“She’s not much, is she?” Elaine remarked, her voice cold.
“Takes all kinds,” Wood said with an air of disinterest. “Want me to place that call?”
“Yes,” Elaine said, not taking her eyes off Sophie.
Ephraim stoodand checked his pocket. The small pistol Reed had supplied was in his back pocket and the knife he’d purchased was in his front. He took the pistol out and aimed it, just as his phone rang. He opened the door and stepped inside.
“Ephraim!” Sophie said and Wood and Elaine turned. Ephraim trained his pistol on them.
“Cut her loose,” he said.
“You came,” Elaine cooed, her eyes hard as the steel the building was made of.
“I’m here, let Sophie go.” He returned.
“Can’t do that,” Wood drawled, his hands at his side.
“Of course you can. You cut the tie, she walks out, I stay.”
“And she gives testimony.” Wood finally let his mood show through with his snarl. “You’re not an idiot, you know neither one of you are leaving this place.”
“Oh, they’ll leave it. Go for a nice dip,” Elaine murmured and took a step toward Ephraim. “You know this didn’t have to end this way, E. You could have stayed with me and everything would have been perfect.”
He laughed caustically. “For how long? Until you got tired of me? Until I started seeing you as you really are? Did you have your brother killed, Elaine? Want Daddy’s business?”
“He was running it into the ground,” she sneered. “Letting people take twice as long to pay their debts as they should have. He even talked about investing more and doing less loans.”
“And you decided you could do a better job,” he said with a wry grin. “Seems like you grew into the position. Became the man your brother couldn’t be.”
She glared at him. “You know I only slept with you out of curiosity.”
“Curiosity runs both ways,” he shrugged then motioned toward Wood, who’d taken a step forward. “Uh uh, Wood. She come on to you? Nah, you’re not her type. She doesn’t like smokers.”
Wood made a face. “Don’t defecate in your bed, man. You made that mistake.”
Ephraim laughed again, this time with more enjoyment. Elaine’s face reddened at the remark and she glared at Wood. “Why are you standing there? Get rid of him so I can go home.”
Wood suddenly lunged at Ephraim. Ephraim fired, his shot going wide and pinging off the table. As the stockier man wrestled him to the ground Ephraim’s only thought was of Sophie.
Sophie, crouched against the steel table supports, caught her breath at the sight before her. Wood had Ephraim down andheld a knife above him, ready to thrust it into him if he could break Ephraim’s hold. She tugged at the zip tie surrounding her wrists and continued rubbing it against the roughened concrete surrounding the seated leg. Finally, she felt the break in the tie and scrambled to her knees.
She rushed the two men and pushed Wood away, the element of surprise her biggest weapon. As he shifted off Ephraim, Sophie saw his knife fly across the floor. Ephraim charged Wood and landed on top of him, his fist coming into contact with Wood’s chin.
Sophie felt something at her temple and she froze.
“You move and I’ll kill you.” Elaine said. “Ephraim,” she yelled and Ephraim stilled, his gaze on Sophie. “You really need to pick your battles more carefully,” Elaine said. “Stand up.”
Ephraim stood and took a couple steps toward Elaine, who put Sophie in front of her and held the gun to Sophie’s neck. “Wood, get up.”
“He broke my arm,” Wood didn’t sound as confident as he’d done before.
“I don’t care. Stand up!” Elaine held the gun steady on Sophie. “You didn’t think to search me, did you, Ephraim? That’s your problem. You’ve always underestimated women.”
Wood stood and cradled his arm, glaring at Ephraim. “What are you waiting for? Shoot him.”
“No. You’re going to have to knife him,” Elaine said and Sophie sucked in a breath.
“I can’t. I told you, he broke my arm.” Wood whined.
