“Watch out, knife!” I shout.
I drive my knee up into my attacker’s gut. I hear the grunt of pain and know I hit the right spot. Relentless, I serve an uppercut to the liver and slide to the side. At the same time, a short blade whizzes past my face.
He’s knifed up, too. Shit.
The adrenaline really kicks in.
I kick my attacker in the chest with full force and hear the ribs crack under the pressure of my boot. Toby knocks his guy down altogether, and a knife slides across the dirty floor. He’s about to immobilize the guy when the other one gets out of my reach and brings the knife up to Toby’s neck, forcing us to freeze.
“Stay away!” he snarls and helps his buddy up.
I recognize his eyes despite the rage and fear glimmering in them. Even beneath the hood, and in this terrible light, I notice enough to make my mentalmatch.
“It’s Brett,” I tell Toby.
We can’t get any closer because he keeps slashing at us with his knife. I could try and disarm him, but the risk of something worse happening doubles as his buddy gets up and retrieves his knife.
Toby glares at them, moving his eyes from one to the other. “You can either try again or run,” he says. “But we will find you, Brett, or whatever the fuck your name is.”
They scramble back to the end of the hallway and duck down the emergency stairs. Toby and I follow, determined to get them while they’re on the move and not pointing those knives at us.
“Dammit!” I snap upon reaching the ground floor.
Toby looks around. “They’re gone. Son of a…”
I need a deep breath to gather my thoughts as I look at the building’s back exit. It’s unlocked. Anybody could easily come in and out of this place, and they knew we were here.
“Something’s going on here, Ash.” Toby matches my developing thoughts. “They were trying to scare us off, or worse.”
“But they underestimated us, so there’s that.”
“Fucking hell. That was him, wasn’t it?”
“Pretty sure, yes.”
Toby takes his phone out and dials Cole’s number.
15
WILLOW
I’m on the speaker phone with Jamie while driving back to New York from one venue viewing to another. The road ahead is mostly clear, but the hardened snow and the thickening fog make it a much longer journey than I anticipated.
“How was The Veneer?” Jamie asks. I can hear his computer keyboard clicking in the background. “Will it hold five hundred people?”
“It will. I wasn’t too crazy about the road accessibility, though,” I tell him. “The venue is gorgeous; don’t get me wrong. In fact, what we saw online doesn’t do this place justice. It’s a winter wonderland, hunting cabin chic. But damn, it’s hard to get to.”
“I thought the Hamiltons didn’t care about that.”
“They don’t; not really. But I had a look at their guest list and did a little bit of research. Some of the people are pretty old and feeble. If something happens, anything at all, and theyget snowed in, or worse, emergency services won’t be able to reach them in time.”
Jamie chuckles softly. “Look at you, considering everything.”
“Well, let’s just say the whole Terrence and Katrina wedding fiasco added this health and safety layer to my planning agenda. Had Thornwood Manor been less accessible, they might have not made it in time to help you.”
A somber silence falls on the line. He’s not typing anything anymore, and I know I hit a sensitive topic. I intend to make sure no one has to go through such a traumatic event, not at any of the events I’m planning, anyway.
“Will, the Hamiltons are really set on The Veneer for their wedding reception, though,” Jamie says.
