Page 38 of Echo, the Sniper (Men of PSI #2)

Giving up the dream of fetching my wallet, I clamped my lips tight to fight a scream when the unmistakable sound of a car door handle being jiggled hit my ears.

The shadow had moved to the front passenger door, and in that heartbeat of time I took obsessive stock of the figure no more than a pane of car glass away.

The height was that of an average man or a tall woman.

Buzzed-short hair, or bald, or wearing a beanie or ski mask, which was entirely possible in the frigid night air.

Sloped shoulders, kind of stooped, with the upper torso spreading slightly outward. ..

Possibly pear-shaped.

Because of course.

My heart hammered so hard it hurt as the shadow moved away, and instinct told me they were rounding the SUV’s hood, on their way to a driver’s side door that I was certain Echo hadn’t locked with the key fob.

The ultimate nightmare would be to simply sit there and allow myself to be discovered as soon as the door swung open.

If that happened, I’d have no one to blame but myself for sitting there like an idiot.

I needed to get out.

And I could do it, if I timed it perfectly.

With my breath suspended in my lungs, I curled my fingers on the door handle and stared at the driver’s side door.

That side of the car was pitch-black in the darkness of night, untouched by moonlight or streetlight.

There was virtually no warning of a shadow appearing before the sound of the driver’s side door handle was pulled and jiggled.

With my heart in my throat, I opened my door, the sound of it covered by the jiggling handle.

For one wild moment I expected the overhead interior light go on, before remembering Echo had turned it off so his comings and goings wouldn’t be seen in the dark.

Thank you, Echo.

Without looking back, I slipped out of the SUV and shut the door almost all the way, praying that I’d gotten out of there undetected.

Then horror flashed through me at the thought of an accomplice, waiting in the dark for me to be flushed out of my hiding space.

With a scream backing up in my throat, I looked wildly over my shoulder. ..

And saw only the peace of a night-washed neighborhood.

I pressed an icy hand to my chest, willing the terror to recede to a low roar.

Then I moved in a running kind of crawl to a stand of shrubs.

If there had been an accomplice waiting for me to escape, Echo would have come back to an empty car with no clue what had happened, and my body would probably never be found.

Maybe I should have called him, after all.

Inwardly I shook my head. No. I refused to have any regrets about not contacting him and not putting his life in any more danger than it already was. He had his job to do, and I had mine—namely, to stay alive—so that meant I needed a plan greater than escaping the SUV.

Now what?

Half a dozen scenarios flitted through my mind, all of which took Echo’s current mission into consideration.

I wasn’t about to trigger motion lights from neighboring houses or alert any dogs by running through the neighborhood with loads of panic and no plan.

I needed to stay close enough so that I could see both the SUV and Echo once he left Edward and Josiah’s house.

At that moment, all that mattered was warning him that there was an unknown prowler at our car so that he didn’t walk face-first into it.

That would be a stupid way for anyone to die, but especially a military-trained bodyguard.

That left me with one choice only—hiding in Josiah and Edward’s backyard, the one place I knew for sure that didn’t have any security that could get me into trouble.

The shadow continued to move around the far side of the SUV.

It was only a matter of seconds before the opened passenger rear door was discovered—a door that had been closed about a minute earlier.

Praying that the intruder stayed on the far side of the SUV for a few seconds longer, I crouch-ran from tree to tree until I made it to the gate leading to Edward and Josiah’s backyard.

I hardly dared to breathe, since the vapor of it puffed crystal-white into the night and all but shouted my location.

My head swam as I ducked behind the ranch house, careful not to step on anything in the dark that would make noise, while at the same time hyper-aware of just how freaking noisy my footfalls were—

A hand snaked around my mouth from behind to stifle my scream.

I’m dead, I’m dead, I’m dead, I’m dead...

“I swear to fucking Christ , Rory.” Echo’s voice hissed in my ear as his other arm clamped around my middle so hard he lifted me almost completely off the frozen ground. “I’m going to kill you myself.”

