Page 84 of The Hitman’s Final Job

People are moving in all directions, confused by the sound, which came perfectly timed with the fireworks.

I don’t want to look down at Rowan on the street. I don’t want to see what I know I’m going to see, because right now he needs me to be the professional I am.

Vaughn caught Rowan on the way down, so both of them are on the ground now, Vaughn’s hands pressing against Rowan’s chest. I drop beside them and move Vaughn’s hands gently to reveal the wound.

It’s on the left side of the chest under the collarbone. The bleeding is significant, but it looks like the bullet missed his heart.

“Keep pressing. Don’t stop,” I tell Vaughn, putting his hands back where they were.

Vaughn’s face is a thing I can’t look at right now.

Not yet, because I know if I do, I will lose it.

Rowan’s bag is on the ground where it fell. I reach for it and find his service weapon in the side pocket.

I want to kick myself for being so unprepared. I knew there was a threat, but I got so caught up living my dream life I forgot who I am. I haven’t carried my gun since the day I arrived, and even when there was a hint of a threat, I still kept my gun locked away in a compartment in my suitcase.

The time to be complacent is over.

I stand up and look around. On the edge of the crowd, a figure slowly moves away from the crowd like he’s trying to blend in with the darkness.

I push through the throng. Behind me, Vaughn calls Rowan’s name, but I can’t turn back. I can’t process the fact that my best friend is on the ground with blood on his chest because a bullet that was almost certainly meant for Vaughn found him instead.

Rowan showed up at the wrong time, and I was kissing Vaughn under the fireworks instead of watching the crowd the way I should have been.

I can’t process any of that right now.

The side street is empty except for the man who’s now moving fast at the far end of it, already turning the corner. I run after him with everything I have, hoping to get closer before he realizes he’s not alone.

When he sees me, he sprints toward a park behind the row of houses. In the dark, I can’t see if the park is just a recreational area or if it leads to woodlands beyond. If it’s the latter and he gets that far, I’ll never find him. Not without equipment or backup.

My first shot grazes his leg. He ducks behind a car and shoots back.

I drop and roll and come up behind a parked truck. His shots hit the wall behind where I was standing.

He’s good.

He starts running again, so I come out from behind the truck and take after him. When we’re out in the open, he fires again without stopping.

Something hits my arm, but there’s too much adrenaline coursing through my body for pain to register.

My lungs are burning and again I’m reminded of the easy life I’ve been living in Pine Ridge. No more five a.m. runs. No more late-night gym sessions in whatever hotel gym I happen to be staying at. I dropped the ball big time, and now Vaughn and Rowan are paying for it.

I raise Rowan’s gun, stop, aim for the leg, and fire once.

He stumbles, but he keeps going, even if his pace has slowed. He crosses the road closer to the park now, but then his foot catches on the curb.

I’m on him before he’s finished falling. The ground comes up hard and fast, and we hit it together, my gun falling out of my hand when I try to grab his.

He’s better than I expected for someone who just took a bullet in the leg. We roll, and he puts his fist into my face once, then again.

I force his gun hand to the pavement and knock it against the concrete until his fingers open. The weapon skids away into the dark, and now it’s just the two of us. I get my weight across his chest and my forearm at his throat and hold him there while he throws the last of his punches to my shoulder and my arm. There’s some pain there, but I’m pretty sure the bullet just grazed it because it doesn’t hurt as much as it should.

I take every one of the man’s punches until I can reach for Rowan’s gun and press it to his temple. I wait for him to understand it’s over.

He goes still.

I breathe, and it’s the first clear view I get of his face.