Chapter 2 - The Crosshairs
Brick dust and shattered glass rained down on my back.
Dominic covered both Lily and me with his massive, muscular body.
"Stay completely flat against the ground," he ordered over the sound of automatic weapons.
Lily started to cry, clinging desperately to her stuffed rabbit.
"Mommy, it is too loud!" she sobbed.
I pressed my hands over her ears, praying the concrete would hold.
Dominic pulled a heavy, silver pistol from his shoulder holster.
He did not blindly fire back into the darkness of the alley.
Instead, he calculated the angle of the bullets hitting the dumpster beside us.
"The shooter is on the fire escape across the street," Dominic stated calmly.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small tactical radio.
"Marcus, we have a sniper in the north alley, take him out immediately," Dominic commanded.
Less than five seconds later, a different gunshot echoed from the rooftop above us.
The barrage of bullets tearing into our alley instantly stopped.
"Clear," a mechanical voice replied through Dominic's radio.
Dominic stood up quickly and pulled me to my feet by my upper arm.
He scooped Lily into his other arm as easily as if she weighed nothing.
We sprinted the remaining ten feet to the armored black vehicle.
Dominic threw open the heavy steel door and pushed us into the backseat.
He climbed in after us and slammed the door just as the driver hit the gas pedal.
The massive car roared out of the alley, throwing me back against the leather seat.
I gasped for air, checking Lily furiously for any signs of bleeding.
She was terrified and shaking, but she was entirely unharmed.
I looked at Dominic, my medical training giving way to pure maternal rage.
"Who is trying to kill you?" I screamed over the roar of the engine.
Dominic reloaded his weapon with chilling precision.
He looked at me with an expression that made the blood freeze in my veins.
"They were not aiming at me, Elena."
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He pointed to a neat bullet hole in the rear window, perfectly aligned with where we had been standing.
"The laser was entirely focused on your daughter."
