Page 1 of Goodnight, Sinners

Chapter One

An explosion shook the building.

Though they’d fought their own personal battle, the war still raged on the floors below them.

Shaun tried to blink the dust away, then realized it was catching in her eyelashes. Drywall, plaster and pulverized stone were floating in the air, coating everything around them.

“Jozef,” she croaked, rubbing her eyes. “We have to go.”

He was sitting next to his uncle’s body, a look of shell-shocked despair on his face.

He looked at her, and for a moment she doubted he recognized her.

“We have to go,” she urged again.

He shook his head and a cloud of dust lifted from his hair. His expression hardened as he gave a quick, decisive nod. He pushed to his feet and signed at her as he strode to her side.

She blinked again, trying to clear her vision enough to see what he was saying.

“No,” she said, moving away from his reaching hands. “I’m not going back into the safe room again.”

He growled and moved toward her, his intent clear.

“I’m going with you,” she said stubbornly. “I’ve worked in battle zones. You have to trust that I can do this. I know how to stay out of the way and let the soldiers work. I just want to help.”

When he still looked indecisive, she snapped, “My mother could be bleeding out on the floor somewhere in this building. You’re taking me with you.”

He gave a curt nod and signed,you stay behind me and listen to every word I say.

“Yes, I will.”

Jozef grabbed a bulletproof vest from a hidden cubby behind the TV and thrust it over Shaun’s head, securing the straps against her sides. It felt strangely heavy, but it also gave her a feeling of security.

When he released her, Shaun rushed to grab the First Aid kit they kept in the washroom. It was fully equipped with everything a field medic might need. It would be good enough until they could transfer the injured to a hospital.

She threw on a sweater, zipping it up the front and wincing as the wound on her wrist gave a jolt of pain. It was strange to think that Dasha had attacked her a few hours earlier. Considering everything that had happened, it felt like days or weeks.

She strode back into the living room in time to see Jozef strap a truly astonishing amount of weaponry to his body.

“Is that a rocket launcher?” she asked when he slung a huge pipe-looking object across his back.

He nodded grimly and reached for her hand, dragging her forward.

You stay behind me and if I tell you to run, you run. You find the nearest safe room and lock yourself inside, understand?

Nodding, her serious gaze met his.

She read agony there, but he was doing his best to bury it. Touching his cheek, she tipped her face up to press her lips against his.

He wrapped an arm around her waist and dragged her in for an earth-shattering kiss that lasted only seconds.

“I love you,” she whispered, before he set her away from him.

He nodded in return, pulling his gun and holding it low at his side.

They’d barely cleared the apartment door when they found their first victim, the guard Jozef had stationed outside the door. At a glance Shaun knew he was dead. His bullet wounds had stopped bleeding and his eyes were open and glassy.

Still, she dropped to her knee beside him and checked his pulse. She shook her head, stood and took Jozef’s proffered hand. They took off down the hall again, jogging while Jozef covered them.

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