She lunged out from the safety of the table and grabbed hold of Paxton’s feet, using all her strength to drag him toward her. Tinsley heard him groan and then his eyes opened as he reached to his side, ripped the Velcro from his bulletproof vest off, and took a deep breath.
Relief that he was alive was short-lived. She had to get him to safety.
“Paxton, wake up!”
“Let sleeping agents lie in their graves,” Curtis growled as he advanced on them.
“No! Tinsley screamed as Curtis fired.
She closed her eyes, thinking that was it, but the bullet didn’t rip into her. Instead, it was Paxton who was yelling in pain. Tinsley opened her eyes and saw blood pouring from his leg.
“I see you two are together. You’re a good actor, Tinsley but Paxton is not. Only a man in love would make an unprotected run for you. I’ve shot you three times in the chest and you just refuse to die.” Curtis looked down at Paxton. “Well, four times, but you cheated with the vest. The one in the leg was to wake you up. I want you to know I’ve wasted enough bullets on you. The bullet after yours is for your woman.”
Curtis pointed the gun at Paxton’s head, and all thought fled from Tinsley’s mind. Driven by instinct, she leaped onto Curtis’s back with a wild cry. She clung to him as she clawed his face, bit his ear, and tore at anything she could. He spun her around trying to get her off him while he cursed, but Tinsley refused to let go. She was wild with rage as she moved to shove her thumbs into his eyeballs.
Curtis howled and fell backward as hard as he could. The initial impact of hitting the floor shocked Tinsley, but then having over two hundred pounds of pissed-off, homicidal male land on top of her shoved the air from her lungs.
“You bitch! I’ll kill you first then. Let Paxton watch the woman he loves die, knowing he couldn’t save her,” Curtis growled as he rolled off her and landed a solid punch to her face.
Blackness crept into the edges of her vision, but Tinsley shoved them back while Curtis staggered to his feet. A red blur shot across the room and leaped through the air. The Vizsla latched onto Curtis’s arm as Tinsley coughed, trying to drag air into her lungs. She reached out to push herself up and her hand hit someone familiar—the candlestick.
Her heart pounded as she grabbed the candlestick, yanked the base free, and felt the familiar weight of the dagger in her hands. Curtis lifted his gun and placed it on the dog’s head and Tinsley threw.
Her aim was as steady and true as if she were practicing in the church. An overwhelming feeling of Anne Bonny guiding the dagger home came over her as it sank into Curtis’s heart a second before the gunshot from Ahmed’s gun went through his head and a shot from Paxton went through his back.
Blurs of fur were racing past Tinsley as she stood on wobbly legs. There was less gunfire now and more screaming orders to put their hands up. The sound of guns dropping to the floor and zip ties tightening were all around her, but Tinsley only had eyes for Paxton. His leg was bleeding badly. He’d crawled to where his gun had skidded when he was shot the first time and used it to shoot Curtis. A blood trail showed the ten feet he’d dragged himself. He was now sitting up with his legs stretched out straight in front of him.
Tinsley’s eyes met his and Paxton blew her a kiss before he fell back to the ground. Tinsley rushed forward at the same time Ahmed did.
“We need Gavin!” Ahmed shouted into his coms as he pulled a tactical tourniquet from his utility vest.
Tinsley grabbed Paxton’s hand in hers and began whispering encouraging words to him as Ahmed tightened the tourniquet to the point of Paxton screaming.
Tinsley looked over her shoulder at the sound of movement. Men in FBI jackets were swarming the group of captured Myriad members. “Uncle Cy? Uncle Miles? Uncle Marshall? Uncle Cade? Aunt Annie? What are you all doing here?” Tinsley asked as they all rushed to her side.
“You’re our family. Where else would we be?” the person in the full helmet and tactical gear said as she pulled off her helmet.
“Greer! Do your parents know you’re here?” Aunt Annie asked Tinsley’s Kentucky cousin.
“Do my parents know you’re here is a better question.” Greer bent down next to Tinsley and put her arm around Tinsley’s shoulder.
“Um, let’s not mention it. I would hate to hurt your dad’s feelings. He was all excited about going to some convention with your mom,” Uncle Cade said, looking nervously at his brothers, who all nodded their agreement.
Greer looked over at where Ryker stood next to Wade. “Thanks for the plane. My team is outside assisting with the arrests.”
“As much as I love all of our uncles, I thought the country’s top FBI Hostage Team would be useful,” Ryker said in response to everyone’s questioning looks.
“Thank you all,” Paxton said between gritted teeth to the growing family around him.
Gavin pushed in and examined the leg. “He needs surgery. Let’s get him to the ambulance.”
“On it,” Greer said, picking up her coms. “Agent down. I repeat, agent down. We need a stretcher now.”
Greer helped Tinsley stand as the stretcher was raced inside. It seemed to be over quickly yet took forever as
