I snort, internally berating myself for getting myself caught. I hadn’t been paying close enough attention to my surroundings, not with the noise the agents made splitting up. We always have guards stationed here, and I’m sure they know the situation. But they will be behind the door awaiting an ambush. I can’t alert the other agents leaving bodies lying about.
“Drop your weapon,” a female voice demands.
Relief floods through me. I don’t have to turn around and give Liam the surprise of a lifetime. I know Oren is skilled in staying silent, but I’m unsure of Liam’s training in this type of situation.
“That would be stupid now, wouldn’t it?”
Maybe antagonizing the agent with a gun to my head wasn’t the best idea, but unfortunately, there’s no stop sign between my mind and my mouth. Placing both hands in the air in mock surrender, I turn to face her. I let the rifle fall from my shoulder but keep my pistol in my hand. I smile.
“You didn’t say which one.”
The agent narrows her eyes into slits, clicking the safety off her weapon. “I said drop the fucking—”
The soft pew sound from a silencer cuts the agent off. Warm blood covers my arm, and I scoff, her body dropping to the ground. I turn and face Oren’s cheeky grin.
“I thought you liked blood?” He taunts.
I narrow my gaze at him. That fucker knows damn well I could’ve handled that, and whether or not I like blood, it should’ve been me to spill it.
“Feel free to say thank you,” he adds.
“How many, O?” I ask, flicking my arms to get rid of some of the excess blood dripping off me before retrieving my rifle.
“Only five, and that’s including Liam and me. Most wanted to stay away from anything related to your dad.”
I laugh at the thought, but fewer men mean less work. Liam came into this in a rush and without a solid plan. What were five men going to do?
“There’s a stairwell to the roof on the opposite side from where we’re set up. I’ll cover you.”
I purse my lips, not wanting Oren to risk exposing his identity, but there’s no time to argue; we’ve wasted enough as it is. I dip my chin in agreement, and he trades his personal gun with one like the dead agent’s, then signals he’s ready. I round the corner, with Oren following close behind.
We reach the stairwell, and I look back at Oren. He nods, silently confirming he’ll stand guard as I climb. When I get to the top, I circle the area, trying to see if I can find where Liam snuck off to. It doesn’t take long for the sound of engines—the trucks carrying our shipments—to reach the warehouse.
Two large trucks park in front of the warehouse, and men jump out without surveying the area. The roll-up door creaks as our guards inside open for the shipment. I snort, wanting to put a bullet in every single one of these motherfuckers’ heads for their carelessness. I’ll get every name and handle it personally later.
“Agent Eve,” I hear Liam’s voice call from where Oren had put down the agent.
Silently, I walk over and look down. Liam hunches over and checks the agent’s pulse despite the bullet hole through her head. He stands and runs a hand down his face. Another body emerges from the woods behind Liam, and I instantly notice he’s not in the same FBI tactical gear the other three agents I’ve seen are in.
Quickly getting my rifle set up, I watch the intruder through my scope. With Liam’s attention on the fallen agent, he’s unaware of the man behind him.
“I hear you’ve been making some noise, Agent Brenner,” the intruder spits, pulling his gun and resting the barrel against Liam’s head. “It’s my lucky day.”
Liam would be done for if I didn’t know how criminal minds worked. I expected something like this to happen, and I’m a little annoyed my dad didn’t. Liam Brenner is fucking with dangerous people’s products, and my dad is pretty much handing it to him.
“Not too lucky, big boy,” I mutter to myself while I line up my shot.
My bullet lands clean between the fucker’s eyes. His body drops, and Liam spins around with his weapon drawn. I watch the confusion on his face through my scope and smile to myself. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him not look cocky and smug.
An agent I haven’t seen yet barrels out of the woods before stopping to take in the scene. Liam stands gaping and shakes his head as if he has come to some conclusion.
“You good, boss?” The new agent asks.
“Yeah, I’m good. Thank you,” Liam huffs out an unamused laugh.
Oren rounds the corner, making a show at seeing the dead agent. He reaches down to feel for her pulse, just as Liam had done. Like the shithead wasn’t the one to do it.
“She’s gone. I already checked,” Liam says to him. Oren blows out his cheeks and shakes his head in disbelief. I nearly choke on the laugh threatening to burst out of me. “We need to wrap this up—call this in, and go.”