Jesse was talking to a cop who clearly wasn’t letting him through to the first responder side of the chaos. Bryce huffed as he pushed between two onlookers. Trying to get to Jesse felt like swimming through cement.
“Just hold on,” Bryce said.
“What’s that? Hard to hear you. Think the call might be dropping.”
The phone bleeped some kind of noise at Bryce and he groaned at it. The call had ended. He made his way to Jesse’s side.
“Can you believe this shit?” Jesse scowled and motioned at the cop. “Would you tell him who I work for?”
Bryce shoved Jesse’s phone back in his pocket. He ought to hand the device off to his team so they could scour it for any potential clues anyway. Telling Jesse about that could wait until after they were out of a disaster.
“What I said,” the cop replied, “was that even if you could prove you work for the FBI, you’re a resident. You don’t get to work this case, if there is one. But you don’t have ID on you to prove you live here.”
“Because my driver’s license was in my apartment, which is currently on fire!”
“Sir, you should get checked out by a paramedic,” the cop said. “We’ll get your statement soon, I promise.”
“My statement?” Jesse squared his shoulders. “I’ve got a hell of a lot more to offer than just a statement. And I have questions.”
“You’ll be able to work through this with my captain or your boss or whoever, but we need to get the fire out first.”
A small red laser point appeared in the middle of Jesse’s back. Jesse was still arguing with the cop. “I need to—”
“Sniper!” Bryce grabbed Jesse and hauled him toward the ground.
“What the—”
Jesse’s last word was cut off by the sound of metal going through metal. There was a hole in the nearest police cruiser, not more than an inch from the cop. While the cop pulled his gun and searched among the crowd, there was too much chaos from the fire. The shooter was likely in a nearby building, not on the ground. There would be no easy way to track where the bullet had come from.
Someone wanted to kill Jesse. Bryce tightened his grip on Jesse’s shirt. If he hadn’t acted, then the bullet would have gone through him. Bryce would be holding the body of the man he loved.
The man he loved. No, too soon for that. Too much of a reaction to the moment. Jesse was the man hecouldlove, that hewantedto love. The one he wanted to let into his life instead of shielding his heart away.
But first he had to keep him safe.
“Holy shit,” Jesse mumbled.
“We have to get you out of here,” Bryce said.
“Yeah, okay, I agree, buthow? Your car’s blocked.”
Bryce pulled his phone out and called Bonnell, like he should have done when he saw the building on fire. “For a start, you’re going to listen to me.”
Jesse nodded, and Bryce tried not to worry about how pale he looked. Bryce pulled him into a tighter embrace, keeping an eye out for the laser point and any sign of another shooter. The crowd was a double-edged camouflage. Anyone could be a threat, but the known danger couldn’t see them.
“Bryce? What’s wrong?” Bonnell asked as she picked up.
Bryce began filling her in on the rough details.
“All right. Let’s get you two out of there,” Bonnell said.
Nothing had ever sounded so sweet, except Jesse’s continued breathing.
