t you? The director briefed us that we might run into you.”
Ed nodded, and a rifle shot cut through the storm.
“What’s going on?” the agent asked.
Ed was already at the door. He paused just long enough tosay, “That threat they brought you here to watch out for, that’s what.”
He raced through the apartment to the stairs.
The first thing Carly noticedafter she’d knocked out the wall vent in the attic was the open door to the garage.
She shouldered the rifle and trained the scope on the entrance. She detected no movement inside the darkened doorway, so she wasn’t sure if whoever had opened it was still inside or not. But she was positive about one thing: none of her CIA colleagues would have left the door that way.
She started sweeping the area with the scope. As she neared the front edge of Stone’s property, a figure broke from the wall and hurried toward the garage.
She almost pulled the trigger, but there was something familiar about him.
The person reached the garage and pressed against the wall, just short of the doorway.
She sucked in a surprised breath and lifted her finger off the trigger.
It was Ed Rawls.
She didn’t bother wondering how he had come to be here. The important thing was that he was, and that meant he was here to help.
After he slipped inside, she watched the doorway for a few more seconds, then began scanning the property again.
She should have seen at least one member from her team, but they were nowhere.
She returned her attention to the garage and had hercrosshairs on the open doorway when the dark shape of a person paused on the threshold.
It was a man holding a gun. The silhouette was wrong for Ed, nor did it match that of any of the CIA security team.
He did a quick scan, then stepped outside. Not only did he have a pistol, but he also had an automatic rifle strapped to his shoulder.
Whoever he was, he was bad news.
Carly took a breath, let half out, then squeezed the trigger.
The boom of the unsilenced rifle thundered in the attic.
Down by the garage, her target dropped to the ground, clutching his hip.
