Instead of complying, Zach lunged toward Jake, who was ready for him. Jake pushed Hannah to the right and dodged left to draw Zach away from her. Zach took a lame swipe at Jake, but missed by a good foot. He held the knife clumsily and obviously had no idea what he was doing.
“Hannah, go to the hallway. Now.” Jake didn’t like where this was heading, and he didn’t want her to end up collateral damage in a fight. She was on the phone with dispatch but heard him and did as he said, leaving the door open.
“Zach, what did you take?” Jake needed to find out what he was dealing with. Did Zach think he was invincible? Or would he fall asleep in a minute?
“Nothin’,” mumbled Zach, retreating to the kitchen.
“Dude. It’s time to quit fucking around. You’re messed up. I get it, but that doesn’t mean you can terrorize people or take money that isn’t yours.”
Zach got a wild look in his eyes and lunged at Jake again. His movements were slow and easy to read. Jake side-stepped him and let Zach step past him. He turned around to try again, holding the knife out in front of him with both hands like it weighed a hundred pounds.
Perhaps it had been a mistake to leave his gun on the table, but he really didn’t want to have to kill again. He unholstered his taser. “It’s gonna hurt, dude. Put it down.”
Zach remained in an attack stance but was sweating profusely and appeared to be on the verge of passing out.
Hannah had finished the phone call, come back into the room, and picked up Jake’s gun. “Should I shoot him?” Hannah asked, pointing the gun in their general direction.
“No!” Jake and Zach shouted in unison.
“I’ve got this, Hannah. Please put the gun down,” said Jake, glancing between the two, trying to figure out who was more dangerous at this point. This was turning into a shitshow fast.
Hannah looked likemaybeshe knew what she was doing, but he wasn’t about to take that chance. Plus, she didn’t need killing someone on her conscience. After she laid the gun back on the table, he took a side-step to reach it and reholstered it before turning his attention back to Zach.
“Last chance,” Jake said, pointing the taser at his chest. Zach charged, and Jake pulled the trigger, sending the two barbed electrical wires into Zach’s chest.
His body went rigid, and he grunted, falling to his knees. The knife clattered to the floor, and Jake rushed to catch him before he hit the ground face first.
As Zach rode out the shock, Jake laid him on the floor. It took about thirty seconds for him to recover, and then he turned to Jake with crazy in his eyes and a maniacal grin on his lips.
Yep, meth. Damn it.
On all fours, Zach scrambled for the knife again.
“Seriously?” muttered Jake. As soon as Zach picked up the knife, Jake swung around behind him, taking Zach’s arm with him and twisting it up behind his back. He jerked until Zach let out a cry of pain.
“You don’t seem to be listening very well.” Jake plucked the knife from his hands, dropped it, and kicked it out of the way. He retrieved the handcuffs from their pouch on his belt and slapped one on Zach’s wrist. When he tried to secure the other wrist, Zach twisted out of Jake’s hold and grabbed another knife from the block. It was smaller than the butcher knife, but would be just as lethal if he got a piece of Jake with it.
“I’m a pretty easygoing guy, Zach. But you’re really starting to piss me off. Shit’s about to get real if you don’t put down that fucking knife.”
Ignoring Jake’s threat, Zach took another wild ass swing, which Jake calmly backed away from. Tiring of this game, Jake took one giant stride toward Zach, hooked his ankle, and shoved, pushing him to the ground. Before he could drop a knee to hold him down, Zach spun, latched onto Jake’s leg, and pulled him off balance, causing him to fall.
“Oh, so we’re doing this, huh?” Jake had one arm constrained but struggled to get hold of the other one. The meth was making him hard to control. The smaller knife lay a few inches from them, and Zach lunged for it every so often.
Jake punched him, but the drugs had numbed him to the pain, and he just laughed. A creepy, high-pitched laugh. Made even creepier by the blood and slobber dripping from his mouth.
In trying to keep Jake from getting hold of his other arm, Zach flailed it around wildly, accidentally elbowing Jake in the nose. And since Jake was as sober as a nun, it hurt like a rock to the face. His eyes watered, and his vision blurred. By the time his vision cleared, Zach had reached the knife.
“Jake!” Hannah screeched from near the door. “Watch out!”
Jake had had enough of this bullshit. When Zach came at him again, he punched the arm with the knife and then used two hands to shove Zach to the ground. He heard a grunt, followed by cussing. He stood above him, ready to hit him again if he got up. Only Zach didn’t move. He’d fallen onto the knife and blood was pooling all around him.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
“Shit,” said Jake, rolling him over but not removing the blade. “Hannah, call 911 back and tell them we need an ambulance. Then go meet them in the lobby and bring them up.” She didn’t need to see this.
Eyes wide, Hannah grabbed his phone and did what he asked. There wasn’t much he could do at this point. He wasn’t a medic, but knew you shouldn’t remove an impaled object. Right now, the knife was helping to stop the flow of blood. If he pulled it out, the blood loss would likely be worse.
“Do not take the knife out,” he barked at Zach before running to the bathroom.
