Honor and Desire (Gold Sky #3) - Rebel Carter Page 0,81

area taking special care to do a sweep of the surrounding area. Even if she had the high ground, it wouldn’t do for them to be spotted by a lookout who would alert the rest of the McCarron gang to their whereabouts.

Seylah blew out a steadying sigh when she spotted no movement from the buildings or the surrounding land. August had reached the base of the hill and was making his way to the first building.

Seylah bit her lip. “So far, so good.” She blew out a heavy sigh, the sight glass on her gun was useful for allowing her to focus but it was still an exercise in patience not to abandon it. Both a blessing and a curse it was to be able to see so clearly within the sight glass’s narrow scope when there was so much ground to watch.

She continued to watch as August peered into a building, she could scarcely breathe when he vanished from sight. Seylah cocked the gun in anticipation. Each second mattered when it came to matters of life and death.

August came back out of the building and continued on his trek between the buildings. Around the corner of the building he went and again Seylah tensed as she waited for him to come back into view. This time it wasn’t seconds before August was back in sight, but minutes, long, terrible minutes that stretched on. It seemed like an eternity until August emerged. Seylah breathed out a deep sigh, but her momentary relief vanished when movement at the corner of her eye caught her attention.

It was a man.

“Damn,” she whispered. It was a man, a very armed man, a man that she was certain was responsible for her fathers disappearance. And that man was on a collision course with August who was continuing on around the building. They would meet in just a few more seconds when the stranger crossed the open space to the right of the building August was currently behind. Seylah had no way to alert August, not from where she was, not if she wanted to maintain her cover.

But that didn’t mean that she couldn’t take him out.

She bit her lip and continued to watch. August had not yet heard the man, had no prayer of doing so if he hadn’t done it by now. She would have to act. She would have to do it now.

“Hell, hell, hell,” she chanted as she made her decision. It was only meant to be an information gathering excursion, but now here they were. There would be no helping it, not with her hand forced by fate.

Seylah was going to have to shoot the McCarron.

She focused on the man and breathed out steadily. Her body going at once tense and relaxing as she lined up the sight. She would not miss, not if she was going to risk firing a shot. Forward he walked and still August kept on. They were nearly face to face now.

And finally, Seylah fired. The gunshot cracked across the open air like a whiplash. August went tense dropping to the ground immediately just as the man slid around the corner. He did not move and she knew her shot had been true.

“Get out of there,” she urged August even if he could not hear her. She continued to watch as August took shelter beside the building. The door to the building swung open and two men came rushing out, guns in hand and looking in either direction in bewilderment. They gave a shout when the dead man’s body came into sight and ran towards him. It was then that Seylah knew August heard them and knew just how close he had come to being discovered. He hurried to the right, avoiding the men as they began to comb the area. By now four other men had joined the searching pair and Seylah toyed with the idea of picking them off one-by-one, but she knew it wasn’t prudent to do so.

August was gone again, vanishing behind the cover of the building and Seylah was left with the sight of the searching half dozen men. Maurice’s words came to her mind, the hurt the men had inflicted, the impact they’d had on her world and countless others made her finger press tight to the trigger but she held herself from firing. She shook her head and forced herself not to shoot.

She watched as the men split and divided to go separate directions. Just as half of them