"She gets the gun," Zach told him.
Elyse stared at him. She hoped that he knew what he was doing. She'd never so much as laid hands on a pistol before.
"I may as well warn you, Vimeiro. She's a dead shot. I taught her to handle arms."
"As fond as she seems of you, I'm surprised she hasn't used a pistol on you. I will agree. This could be most amusing."
Zach thrust the pistol into her hands.
"If anyone moves, shoot them!" he bit off curtly. Then, transferring the cutlass to his right hand, he prepared to face Vimeiro.
The bear had the advantage of weight, and he was strong. But he was slow to move and was forced to yield and change position constantly as he lunged and found nothing but air where Zach had been a moment before.
They grappled, they slashed at one another, then backed away searching for a weak spot. Then they lunged, each trying to catch the other off guard and to strike a deadly blow. Zach was strong and much quicker, but he was hemmed in by men who owed allegiance to Vimeiro. Any one of them could cut him down. He had to keep moving.
Vimeiro, acted the part of the bear Elyse thought he resembled. He stalked, lumbered, grunted, and stalked again, wearing Zach down with swipes and lunges that weren't necessarily meant to draw blood.
She called a warning to Zach. Vimeiro's men were closing in on him.
"Just as I thought," Zach hissed. "You don't know the meaning of the word honorable," he told Vimeiro. "Therefore, I will be forced to kill you." He lunged, missing; quickly recovered and lunged again.
This time, Vimeiro side-stepped at the moment of contact, swung around with surprising agility, and lunged, his cutlass aimed at Zach's shoulder.
Elyse screamed but quickly recovered. She aimed the gun at Vimeiro's men.
"You cannot kill all of us," one of them taunted.
"You will be the first," she replied, hoping that she could carry out the threat if it came to that.
The bear lunged after Zach. Instead of moving out of the way, he side-stepped, spun, and brought the cutlass down across the back of Vimeiro's head as the huge man stumbled to the floor.
Vimeiro lay crumpled, unconscious, on the floor. A deathly silence hung over the tavern as his crew stared at him. Not waiting for them to recover, Zach grabbed her by the hand and pushed her through the door of the small room.
They were obviously in some sort of storeroom. Hundreds of bottles lined the floor-to-ceiling shelves; casks and wine barrels stood about.
Elyse had a quick glimpse of the woman she'd seen earlier. She was sprawled on a wooden countertop, her bright red skirt riding high over her waist. The bodice of her gown had been pulled down, revealing massive breasts that fell to either side of her body. She looked up at the interruption.
"Hey, what's this? Who the hell do you think you are, barging in on a lady?"
The man bending over her wasn't the least disturbed. He silenced her with a growl as he thrust at her.
Zach pushed Elyse ahead of him to the back of the storeroom. Another door blocked their escape.
"Go!" Zach ground out.
"It won't open!"
"Here!" Zach shoved passed her. He tried the lock. When it wouldn't open, he took the pistol from her, aimed and fired.
A deafening roar filled the storeroom, followed by a creaking groan as the door opened, and they were out of the back of the tavern. But Zach slowed beside her, and she practically went to the ground as he sagged onto her, putting one arm around her shoulders.
"What is it?"
He braced himself against the wall of the building, his breath coming in uneven gasps. He pulled her close as footsteps sounded in the alley. Elyse held her breath as someone passed by.
Dear God, she hadn't counted on some of Vimeiro's men coming around to the back of the tavern. She could hear cursing from inside the storeroom. They had to get away. Zach took her hand and pulled her to the street. A lamp overhead shown down as they emerged. They could hear voices heading the opposite way. It would take only a few minutes for the men to start searching this direction.
She had no idea what direction led to the docks.
