Authors: T C Archer
“
What?”
“
The name is Cole.”
“
All right,
Cole
. Keep cool. I’m going to try to flush them out.”
She rose and listened. A man moaned somewhere near the street-end of the alley. Jesse crept to the building on her right. Hugging the brick, she took one careful step toward the street before the sound of another trigger being pulled back caused her to freeze. A CO2 air-gun spit. She dropped to the ground as a tranquilizer dart snagged her upper arm before it struck the wall and bounced off.
“
What the hell?” Cole exclaimed.
Jesse grabbed her arm and felt slick wetness trickling toward her elbow. “Damn.” Depending upon the drug contained in the dart, she could pass out in a second, or in an hour. Cole shifted, and she realized he was rising. “Stay down!” she ordered, and crawled to him. Her left palm came down on tiny pieces of glass. She bit back a cry.
At Cole’s side, she whispered, “Come on.” She fought a stab of dizziness. Halfway between her and the street stood a cluster of dumpsters. “Let’s see if we can make it to those trash bins.”
She rose to a crouch. He followed her example, and they crept to the wall, one painfully slow step after another. A disturbance in the shadows a few feet to her left caught her attention. She leaped forward, hands fisted. The shadow shifted. Jesse punched, hitting a hard mass of stomach muscle. Her opponent fell back a pace. Then he leaped, kicking with his left then his right. He missed her by a good inch and Jesse kicked in a tight arc, missed his jaw, but hit the nose. The thug cried out in unison with Cole’s loud grunt.
She turned and sprinted for Cole. A woman suddenly appeared in her path. Her fist crashed into Jesse’s jaw, snapping Jesse’s head back. Jesse hit the woman in the ribs with a left then a right. Ribs cracked, but the woman didn’t cry out. Leave it to a woman to take pain better than a man. Jesse thrust an elbow into the woman’s stomach and nearly struck her scrawny spine. The woman groaned and collapsed. Her companion had been right. She was a bitch.
Jesse whirled to see Cole jump back from a knife slice at his midsection. The thug drew back to stab. She clamped her hands together and raised them. A wave of dizziness, this one stronger than the last, caused her to clench her teeth. She brought her fists down on the thug’s neck. He jerked, whirled, and swung at her.
She blinked at his blurry form. He jabbed, and dull pain stabbed her outer thigh. Jesse grabbed his wrist, twisted under, and heard the bones crack. The knife clattered onto the asphalt. Cole landed a kidney punch to the man’s abdomen and he fell to his knees. He tried to rise, but Cole kicked him viciously and the man landed on his back with a meaty thud.
Jesse looked at Cole. “Not bad.”
“
Let’s get out of here.” He grabbed her wrist and dragged her toward the street.
“
Wait.” Darkness shimmered like a heat wave through her. “There’s another one.”
“
You said two,” he replied without halting.
She tried focusing on the alley. Where was the tranquilizer gun? There had been an eighth man. “I-I was wrong,” she slurred “There’s another one, the shhhooter.”
They’d nearly reached the street and no shooter had materialized. Maybe the dart had come from a single-shot model which lay in the alley with one of the attackers. Lamplight spilled into the alley entrance, and Jesse breathed in relief a second before someone yanked her out of Cole’s grasp from behind. She spun and struck a wall as her attacker caught Cole in a chokehold and pressed a Steyr nine millimeter special purpose pistol against his temple.
“
You should have come quietly, Jesse,” the shooter said. “If not for our friend here,” he jerked Cole back, “we would’ve had you.”
Jesse looked past Cole’s broad shoulder at the shooter, who stood five nine, with a little flab on his arms and the beginnings of a spare tire around his waist. The guy talked tough, but his fear cut through the air. In any case, if she made a move, Cole would die.
“
You can’t kill him and shoot me before I get to you,” she told the guy.
His gaze flicked to the gash in her arm, then back at her face. “The drug’s already working. In twenty seconds, you won’t be a factor.”
“
You’ll kill him anyway.” Jesse saw Cole’s fists clench, but kept her focus on the shooter, hoping the cowboy had sense enough to keep cool. “Leave no witnesses.” It was a shot in the dark, but maybe she’d strike a nerve.
The man’s mouth twisted in an arrogant smile, and Jesse flicked a disgusted look at his Steyr nine millimeter. The fool thought he could play with the big boys. He didn’t understand that Lanton’s leave no witnesses rule would eventually come to roost on his doorstep and he’d never see it coming.
