Page 54 of Rafe’s Future

As if right on cue, the device lit up with a ding. Lena’s eyes shot to his before she pulled open the bag. She grabbed the phone and looked at the screen.

“It’s a text, but the phone is locked, and the preview only shows an unsaved number.”

“Let me see it.” Rafe held out a hand.

With the device in his hand, he returned to the body on the couch and angled the screen toward Lionel James’ still face. Even in death, the phone’s facial recognition yielded, the screen flickering to life as it unlocked.

He opened the text that had come through less than a minute ago, his breath catching at the base of his throat.

“Rafe?” Lena slowly made her way toward him. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

He held the phone out for her and Apollo to see. “It’s not a text.”

It was a picture of him and Lena taken moments before they’d entered the building. He was looking down at her. She was staring up at him. If not for their protective vests, they could have easily been mistaken for two lovers amid casual conversation.

Son of a⁠—

“What the hell?” Apollo growled.

Concern filled Lena’s stunning gaze as it rose back up to his. “They could still be out there right now.”

The words had no more left her kissable lips when a bullet struck one of the living room windows. Glass cracked loudly as the projectile pierced the apartment’s stale air before slamming into the wall near the hallway’s entrance.

“Get down!” Rafe shouted.

All three dropped to the floor, using their hands to cover their heads. When a second shot never came, he spared a glance toward the splintered glass.

The shot had gone through the window to the left of the couch, which was several feet from where they’d been standing. It hadn’t come anywhere near where he or the other two had been standing.

A warning, perhaps?

Lena looked to Rafe from where she still lay. “Guess they already sent Miller’s replacement.”

“Or he was here all along,” Apollo mused.

It wasn’t a bad theory. Putting eyes on Miller to ensure he got the job done would certainly be a smart move. But why waste time with taunting pictures and wild shots?

He’s playing with us.

Rafe brought a hand to his ear. “Someone just shot one of the windows from the building’s east side. Anyone have eyes on the shooter?”

Falcon’s deep curse filled the nestled mic. “Looking now. Anyone hit?”

“Negative.”

A few tense seconds later, the team’s lead sniper came back with, “That’s a negative on the shooter. Colt and I will check out the building across the street.”

“Don’t bother.” Rafe slowly pushed himself back up to his feet.

“Rafe, wait—” Lena began.

He bent forward and offered her his hand. “Whoever it was, they’re already gone,” he assumed. “They could have taken the three of us out through the room’s southernmost window within seconds, if they’d wanted.”

“Why waste the ammo?” Coulter’s voice came through the mic next.

Rafe helped Lena up to her feet. “It was a warning, same as the picture. They want us to know they’re watching, and you and I are the targets.”

“Guess they missed the memo that we already figured that part out.”