Blood Ties Read Online Free PDF Page B

woman’s skull.
    “Sorry,” he added briefly.
    Without moving otherwise, Hollis fingered the neat hole in the shoulder of her jacket and managed a shaky laugh. “Sorry? Because you probably saved my life?”
    “As fast as you heal, that’s debatable. No, I’m sorry I had to knock you down like that without warning.”
    “There wasn’t really time for a warning. I get that, believe me.” Hollis was a bit proud of the fact that her voice was—almost—as calm as his. She rolled onto her belly but continued to hug the cold ground as she drew her weapon. “I don’t suppose that shot could have been accidental.” It wasn’t a question.
    He answered anyway. “Probably not. That was a high-powered rifle, and I doubt it’s the sort of weapon used by hunters in these parts.”
    “Then somebody was shooting at me?”
    “At one of us. Or intending to shake us up.”
    Hollis wondered if anything had ever shaken up DeMarco. Somehow she doubted it.
    “I don’t see anything,” she said after a moment, scanning the area as he was—or at least as much as she could make out through the underbrush. Not that she was all that sure what she was looking for. “Speaking of which, how the hell did you know that shot was coming?”
    He didn’t reply immediately, and when he did his tone was almost indifferent. “I caught a glimpse of something from the corner of my eye. Probably sunlight glinting off the barrel of the gun.”
    Hollis glanced up at what had become, hours before, a heavily overcast sky and said, “Uh-huh. Okay, keep the mysterious military secrets to yourself. I don’t mind being told it’s none of my business.” Despite the words, her voice was, to say the least, sarcastic.
    “It’s not a military secret, Hollis.”
    Something she couldn’t identify had crept into that indifferent tone, and for some obscure reason it pleased her. “No?”
    “No.” He glanced at her, then away, as he added, “I can feel it when a gun is pointed at me or anywhere close to me.”
    “Always?”
    “So far as I know.”
    “Is that a psychic ability?”
    Again, he hesitated briefly before replying. “Bishop calls it a primal ability. Guns pose lethal threats: I sense a threat. It’s a survival mechanism.”
    “Sounds like a handy one, especially in our line of work.”
    “It has been, yes.”
    “You still sensing a threat?”
    “Not an imminent one.”
    “Meaning the gun isn’t pointed this way anymore, but the shooter might still be… wherever he or she was?”
    “Something like that.”
    “Then maybe we can get up off the ground now?”
    He sent her another glance. “I could be wrong, you know.”
    “Are you?”
    He didn’t answer immediately, which surprised her. From the first time they’d met, she had sized up DeMarco as a man full of self-confidence. Possibly to a fault. She figured he was the sort who would view any hesitation as weakness.
    That was one reason she always felt slightly on the defensive with him, because she was prone to hesitate. A lot.
    Deciding this wasn’t one of those times, she gathered herself to get up off the ground. Instantly, DeMarco’s free hand shot out and grabbed her wrist, holding her still just long enough.
    The bullet hit the tree nearest them with a dull thud, bark went flying, and the craa-aack of the shot echoed as the first one had.
    If Hollis had gotten up as planned, she likely would have taken that shot just about dead center in her chest.
    DeMarco released her wrist. “Now we can get up.” He did.
    Hollis remained where she was for a moment, studying the reddening marks of his grip on her arm. Then she accepted his outstretched hand and got to her feet. It struck her as she did that she was completely confident in DeMarco’s certainty that the gunman would not shoot again, and she wondered about that.
    She really did.
    “So it was intended for me,” she said, holding her voice steady despite her pounding heart. “I was the target.”
    A rare frown