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Seth released Teagan. “Violet is waiting for you. I love you, sweetheart.”
“I love you, Seth. See you soon.”
Teagan stepped back, winked at him, and pivoted. She walked to her teammate. “Let’s go. We have work to do.”
They left the hotel and climbed into Teagan’s SUV. They drove squares for a few minutes, then headed for the abandoned building where she was to set up her sniper’s nest.
She parked behind the structure, then she and Violet drew their weapons and entered the building. After determining no one waited to ambush them, they retrieved their gear from the SUV and locked themselves in the building.
Teagan traipsed upstairs to the room from which she’d make her shots. Although crazy as a loon, Peters had studied the lines of sight well. Nothing would block her shot to the hotel eight blocks away.
She assembled her MK22 and activated her comm device. “We’re in place.”
“Nothing happening outside so far,” Iona said. “You have time to find King’s nest. Use it well.”
“Copy that.” Teagan glanced at her partner. “Ready, Violet?”
“Let’s do this.”
She set up her bipod and began the slow search for Russ King on high ground. The first hour passed with no luck. Well into the second hour, she caught a slight movement on the rooftop of an apartment building a few blocks away on the east side of the Capital Hotel.
Teagan waited five minutes, ten, fifteen. Still nothing. Ten minutes before Martin began his speech, she spotted more movement on the same rooftop and saw King’s face. She breathed easier. “Gotcha,” Teagan murmured. Now that she knew exactly where his nest was, she did her calculations for the shot to neutralize the other sniper. She took a moment to send Iona and Seth the address where King had his nest.
“It’s almost time for Martin’s speech,” Violet said. “Any luck?”
“I’ve got him.”
Artemis’ medic smiled. “I knew you’d find King. Good job, Teagan.”
“I hope I can make the shot. It’s not an easy one.”
“Ha. You’re not fooling me. Alex has set up harder challenges than this one for you, and you handled those with ease. I have faith in you.” Violet nudged her shoulder gently. “I bet a certain cop has faith in you, too.”
Her cheeks burned as she turned back to her MK22 and refocused on the ballroom. Inside, she spotted Seth and his teammates in different parts of the room, scanning the crowd. As she watched, Seth spoke into the comm device linked to the Secret Service. Seconds later, two agents escorted a man from the ballroom, one Teagan recognized from Haven. Keith, one enforcer Violet had defeated in the challenge Richardson set up their first morning in the compound.
How many more enforcers were in that ballroom? More important, where was Salitto?
Teagan drew in a deep breath. Time to get to work. Seth and his friends had the ballroom covered. She had other things to handle.
She breathed slowly, lowering her heart rate. Teagan went through the routine Alex taught her, easily settling into the zone. She blocked out everything, trusting Violet to keep the enemy off her until she finished her task.
In the ballroom, several people walked onto the stage. There he was. President William Martin. The man had guts. Teagan had to give him that. She didn’t know many people who would willingly step onto a stage, knowing someone would fire a sniper’s bullet at them. Didn’t matter that she would aim well above his head. The shot had to look like a genuine attempt to kill Martin. “Watch the clock, Violet.”
“You got it.”
At 2:05, President Martin walked to the podium to a standing ovation from his audience. Teagan used her scope to focus on the president. She slowed her breathing further, preparing for the shots of her life.
At 2:09, Violet murmured, “One-minute mark, T.”
“Copy.” Teagan began the countdown in her head. Thirty seconds later, she refocused on her true target, the pane of glass several feet above President Martin’s head. Once she took the shot, she’d have one or two seconds to refocus on King and pull the trigger.
Teagan hated the thought of killing the cop, but he’d kill the president if given a chance. She couldn’t allow him to take the shot.
“Fifteen seconds,” Violet said.
She stroked the trigger, mentally pulling it and seeing the bullet strike the spot she’d chosen as the least likely to injure anyone in the ballroom.
“Five, four, three, two, one.”
