10. the shot

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As Brock got to the front corner of the garage, Gillian jumped away from it

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As Brock got to the front corner of the garage, Gillian jumped away from it. She shot almost before she got sight of the man, only to force him back and away from the car. Ron and Brock covered her. The man, taken by surprise, opened fire as he ran backwards to the house, leaving the trunk open.

Gillian dived behind the car, rolling over herself. Ron shot the man in his arm and he dropped the rifle, staggering back into the house and drawing a gun from his waist with his good hand. As soon as he took cover, he started shooting through the kitchen window.

While Brock and Ron kept shooting, Gillian got to her knees and straightened up only enough to look into the trunk. The little boy was there, gagged and tied, curled up in fear, crying quietly. She stood up to lean forward, shielded behind the open trunk.

"Easy, Jimmy, it's okay," she said in a warm, soothing way, smiling down at him as she gently removed the duct tape from his mouth. "I'm here to take you home, okay?"

The child could only nod. She nodded back, holstering her gun to produce her pocketknife and cut the zip tie around his wrists. "Now I need you to let me take you out of here, okay?"

Jimmy nodded again.

"That a boy." She smiled, to keep him distracted from the bullets flying around, while Brock and Ron prevented the man from coming out again.

She leaned in further, taking cover behind the open trunk door, and put the boy's shaky hands around her neck. Then she slid her arms around his back and legs, not even blinking when a bullet hit the garage door behind her. "Ready, Jimmy?"

The little boy stuck to her. So Gillian lifted him and spun around, crouching with her back to the car and the house, to shield him with her body.

She spotted Brock shooting from the very edge of the garage's wall. He'd just changed his clip, and now he stepped forward.

"Go!" he said to her.

"Ron!" she called, sneaking to the fence, Jimmy tight to her chest.

The branches moved where they had opened the gap and Ron appeared at the other side, stretching his hands through to reach the little boy. But the man in the kitchen saw them and moved to shoot at them, out of Brock's sight.

Hank's voice lashed on the radio. "They're going out back!"

Brock stepped away from the garage. He shot as soon as he got the man in his line of sight, killing him instantly. Gillian helped Jimmy through the gap as the other two men stormed out. They had traded their rifles for handguns. They spotted Brock right away and opened fire against him.

At the front yard, Hank sent SWAT to breach the house and down the driveway. Taylor came running to help Ron.

Gillian heard Brock's rapid fire, and suddenly his suffocated groan.

"Agent Brockner?" she called out, her heart hammering in her chest when she got no answer.

Jimmy was already in Ron's arms, so she jumped to her feet, shooting at the house just to distract the men from Brock.

"Agent Brockner!" 

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