Page 63 of Beautiful Vengeance

She pushed out a breath and shifted her grip on her weapon. The instant she left cover, she needed to identify the shooters and neutralize at least one of them. “On three.” She counted down, tensed, then burst from cover.

Shots rang out. She turned, spotted a man coming at her with a weapon aimed. She fired even as Amber did the same. Their rounds struck the man in the chest, then one in the throat.

He fell, clutching at the wound in his throat. Megan whirled and ran for the corner of the building. Ducking around it, she heard Amber returning fire.

Megan whipped around the corner, found the other shooter. There were too many people in the way, running in panic. She had to step out into the open to fire. She hit the shooter in the back. He fell to his knees, tried to raise his arm but Amber shot him in the head and ran toward her.

“This way,” Megan said, and sprinted down the alley.

Someone darted around the corner at the other end of the alley. Megan cursed silently and dropped to her knee as the person fired, striking the wall where her head had just been. Amber returned fire an instant before she did. The person disappeared from sight.

Amber glanced behind them. “Now what?”

“We’re one minute out,” Ty reported.

Still too far away to get them out of this. Megan looked left, then right. Their options were limited, and equally shitty. Going back the way they’d come was too risky. Running toward the shooter was just as bad.

Megan shook her head, knowing her sister was thinking the same thing she was. “We have to go for it.” The panic and confusion of the crowd would give them at least a chance of concealment. “We have to be fast.”

Amber waited a beat, then nodded. “I take point.”

“Why do you get t—”

“I’m older. I make the rules.” Amber got up and hugged the wall as she made her way back the way they’d come.

Megan guarded their six as they hurried back the way they’d come. No sign of that last shooter, but they were still out there. Amber paused at the entrance to the alley and looked around, then back at Megan. “Ready?”

She blew out a breath. “Ready.”

Amber bolted out of the alley and turned left. Megan followed, weaving in and out of the frightened people cowering in groups on the sidewalk. They raced across the street, darting between traffic to veer right around the next corner.

Back pressed to the brick wall as she panted, Megan glanced over at her sister. “Clear?” Ty and Jesse would be tracking them via their phones. They should be here or at least within sprinting distance in a matter of moments.

Amber nodded. “Think so.”

No sooner had she said it than she pivoted and aimed past Megan’s head. Megan spun just as Amber fired. The female shooter fired too, narrowly missing Amber. Amber and Megan didn’t miss. Their bullets hit home. Two in the belly, one in the upper chest. The woman collapsed, her weapon falling to the alley with a clatter.

Megan shoved her sister forward. “Move.”

They ran toward the downed woman, weapons up. She didn’t twitch, her sightless eyes only partially open as they reached her.

While Amber kept watch, Megan crouched and began checking the body. She found a cell phone, yanked off one of the woman’s gloves and used the thumb to unlock the screen.

The text messages she found made her blood run cold. “Oh, shit—the Architect’s going after Kiyomi.” Who now only had Marcus, Trin and Brody to stand with her.

Amber bent close to read the messages. “It’s divide and conquer. The bitch must have been watching the manor. She split us all up to isolate Kiyomi.”

The sound of an engine behind her made her whip around to find a vehicle roaring around the corner. She raised her weapon to fire through the windshield, but Amber grabbed her arm. “It’s Heath,” her sister said.

Megan expelled a sigh as Jesse’s vehicle came around the corner a second later. The cavalry had arrived.

The back door of the first SUV swung open as the vehicle screeched to a halt in front of her while Amber ran past to Jesse’s. Ty grabbed Megan and pulled her inside, crushing her to him.

Chloe peered at her from the front passenger seat, scanning her anxiously. “All right?”

“Yeah.” Megan pulled away and fished out her cell, frantic as she dialed Marcus. “But the Architect’s going after Kiyomi.”

Chapter Eighteen

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