“Yeah. But... I think she may have been the one to shoot you tonight. From a treehouse, of all places. Unless Sefton fired off a shot we missed?”
“No. He didn’t fire.” Ezra was pawing at her blouse. He pulled a knife free and sliced open her sleeve. He grabbed both sides of the thin cotton and ripped. “It passed through.”
Max pulled his own T-shirt over his head and gave it to his colleague. They needed to get that blood stopped. Fast. “Use this. It’s probably cleaner than anything else in this shithole.”
“It’s not that bad. But I’m sure property value just plunged. At least in this house. Hope Agent Lorcan’s parents don’t plan on moving out of the neighborhood for a while. At least until the blood is gone.”
Chalmers ran in, straight to Shannon Toliver’s side. He must have gotten held up outside the building by the response units from the local field office. “How badly has she been hit?”
“I’ve had...far too many hits in the arms lately, Ken. Can we start wrapping my arms in bubble wrap from now on?”
“Might not be a bad idea. Hahn, get her street side. Ambulance is out there already. Get her taken care of. We’ll deal with procedure later. Everything else can wait.”
Max thought that sounded like a damned wise decision.
He watched as that lucky bastard Ezra scooped his girl up into his arms and carried her—even though she was protesting that she could walk—right out of that damned two-story brick home forever.
He looked at Chalmers. “I’m going to go find Jac. Handle things on that end.”
“You do that. Keep her contained. Only let her speak to PAVAD: IA. Kyra’s outside with Leina now.”
“Understood.”
“Good. You did well, tonight. Brought our people home. Well done.”
Max nodded. “I didn’t do anything except make the call to Jac. Because I had the best visibility. That was all. Shannon is the one who kept her head. That fake puke idea was ingenious.”
“She’s a smart woman, I can say that.” How Chalmers felt about the only woman on his team was clear for Max to see. No surprise, Chalmers’ wife and Shannon were good friends.
He put thoughts of Shannon and Ezra out of his head.
It was time to find Jac. Make certain she was okay.
What she had had to do would weigh on her forever.
Every life counted.
Something Chas Sefton had apparently missed over the last six years.
They still had a long night ahead of them all.
ONE HUNDRED FORTY-ONE
SHANNON PROTESTED. She didn’t need the entire PAVAD division knowing Ezra had rescued her, and literally carried her out of the warehouse like a damsel in distress. But then again...who the hell cared?
She’d thought she’d never get to see him again.
Thought she’d never get to see anyone she loved ever again.
It was the third time in a year she’d been abducted. Chances had been slim that she’d survive. That she had...
Leina and Kyra were waiting street side when he carried her out. Shannon looked at her friends, but Ezra didn’t stop moving long enough for her to say anything to them. All she could do was wave the hand that wasn’t currently on fire at the two of them. “I’ll be ok. Talk to you soon.”
Ezra glanced over his shoulder at them just once. “Chalmers will need you both inside. Especially IA.”
Kyra nodded, her eyes on Shannon.
Shannon thought about saying something, but it didn’t matter. All that mattered was that the man she loved was holding her again.
Everything was finally going to be all right. She slipped her free arm around his neck and ignored the pain of being shot—for the third damned time—out of her head. “Thank you.”
“For what? Getting you involved with a damned serial killer? It’s one thing to face it on the job, but because of something you didn’t sign up for is entirely different. I should have seen. Should have known when Geoff and Nils were killed that it was Chas, and that he’d come for you.”
“He was already around me. Long before your friends were killed.” She shivered as she remembered just how close he had been to her. For weeks. “Since we were rescued together before.”
“We found photos he took of you. He saw us on the news together. Became fixated. We’ll have to look deeper later. See what else he was involved in. Who else.”
“He was involved in something bigger. Something against the FBI. I don’t know what.” She shivered again. “But it’s definitely not over.”
“We’ll let Chalmers and Max figure out those answers. It’s over...for us. Sefton will never hurt you again—or anyone else.”
He just kept walking. Right past the first ambulance with its waiting, open doors. “There’s an ambulance right there.”
“Shut up. We’re going to that one. It’s got an easier path to exit. I want you at the hospital as soon as possible.”
