Cynthia Eden - Sharpshooter

“Must be Cale…or Logan,” she said, glancing toward the door.

Logan would know what they’d been up to. Even though they’d tried to fix the wrecked bed, Gunner knew that the minute Logan looked into his eyes, he would know.

Logan was his friend, and the man could read him too well.

Logan also knew well enough not to say a damn word that would make Sydney feel uncomfortable.

Gunner rose and headed for the door. He checked through the peephole and saw Logan staring straight ahead. After opening the door, Gunner stepped back so that Logan could enter.

Their team leader stalked inside, his body tight with tension.

Frowning, Gunner locked the door behind him. “Did you get a visual?” Sydney asked as she approached him.

Logan gave a grim nod.

Then Gunner saw Logan’s gaze sweep from Sydney, to the bed, to Gunner.

Logan’s stare was…guarded. No emotion.

Gunner’s gut clenched.

“Is Cale coming in for the update?” Sydney glanced toward the door. “I’m sure he needs to hear—”

“I need to talk to the two of you first.” Logan’s words were emotionless. Just like his eyes.

Gunner didn’t like where this scene was going.

“Mercer…Mercer is the one who handed down this job. He asked specifically for our team to handle the mission.”

“We are the best,” Sydney said, grinning a bit.

Logan didn’t smile. “He had a tip about the hostage, and he wanted us to follow up. I wanted to get a visual before I passed on the suspicions to the team.”

“Just what kind of suspicions are we talking about?”

Gunner crossed his hands over his chest and waited.

Sydney came to his side. Her grin was gone. Her shoulders brushed against his.

Logan’s watchful gaze noted that light touch. His eyes narrowed, and he blew out a hard breath. “Mercer had intel that an American pilot was being held. A man with strong ties that could potentially be…manipulated by the group holding him.”

“What kind of ties?” Sydney asked.

“Military ties to a covert team.” Logan’s shoulders straightened. “To our team.”

Gunner’s heartbeat kicked up.

“I saw the hostage earlier.” Logan’s hands were clenched. That wasn’t a good sign. Not good at all. His gaze came back to Gunner. “I got the visual confirmation that we needed.”

Why wasn’t he just coming out and saying—

“The hostage…it’s Slade.”

Sydney’s body swayed next to him, and Gunner automatically reached out, wrapping his hands around her shoulders.

Then he froze.

Slade?

“He’s thinner. His hair’s longer. He’s got a beard and a limp but… it’s him. ”

“Slade is dead.” Sydney’s voice was hushed.

Logan’s gaze drifted to her. “No, he’s not.”

“We buried him.”

Gunner felt like ice was wrapping around him. “We put a tombstone over an empty grave.” He stepped toward Logan. “I saw him die. I was there.” This couldn’t be happening. “There was no pulse,” he growled out the words. “I checked. There was no surviving the hits that Slade had taken. With that much blood loss…”

He’d been dead.

Because Gunner never would have left him if he thought his brother had still been alive.

“I saw him, Gunner. I. Saw. Him.” Now Logan raked a hand through his hair, and Gunner realized just how agitated the team leader was. “The features are the same. Hell, I’m not one hundred percent on this…we’d need DNA for that…but the intel Mercer has…what I just saw…it looks like him.”

“G-Gunner?” Sydney sounded shocked. Lost.

He couldn’t look at her right then. Because he was afraid of what he might see in her eyes.

He’d had her beneath him on that bed, been inside her…

While his brother had been held captive in a camp.

Slade’s fiancée.

“We’re going to do more recon tonight. We don’t have time to waste. We need to use the darkness while we can,” Logan said. His voice was stiff. “Syd, I’ll need you to get working on the satellite imagery. We’ll all go in to sweep the area. Then we’ll plan for extraction at 0600.”

Extraction.

His brother’s extraction.

The silence in the room was too heavy.

“Gunner, I want to talk to you alone.” Logan’s words held the snap of command.

And Gunner realized he was staring at Logan, but seeing nothing.

But he gave a rough nod and turned toward the room’s door. He brushed by Sydney— can’t look at her yet, can’t— because he didn’t want to see the regret in her eyes.

She loved Slade, not him, and to find out that he might still be alive, after everything, had to be tearing her apart.

Logan shut the door after them. They were in the hallway. Alone. There was no sound from the room behind him.

Nothing at all.

“You gonna be able to handle this?” Logan whispered.

This? Finding my brother? Losing Sydney? Gunner nodded. “I’ll get the mission done.”

Logan grabbed his arm. “I saw the way you looked at her. I know you were with her in Baton Rouge.” His voice was a bare whisper of sound. “Man, I’m so damn sorry.”

Sorry that Slade was alive? They should be celebrating that miracle. Sydney would be celebrating.

And Gunner was glad. His brother’s death had weighed on him for two years. They’d fought just before Slade’s plane went down. Fought because…Slade knew how Gunner felt for Sydney.

Gunner had known that Slade didn’t deserve her. He’d caught his brother cheating on Sydney, twice. He’d threatened to tell her the truth.

“You don’t deserve her.” That had been his snarl to Slade. But the truth was…

Neither of us deserved her.

But it looked as if one of them would still get her.

“Mercer wanted you on this mission because Slade’s your blood, but the boss didn’t know about you and Sydney—”

“There is no me and Sydney.” He forced himself to say the words. There couldn’t be a he and Sydney. Not now. Maybe after the mission, maybe after—

Stop lying to yourself.

His dream had ended, just as he’d known it would. But he’d just wanted more time with her.

More.

“Gunner…”

He shrugged away from Logan’s hold. “We’ll do the mission. We’ll get him out—if he’s Slade, if he’s someone else…we’ll get him out, either way.” Because that was what they did.

The mission.

Always.

He hated the pity in Logan’s eyes. He’d rather have seen the guarded mask come back.

“She wants you,” Logan said.

Gunner stiffened. “She wanted to marry him.”

Maybe it’s not him. But Logan wouldn’t have said that he thought it was, not unless the evidence he had was compelling.

Logan exhaled on a rough sigh. “We go out in an hour.”

Gunner’s head jerked in a nod.

“Gunner—”

He held up his hand. “Let’s just get him free.” That was all he could think right now. Do the mission. Save the hostage.

Let everything else go to hell.

“Okay.” Logan’s sigh was rough. “But you’re to stand back on the actual extraction, got it? You’ll provide the cover for the team.”

The way he always did. Shooting, killing, from a distance.

“I’ll need you and Syd to survey the area more. When I left, it looked like they were bringing in more men.” He paused. “Are you going to stay in control?”

Sydney was the only one who could make him lose control. Sydney…who wasn’t his.

“Yes.” He didn’t want the word to be a lie.

And maybe it wouldn’t be.