Only in the next second she wasn’t staring at the gun. The EOD agent had grabbed her and pushed her behind him.
No!
“Don’t play hero,” the masked man snarled. “It’s a surefire way to end up dead.”
“That’s a chance I’ll take,” the agent drawled, letting his Texas accent slip in once more as he pulled out his own weapon. A gun she hadn’t even noticed when they’d been dancing.
The men in masks inched closer as everyone else in the room started to rush for the doors.
So much for everyone freezing. I’m the one they want.
And if tall, dark and handsome hadn’t just tried to be a white knight, the gunmen would have gotten her.
The EOD agent had just ruined her plans.
* * *
“FOUR MEN, ALL ARMED,” Logan Quinn murmured into his mouthpiece as he kept his eyes on the scene unfolding before him. His fingers tightened around the binoculars. He sure hadn’t been expecting the attack to be so public.
There were at least a hundred civilians in that ballroom. Some very well-connected civilians with pull in too many countries to count. If the gunmen started firing...
We can’t let that happen.
“It’s time for us to go in,” Logan said, knowing that the man listening to his comm feed would be ready to attack. Gunner Ortez was always ready.
Now, if Cale Lane would just get the pretty blonde out of harm’s way, then the Shadow Agents could attack.
* * *
“THERE ARE FOUR of us,” the gunman growled, “and only one of you. It’s a bad night to play hero.”
Cale kept his weapon up and ready. Chaos surrounded him, and while most of the people were running for any exit they could find, Cassidy hadn’t so much as budged an inch behind him. The woman should have fled for safety.
She also shouldn’t have offered herself up as a willing sacrifice. They’d deal with that part later.
After he got rid of the gunmen.
“What makes you so sure I’m alone?” Cale asked. The ballroom, with all of its windows that looked out over the city—well, it sure allowed plenty of people the opportunity to look back in. “Drop your weapons,” Cale ordered. “All of you—drop them while you still have the chance.”
Laughter. He’d expected that. They’d foolishly think that he was bluffing. They’d find out, too late, that he wasn’t.
The laughter died away. The guy’s finger began to tighten around the trigger as he took aim at Cale. “Mister, you’re dead.”
No, he wasn’t.
Cale shot his own weapon, firing right at the man in black. The two shots blasted almost simultaneously.
More screams. More shouts.
More chaos.
Cale grabbed Cassidy and rushed toward the exit—the back door that she’d tried to get him to take earlier. The gunman’s bullet had grazed his side, barely scraping him, while his own had sunk into the man’s right shoulder.
Aiming wouldn’t be so easy for the guy now.
“No!” Cassidy yelled as she dug in her heels. “Stop! I can’t leave!”
Yes, she could. Staying wasn’t an option for her. His mission—his assigned duty—was to protect her.