Relief stabbed through me as keenly as a dagger, and I slumped back against him, my legs turning to jelly. Safe. Well, not safe. But safe-ish. I was with Echo, and that was all that mattered. I couldn’t even blame him for being pissy. He didn’t know the circumstances, so—

“Were you really incapable of sitting by yourself without me holding your hand for an hour or two?”

I was more than capable. And if he’d just move his hand I was more than happy to tell him all about it. His anger was understandable, for real. But he had to know me well enough by now to realize I wouldn’t jeopardize him by being a clingy, insecure—

“You told me your ex slammed you for not being smart, but I fucking swear, woman, you do not help your case when you pull stupid shit like this.”

I froze. Hurt pierced through my chest, straight through my heart, and hit the very center of my soul.

It crushed out all warmth inside me while betrayal buried me in agonizing ice.

Suddenly it didn’t matter that I could barely breathe with his hand clamped over half my face, because the inner fire in me just.. . snuffed out.

Just.

Like.

That.

Stupid.

It was so hard—so fucking hard—to find the strength to glue together some kind of belief in myself after Dane spent years shattering it.

Shattering me . But in Echo’s presence—his safe, supportive presence—I’d started to remember what it was to be confident in the person I was.

Self-assured. To believe I was just as worthy and solid and smart as everyone else.

Yet with a handful of words, Echo destroyed all my painstaking work and instantly made me feel like a useless, stuttering fool.

No matter the circumstance, that wasn’t right.

It wasn’t fair .

“Now,” he went on when it was clear I wasn’t going to make a sound, “I’m going to drop my hand and let you go so you can go back the way you fucking came and lock yourself up in the car, where you will wait for me . Understand?”

I didn’t move. No way in hell was I going to go back to the car. Let him think I was too stupid to comprehend his words.

Fuck. Him.

“Rory.” Tightly leashed frustration vibrated in the words being hissed in my ear, and for one insane minute I could imagine that frustration boiling over until he shook me, kicked me, beat me.

.. “I need you to acknowledge you understand my instructions. Now is not the time for a game of silent treatment.”

I closed my eyes. Now he thought I was playing games. Like a child.

Dane had often taunted me for being a child.

Perfect.

My life was a never-ending merry-go-round of disappointing men.

I must be cursed.

An exasperated huff escaped him as he dropped his hand from my mouth. “Rory—”

“There’s someone trying to break into the car.

I didn’t remember you setting the locks or alarm when you left, so I got out before I could get trapped inside.

It could just be a lone thief looking to boost stuff, or it could be my killer, complete with a slim-jim break-in kit and a gun.

I don’t know, I couldn’t see through the fogged-up windows and I didn’t want to hang around to see who he was, which was probably a stupid move, at least in your eyes.

But my survival instincts screamed at me to get out, so I did. ”

I felt him go rigid. “How many?”

“Only one, as far as I know. Slope-shouldered and slightly pear-shaped. Like I said, the windows were all iced up so all I could see was a silhouette from about the elbows up. Maybe I should have texted you, but I didn’t want to put you in danger when I was capable of handling it myself, so I got out to hide in this backyard, where I planned to wait for you.

But hey, maybe that was a bad call. I don’t know, I’m clearly too stupid to figure anything out on my own. ”

“Rory,” he began, his tone much softer before he suddenly tilted his head toward the house. “Listen to me, yeah? I’m hoping we’ll have plenty of time later for you to rip me a new one. But for now, I need you to do exactly as I say, because I can’t send you back to the car—”

“No shit.”

He bit back a breath. “And I can’t leave you out here where it isn’t safe. We’re going to have to work as a team, and that means trusting me to direct your every move from here on in. You read me?”

The temptation to tell him I wasn’t sure I could read anything since I was too stupid was strong, but more than anything I just wanted this horrible night to be over. So I nodded in silence and glanced at the back door when I finally heard what he did—movement of someone inside.

Edward and Josiah were separated, just like Echo wanted.

“Stay behind me.” Without waiting for me to acknowledge I understood the instruction—quite a leap of faith for him—he opened the back door he’d obviously already unlocked, and slipped inside, with me following him like a shadow.

