Page 13 of Silent Target

Another bullet punches through the vehicle’s rear quarter panel.

Caleb reaches inside his jacket and pulls out a cylindrical device.

“What is that?”

“An interruption.”

He tosses it beneath a truck on the opposite side of the garage.

The explosion produces a burst of white light and a deafening crack.

The shooters curse.

Caleb grabs my hand.

“Now.”

We run.

Not toward the stairs.

Toward a narrow service door half-concealed behind rusted storage cages.

Caleb fires twice behind us without slowing.

Someone shouts.

I stumble over a parking barrier.

His arm locks around my waist, keeping me upright.

He doesn’t release me.

The service door bursts open beneath his shoulder.

Cold rain strikes my face as we race into the alley.

A black SUV waits at the curb.

The driver’s seat is empty.

I glance at Caleb. “You planned this?”

“I plan everything.”

For the first time since I heard Graves’s voice in that underground corridor, I almost smile.

Another shot strikes the brick wall beside us.

Caleb throws open the passenger door and shoves me across the console. Then he climbs behind the wheel and slams the SUV into gear.

The tires spin on the wet pavement.

A man appears at the mouth of the alley and raises a rifle.

Caleb drives directly at him.

The shooter jumps aside before the SUV reaches him.