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making the air shimmer above it. He had a flashback, for a second, to his days in the Iraqi desert. He shook that aside and pushed forward. When a shot finally did ring out, he rolled behind a vent stack.
    “Cease fire!”
    But bullets kept coming, pretty hard and fast. Wagner had to be hiding behind one of the chimneys. Looked as if he’d decided to make his last stand here.
    “Cease fire!” Shep rolled over into the cover of a chimney that provided more substantial protection, caught sight of another fire-stairs door on the far end of the building just as Keith ducked through it.
    He signaled, pointing at the spot where the shots had come from so far. Keith nodded back and rushed forward, into cover of a vent stack.
    Shep waited until he was in place, then rushed Wagner. While Wagner was focused on him, Keith took his shot and sent a bullet through the guy’s right shoulder.
    Wagner went down screaming.
    “Stay down! Hands behind your head!” Shep reached him and kept his gun trained at him. “Stay down! Drop your weapon!”
    Down in the parking lot, cars pulled in squealing. Keith glanced over the edge of the roof. “They’re here.”
    Good. The rest of the team could help with cleanup and damage control. Especially since police sirens sounded in the distance. It’d be a full-on party soon. Maybe the girls had called in. Probably other residents had also reported the gunshots. The police would want explanations.
    He slapped the cuffs on Wagner, grabbed him by the elbow and pulled him up. The man was crying and yelling about his shoulder. The idiot could dish out violence, but it didn’t look as if he could take much when the tables were turned.
    “You have the right to remain silent.” Keith Mirandized him before Shep had a chance.
    Had to be done. The man needed to be put away. No sense in letting him slip through the cracks due to a technicality.
    They took Wagner down, met with Ryder who was rushing up the stairs.
    “Anyone else?” he asked. “I had the rest of the team spread out through the building.”
    Shep shook his head. “Just this one.”
    Ryder talked into his radio unit. “Shooter in custody. Coming down the south-end fire stairs. Withdraw from building.” He ended the connection before he asked, “Any injuries?”
    “Just him as far as I know.” Shep glanced at the bleeding wound on Wagner’s shoulder. “He’ll live.” But they’d have to take him to the hospital before they could interrogate him. “Local police can go through the building.”
    Bullets had flown, and they had the ability to go through wood and walls. Somebody could be lying bleeding in one of the apartments for all they knew.
    Jamie and Mo walked Wagner downstairs while Ryder haggled with the local cops over who should have the man in custody.
    Shep caught Keith’s attention and gestured back toward the building with his head as he backed toward the entrance. Keith followed him.
    “I want to know who he came to take out,” he said once they were inside. He didn’t want the local cops to see them and get it into their heads to interfere.
    They moved up the stairs together and took up position on either side of the door in question, then pulled their weapons.
    Careful, Shep mouthed. Whoever was inside had been face-to-face with an assassin just minutes ago. He might start shooting and ask questions later.
    Keith rapped on the door then pulled back into cover. “Customs and Border Protection. Open up.”
    Footsteps sounded inside. “There’s a shooter in the building.”
    Not anymore, and the man would know that. His apartment was in the front, his windows overlooking the parking lot. He would have heard the cops arriving, would have looked and seen Wagner taken outside in cuffs.
    Shep kept his focus on the door. “He’s in custody. We need to talk to all the residents.”
    A long moment passed before the key turned in the lock. Then a small gap appeared, only a sliver of the man’s face visible.
    Shep put