“Well, I’m not going to shoot and have every person around calling in,” Elaine snarled and started side stepping around Ephraim with Sophie tight in her grasp. “We’ll go someplace away from the city and do it.”
Sophie, her eyes on Ephraim suddenly knew what to do. She met his gaze, dropped hers for an instant and then looked himin the eye. He blinked slowly and she knew, somehow, he’d understood her.
She took a step along with Elaine and then, crying out, dropped to the floor. Elaine, slimmer and lighter than Sophie, couldn’t hold her weight and she released her. As Sophie dropped, Ephraim dove and tackled Elaine. A shot went off and Sophie cried out again, this time legitimately and twisted.
Elaine writhed in Ephraim’s hold and Sophie took a breath in relief before looking for Wood. He was heading toward the door and escape, only to face Reed and his gun. “Not so fast.” Reed pushed the older man inside and shut the door then took in the battle going on between Ephraim and Elaine. “They got any weapons?” he asked Sophie and she gasped, “Not sure.” She stood and ran to retrieve first Wood’s knife and then the one she’d seen Ephraim drop when Wood rushed him. She glanced around the room for the guns. “Ephraim had a pistol and I think Elaine had one too, but I don’t see them.”
“Let’s get this guy taken care of.” Reed pulled out zip cuffs and cuffed Wood to the table Sophie had been attached to then turned to watch Ephraim battle Elaine. Sophie glared at him. “Aren’t you going to help him?”
He shrugged. “Don’t look like I need to.”
Ephraim had Elaine’s hands behind her back and her face in the dirt. “Got another pair of cuffs?”
“No, but I do have an eighty-pound tie.” Reed tugged a zip tie from his pocket and went over to secure Elaine. He helped Ephraim pull her to her feet and then gestured toward Wood. “Gun?”
Ephraim glanced around and spied the small pistol he’d had and retrieved it. “She must have picked it up when Wood jumped me.”
Reed nodded and the men searched the two, with Reed taking Elaine, to Sophie’s relief. They found another knife onWood, who was moaning about his arm, and got nothing other than curses from Elaine.
“Want me to call the cops or do you want to?”
“I’ll let you do it.” Ephraim walked over to Sophie and cupped her cheek with his hand. “You okay?”
She held up her wrists, which had scrapes where she’d rubbed against the rough concrete. “I’ll be fine.”
He took her in his arms and held her for a minute then kissed her. “I am so sorry I drug you into this.”
She smiled and touched his jaw. “You didn’t pull me into anything. I made a choice when I saw you on the beach.”
“I was a lucky man that day,” he murmured and kissed her again.
The police arrivedin record time and when they found out who they had, the commissioner himself had to get involved. Elaine Hughes’ organization had skirted the law for years, decades when her father had run it. Now, they had a clear-cut case against her. Attempted murder and assault charges would go a long way in at least slowing down the loan shark business.
Ephraim, Reed, and Sophie gave statements and Ephraim and Sophie had to sit through a lecture about not bringing the police in sooner, though he was sure they’d have blown them off if he had mentioned anything. Then, they were free to go.
Sophie offered Reed the use of the air mattress, but he declined, saying he wanted to decompress. When she started to argue with him, Ephraim interrupted and held out his hand for the other man to shake. “Understood. Keep in touch, okay? I owe you big.”
“You’d do the same.” Reed packed up his duffle and headed out, to where Sophie wasn’t sure. When she’d mentioned some hotels and motels along the coast he just smiled.
“Why didn’t he want to stay?” She asked and Ephraim took her hand and headed toward the bathroom and bandages.
“Sometimes, it’s best to be alone after a mission.”
She looked at him and then nodded. “Okay.”
She let him minister to her weeping wrists and after they’d been cleaned and disinfected, he looked at them. “They’re not bleeding bad. Let’s just leave them for now. If you don’t need bandages, they’ll heal better without.”
She nodded then walked into the living room and sank down on to the sofa. “Will you be leaving soon? Or will you need to stay here for a while, because of Elaine?”
He sat beside her and leaned forward, his eyes on his linked hands, his elbows resting on his knees. “I guess that depends on you.”
“On me?”
He glanced at her and nodded. “I need to tell you about Elaine?—”
She shook her head. “I got the impression whatever you two had together wasn’t healthy, maybe not even lasting.” When he barked a laugh and told her any intimacy they’d had lasted a whole weekend, she nodded. “She wanted power and supremacy over you.”
“And I know some secrets about her. I’ll probably be getting a call from the FBI.”
