He was already on his way to Ellie.
“I’ve got her!” He pulled his Mk27 pistol free from its concealed holster at his hip. “You find the shooter!”
Not waiting to see if his teammate had an issue with the order, Lucky took off in a dead sprint toward the woman they’d come here to protect. With the entire scene in utter chaos, his focus was laser sharp. His main objective clear.
Get to her. You have to get to her before—
Another loud bang echoed around him as the telltale whiz of a bullet flew past the left side of his head. “Shit!” he ducked even as he continued to run.
He wouldn’t stop.Couldn’tstop. Not until he got to Ellie.
Please let her be okay!
Lucky craned his neck as he ran, doing his damnedest to get eyes on the woman they’d come here to protect. For a split second, Lucky thought he’d spotted her, but then someone bumped into his right shoulder, causing his steps to falter.
Son of a…
Recentering himself, he pushed himself onward, shoving his way through the manic group of terrified civilians until finally, finally, he caught sight of his target…
Ellie was lying face-first on the ground. Her eyes were closed, she wasn’t moving, and…there was the tiniest pool of blood forming beneath her head.
No!
With his gut churning and his heartbeat racing, Lucky covered the remaining distance between them in record time. He dropped to his knees beside her, his weapon still raised as his focus became split between any possible threat and the unconscious woman next to him.
“Ellie!” Lucky yelled her name even as he brought his free hand to the side of her still neck.
Pressing the pads of his index and forefinger, he held his breath and waited. Relief enveloped him when he felt the slow and steady beating of her pulse.
“Shooter’s nowhere in sight!” Archer’s huffed voice reached his ears two minutes later. “Oh, shit! Please tell me she’s not—”
“She’s alive.” Lucky carefully rolled Ellie over onto her back. She moaned, her brows twitching with the sound. But still, she didn’t open her eyes. “She wasn’t hit.” In fact, the only injury he could see was the small cut on the left side of the fallen beauty’s forehead. “Looks like she may have just hit her head when she dove for cover.”
With a muttered curse, Archer kept his own weapon up and at the ready as he glanced away to check their immediate area. “There haven’t been any more shots. Pretty sure the shooter’s long gone.”
“You think this was Harvey?”
“Maybe.” Archer glanced back down at Ellie who’d begun to stir. “Not really his M.O., but who the hell knows?”
Glancing up at the nearby building, Lucky spotted the cameras there. “We need to get her to the hospital, and I need access to those cameras.”
Or rather, the footage from those cameras. Because those shots hadn’t come from a sniper rifle a thousand yards away. They’d been much closer. And until he had a chance to go through the security footage frame by fucking frame, there was no way to know the shooter’s real target.
“Lucky?”
His pulse spiked at the sound of Ellie whispering his name. He dropped his gaze, relieved as hell to find those gorgeous—albeit slightly cloudy and a whole lot confused—eyes staring back up at him.
“Yeah, sweetheart.” The sentiment just sort of slipped out all on its own. “It’s me. You’re okay. You’re safe.”
I’ll make damn sure you stay that way.
Ellie’s dark brows fell with bewilderment. “Wha…w-what happened?”
“There was a shooter,” he put it bluntly. “Don’t worry, you weren’t hit.”
“Lucky’s right, El.” Archer reiterated that fact. “We think you hit your head when you took cover. You may have a concussion, but we’ll get you checked out by a doctor, and then—”
“Don’t…n-need a…doctor.” The stubborn woman tried pushing herself into a sitting position, but then almost immediately began to sway.