Naked from the waist up, he looked every inch the Navy SEAL as he took the stairs two at a time, his bare feetthuddingagainst the wooden boards of the dock when he jumped the last few feet. His bare chest caught the glow of the moon, and his eyes were black fire as he sprinted toward her, his weapon raised and at the ready.
“Stop!” his deep, resonant voice echoed across the marina. “Or I swear to Christ I’ll put one in your leg!”
Goliath spun around and Chrissy felt like she was on a carnival ride. The kind that goes in circles and inevitably makes some kid puke up his corndog and candy apple. Then Goliath dropped her to her feet.
She turned to run in Wolf’s direction but hadn’t managed one step before her attacker snaked a sweaty arm around her throat. A heartbeat later, she felt a circle of warm metal kiss her temple.
“Stay where you are!” Her assailant’s voice was as loud as a foghorn in her ear as he used her as a human shield. “Or she gets one in the brainpan!”
Any other time she would’ve been mortified to be standing in the raw out in the open. But with her life dangling by a thread, she didn’t much care that her boobs and butt were being kissed by the warm sea breeze. In fact, if she was about to shuffle off her mortal coil, she could think of plenty of sensations that were far,farworse.
“The jig is up!” Wolf barked. “Your greasy partner is caught and cuffed and probably throwin’ you under the bus to the cops as we speak! So let the woman go! Don’t add her death to your rap sheet!”
Wolf stepped into a circle of light from a lamppost and Chrissy saw two things at once. The first was that his lips looked colorless. The second was that blood dripped down his flank to stain his jeans.
Hehadbeen shot! But how bad?
She couldn’t tell and—
A harsh laugh from behind her interrupted her thoughts. “Just ’cause you got Ricky, that don’t mean you’ll get me! Plenty of islands around here I can disappear on.”
Goliath was right. Key West wasn’t known as the “end of the road” simply because it was, quite literally, the end of Highway 1. It also got its nickname because plenty of folks had come down and then simply…vanished.
With how close the place was to Cuba and the other islands of the Caribbean, if someone was of a mind to, they could sail off into the sunset, never to be seen again.
Fear clawed its way into her throat and combined with the arm around her neck to make breathing impossible. Her lungs burned from lack of air. Her heart hammered with the effort of trying to oxygenate her blood. But then Wolf’s steely gaze crossed the distance separating them and locked with hers.
Did he dip his chin?
Yes! Yes he did! And she was instantly reminded of a story he’d told her.
It was about how an “unfriendly”—that was the word he’d used to describe an enemy combatant—had managed to catch Doc unawares and had tried to use the big Montanan as a human shield. Doc had simply gone boneless and dropped to his knees, which had allowed Wolf the opportunity to take out their enemy.
Chrissy’s heart beat more rapidly than the fluttering fins of a seahorse, but she winked to let Wolf know she’d received his message and understood what was required of her.
Every muscle in her body was tight with adrenaline, but she willed her legs to loosen. Just like that, her entire body weight was pressing against Goliath’s forearm and it was too much for the behemoth.
Thank you chicken wings and ranch dressing!she thought crazily as she slipped from Goliath’s grasp.
Boom!The sound of Wolf’s pistol cut through the night like a thunderbolt before her knees even hit the rough boards.
“Oomph!” Goliath grunted and Chrissy turned in time to see the gun slip from his hand. He bent to grab it, but she was quicker. She kicked it over the edge of the dock and smiled around the bandanna when she heard it splash into the water.
“Bitch!” Goliath hissed, pressing a hand to the gunshot wound in his flank before turning to run.
Boom!
Another shot rang out over the marina and Chrissy watched Goliath jerk, stumble, and sprawl face-first onto the dock. She didn’t have time to check to see if he was dead. Wolf was there, gathering her up in his arms.
She desperately wanted to luxuriate in the warmth of this skin, but she couldn’t feel a thing. Her whole body was numb with shock.
With gentle movements, Wolf pulled the bandanna out of her mouth and slid it down over her chin. Her mouth was dry from the material, but she managed to rasp, “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” he assured her, sliding a knife from his back pocket and neatly slicing through the zip-tie cruelly pinning her wrists together. She realized her hands had gone to sleep when her fingers were instantly plagued by pins and needles.
“Where are you hit?” she demanded, and he lifted his arm to show her the bloody gouge cutting through the thick part of his shoulder and marring the black tribal tattoo inked over his skin.
Relief had her own shoulders sagging. She instantly regretted the move when her injury screamed its displeasure at having been abused.