“He rode the bus with me, Ez. For weeks. Right there. I spoke to him at least three times. And I never realized who he was or what he was doing. How he hated you. He must have taken my jacket out of my bag on the pretense of returning it. Then he shot Agent Ward. I don’t know how long he was watching me. But he definitely was.”
“From about the time we were rescued. We found photographic evidence that he had been stalking you. Fantasizing about you. Some of the photos had obviously been manipulated to fit his fantasies.”
“Why?”
“Because of me, six years ago. Chas dealt with war by immersing himself in fantasies and role-playing games. He fixated on you and tried to use you to replace the woman he’d been obsessed with in Afghanistan. I don’t know if it was your connection to me that triggered it or what. We’ll probably never know—or have to have the profilers tell us what he was thinking. Hell, Shan, I’m not good at this stuff. I’m good at finding runaway middle schoolers.”
She heard the guilt in his tone. Shannon tightened her arm around his neck. “It wasn’t your fault that he did what he did. He made his choices.”
“He almost took you away from me.” He lowered her to the gurney. The paramedic on her left immediately got to work. Shannon knew the drill. It wasn’t like this was the first time she’d been shot in the arm. She held still but kept her eyes trained on him.
“But he didn’t. You were there to stop him. With the people we trusted. Just like the last time. And even the time before that, in Nebraska, with Ken and Leina. I trust you, Ezra Jackson Hahn. And that matters to me. Because I love you, too.”
“I never said it.”
She smirked at him. “You didn’t have to. I see it in your eyes. Now, it’s up to you what we’re going to do about it.”
He pushed past the nearest paramedic and leaned down until they were almost nose to nose. “I’m going to do everything about it. First moment I can. You’re never getting away from me again.”
“I’m going to hold you to that.”
Ezra leaned down and pressed his lips to hers.
Shannon ignored the world around them and just kissed him right back.
EPILOGUE
JAC HADN’T WANTED him anywhere around her. She’d gone straight to Kyra’s side and let her friend start the necessary procedures after a fatality. Jac would be placed on immediate administrative leave until everything was declared officially closed.
As would he, once everything was wrapped up.
Ezra had just told Shannon he loved her. Right in Max’s ear. Probably in everyone still wearing a mic’s ear. He winced for his friends.
This was never going to be lived down.
He bet it would get more gossip time than the day Leina had thrown herself into Ken’s arms on a high school football field.
“Hey, Hahn. Turn off your mic before you kiss her again, will you?” he asked into the mic.
“Can it, Jones. Just do your job. And tell Chalmers Shan and I are going to be busy for a while.”
Max looked at the other man. Chalme
rs pointed to his own mic. “Oh, he heard. Everyone heard. Something to keep in mind.”
“Hell. Leave us alone. We’ll see you later. Way to ruin a moment.”
The sound of Shannon’s startled laughter in his ear had Max smiling. Ken echoed the expression as both men pulled their mics free.
“Another happy ending,” Ken said. “I’m damned glad.”
“Me, too.” Max’s smile turned to a frown when what else they’d learned today reared its head again. “But there’s someone after the bureau. PAVAD. We don’t know where it’s going to end.”
“No, we don’t,” a voice they both recognized said behind them.
Max turned. The director stood there with the head of the forensics lab next to him.
Dr. Marianna Dennis’s people were standing by, ready the instant word was given to go in. Do their thing.
Keep PAVAD safe using sciences Max would never be able to keep up with.
“Director Dennis. Dr. Dennis,” Max nodded at the woman he’d always liked.
“Agent Jones, Agent Chalmers...find the one responsible for hiring Chas Sefton. And find him quickly, before anyone else someone loves gets caught in the middle.”
Max looked at the director, seeing the determination—and the fear—in the man’s dark brown eyes. And he understood.
“We’ll find him, sir. We won’t stop until we do.”
IS SOMEONE TARGETING PAVAD...
OR IS IT MUCH BIGGER THAN THAT?
Watch for the answers in
Searching (PAVAD 16)
&
Saving (PAVAD 17)
Featuring Jac and Nat Jones!
Coming in 2018/2019
Seeking PAVAD Page 28