Page 86 of Tactical Lies

Something that, in the moment, Becca found easy to do.

She loved Connor and he’d been there for her through good times and bad. He’d made one mistake over a decade ago that had cost them the future they both wanted, but he’d never stopped loving her and she’d never stopped loving him.

If their positions were reversed, she knew he wouldn't hesitate to protect her.

She owed him nothing less.

By some absolute miracle, the weapon she’d left behind when she’d first spotted Connor’s blood, but kept with her when she fled the cabin was still in her hand.

There was no time to worry about aiming. She couldn’t see behind her, she could barely move without risking falling, and she could feel gun man moving, trying to get aim at Connor and take him out.

Not happening.

Shifting her arm behind her, Becca flinched when gun man fired his weapon at Connor. The sound was loud even though the wind stole most of it. Moving the gun until it pressed against the torso of the man intent on killing her, she fired.

A howl of pain tore through the night.

The arm around her waist tightened, almost making her lose her grip.

She fired again.

The arm loosened a little.

She fired again, and again, and again until there were no bullets left.

Gun man was falling, the arm around her limp now.

“Becca!” Connor screamed and she saw him leaning over the edge just a couple of feet above her.

“I love you, and I want to give you—us—a second chance,” she blurted out, just in case she did get taken down with gun man. If she was about to die, she needed Connor to hear those words.

But gun man drifted away, his hold on her disappeared, and just as she thought she had done the impossible and survived, she felt a tug on her prosthetic.

“Connor!” she cried out in panic.

The beam of the flashlight danced about. “Hold on, Becca. Don’t let go. You hear me? Do not let go.”

She wouldn't.

At least not if she could help it.

But the pull on her prosthetic was dragging her down.

Another shot fired, this one from Connor’s weapon, and then gun man was gone, taking her prosthetic with him.

The smile filling her face died when she realized she was slipping too. His weight had been too much, and now with only one foot, she couldn’t maintain her hold on the side of the cliff any longer.

Chapter

Twenty

August 23rd

2:12 A.M.

Impulse.

It was the only thing that saved Becca’s life.

---