Warmth tingled along my frozen cheeks as I found myself in a squarish kitchen, with a simple wooden table with two mismatched chairs in the center.

A shadow of movement in the hall beyond a simple archway made me duck behind the table while Echo moved, as silent as a ninja, to the corner by the open archway.

In less than a heartbeat I clocked all possible weaponry that I could get my hands on should everything go sideways—a knife set by the stove and a frying pan left in the sink.

It wasn’t much, but if a frying pan was good enough for a Disney princess, it was good enough for me.

I swallowed a bubble of hysterical laughter just as there was movement in the archway.

A second later Echo was behind the person, a powerful arm locked around their neck in a classic sleeper hold.

The shadowy figure was several inches shorter than Echo, making it that much easier for him to get a firm hold on his prey.

Josiah.

Thank goodness.

Though if it had been the gigantic Edward, I still had a feeling it would have been just as easy for Echo to handle.

It took less than thirty seconds for Josiah to sag to his knees, and another few seconds for his flailing arms to drop bonelessly to his sides. Echo waited only a few seconds more before quietly laying him out on the kitchen floor, then fishing a roll of duct tape out of the depths of his jacket.

“Bind his hands first. Then his feet, then mouth.” With cool efficiency, Echo rolled Josiah onto his stomach and handed me the duct tape as I knelt down beside Josiah and pulled his wrists behind his back. “I’m going for Edward. Join me when you’re done.”

I nodded and winced at the sound of duct tape being ripped from the spool.

“Rory?”

I looked up from the task of wrapping up Josiah’s wrists. No doubt he was about to ream me for making too much noise...

“You’re doing great.” He looked like he wanted to say more before he gave a short sigh, shook his head and rose to his feet.

A second later he was gone, as silent as a ghost, while I tried my best to be just as quiet.

But that was hard to do when working with duct tape, so I winced and cringed every time the tape made noise as I wound it around Josiah’s wrists and bony ankles.

In the part of my brain that stubbornly believed I was still living in a civilized world, I couldn’t believe how calmly I was taking all this in.

For crying out loud, I was duct-taping a man who had been over to my house for dinner.

We had laughed over the latest Project Runway scandal, and he’d made me the best amaretto sour I’d ever had in my life.

Yet, as surreal as it was, there was no denying that he was the number-one suspect for who was trying to kill me.

We had absolute proof Edward had trashed the Bentley, and damn good evidence that Josiah had tried to murder me.

If anything, trussing Josiah up like this now was a step in the right direction.

And hey, if you couldn’t duct tape the person who was trying to kill you, who could you duct tape?

Another bubble of hysterical laughter nearly escaped my lips just as Josiah moaned. Twisting the duct tape around his ankles one last time for good measure, I then tore off a generous piece and slapped it over his mouth.

Josiah moaned again, and this time it sounded like some form of words. I bent over to look at him through the gloom, only to find his eyes were now open and staring right at me.

“Oh good. You’re awake.” To my absolute shock I heard myself whispering in a perfectly calm tone, when what I knew I should be doing was getting the hell out of there and over to Echo.

But I had things to say, and by God, Josiah was going to listen.

“I just wanted you to know, Josiah, that you and Edward will never be able to escape what’s coming for you.

Never. You dared to terrorize me—ruining the one thing I had left of my father, and setting my house on fire in hopes of killing me, but guess what?

I’m still here. I’m not your victim. You’re my victim.

I sincerely hope you think about that as you rot in jail. ”

He mumbled something that might have been “Aurora?” behind the tape, but I was already on the move.

Shoving the roll of tape up my arm like a bracelet, I picked up an end of the kitchen table and quietly placed a wooden leg between Josiah’s knees.

It wasn’t exactly pinning him to the spot, but with his ankles taped together and his hands behind his back, I would definitely be able to hear him if he struggled to get free.

With him still mumbling behind his gag, I did a quick check to make sure we had locked the kitchen door we’d come through, wiped down everything I had touched, then headed down the hall in Echo’s wake.