Page 274 of Silent Target

I looked at the unmoving operative on the garage floor.

Rogue had arrived less than a minute after the explosion. He’d taken out the man who was about to execute Kate, then gone down before he could get her to safety.

I didn’t know whether he was alive.

I couldn’t let myself think about that yet.

“Do you have anyone else nearby?” Kate asked.

“Yes.”

That was true.

They just weren’t close enough.

Maverick and Reef were racing toward the garage from opposite ends of the city. Both had been tracking Vale before he disappeared from surveillance.

Vale had known.

He’d drawn them away from Kate, then walked into the garage and warned her himself.

The arrogance of it made me want to put my fist through the monitor.

Sniper opened a live feed from the rooftop.

“Fantom.”

I saw it.

A black helicopter hovered beyond the edge of the building. No identifying marks. Side door open. One man behind the controls and another waiting in the rear compartment.

“They have air extraction,” I said.

“Then I’m not going to the roof,” Kate answered.

She changed direction without hesitating or waiting for me to agree.

She entered the third level and ran toward the south stairwell.

Sniper brought up another camera. “She has two coming from below.”

“I heard him,” Kate said.

Of course she had.

“Can you fire the rifle?” I asked.

“My shoulder is injured.”

“That wasn’t my question.”

“I can fire it.”

Gunshots cracked through the phone.

Kate dropped behind the concrete wall as a bullet struck the railing above her.

She returned fire with one hand.