“
What do you want?” she asked.
“
I have a car parked on the street. You’re going to walk over there, then your friend here will tie you up in the back seat.”
Jesse snorted, as much to clear her mind of the drug as in derision. “And you’ll just let him go.”
“
You don’t have a choice.”
“
All right. Let’s go.”
“
Don’t do—” Cole began.
“
Shut up!” she snapped. “I’m tired of running.”
The shooter kept fifteen feet between them until Jesse reached a Pontiac Starfire parked under a burned out streetlight.
“
Stop,” he said. “Get in.”
Jesse faced him. “Time to renegotiate. Once I’m tied up, there’s nothing to stop you from killing him. I might as well run now.”
“
Try and I’ll shoot you first.” He swung the pistol toward her.
She ducked, lunging forward as the gun fired. Searing pain passed through her shoulder. Before he could squeeze off another round, she tackled him, with Cole sandwiched between them. She seized the hand gripping the gun, wrenching the wrist back in a grip that would cripple a boxer. A snap of bone sounded, and the pistol fell from his grasp. Cole elbowed him in the ribs and twisted from his hold as Jesse leaped to her feet and kicked the man below the ribcage. The shooter gasped. Cole sprang up, wheezing. Jesse’s vision blurred and she reared backward.
“
You all right?” he demanded.
Her attention snapped onto the tiny movement of the shooter’s left hand at his side. Cole must have seen it as well. He stepped toward the shooter, but she jumped between them, knocking Cole back. The shooter flipped open a French switchblade and sliced through her jeans in one movement, opening a long wound down her leg. She reeled.
A strong hand closed around her shoulder and yanked her back. She whirled, brought a fist up, but tumbled onto the sidewalk. In a blur, she saw Cole kick the knife from the shooter’s hand, then throw a punch that cracked so loudly it penetrated the ringing in her ears. Cole approached her, but vanished in a world of black.
CHAPTER NINE
Jesse awoke to sunlight shining through thin ivory colored curtains opposite her. She bolted upright. Her gaze caught on a pile of bloody surgical instruments lying in disarray on a rolling aluminum tray near the foot of the hospital bed where she lay.
“
Easy now,” came a male voice to her right.
She jerked her head to face the speaker who sat in a chair beside her. Through a blurry haze, Jesse took in the sandy blond hair, the angular features of his face, and quizzical blue eyes, but found nothing familiar about this man. A flutter brushed the inside of her stomach. Muscular arms were crossed over a broad chest, and jean-clad legs stretched to where ankle was crossed over ankle in a causal manner that bellied the power in his size.
The fog in her mind persisted, but she forced a calm voice. “Where am I?”
“
Relax, Jesse.” His soft drawl moved over her like a cool mist. “You’re safe.”
She tensed.
This stranger knows my name—my real name.
She grabbed his lapel and pulled his face close to hers. “Who are you?”
He placed a hand over hers. Warm fingers disengaged her fist with gentle pressure. “Take it easy.” He released her. “You’ve had a rough night.”
Rough night? The events of last night flooded back in jumbled images. The alley, the hoodlums, the woman…Jesse focused on the man who had attempted to rescue her. Attempted—hell—he
had
rescued her.
She relaxed back against the pillow and gingerly touched her jaw. The bruise felt like she’d been battered by a prizefighter. “Who hit me?” She winced even as memory of the woman’s fist materialized with painful vividness.
Cole shook his head in a slow, somber movement. “I don’t know, but by the looks of your face, they packed quite a wallop.”
Jesse surveyed the rest of the room, typical of a doctor’s examination room; tile floor, white walls, small sink and counter, x-ray backlight fixture. “Where are we?”
“
The office of Doctor Charles Rayburn,” he replied. “A long-time friend.”
She touched the bandage on her left shoulder. “How did he do on the patch job?”
“
Not bad, considering he’s a general practitioner, not a surgeon. The bullet went clear through, so he didn’t have to dig it out. Made things a lot easier.”
Jesse pulled back the sheet which covered her to the waist. The right leg of her jeans had become cut-offs. Taped gauze encircled her right thigh and shin. “How bad was it?”
“
Looks worse than it is. Only seventeen stitches.” He shook his head. “You’ve got nine lives, Jesse.”
Yeah, and she’d used up half of them. “Why didn’t he call the police?”
Cole shrugged. “He’s doing me a favor.”
“
He must owe you.”
“
He’s an old family friend. Now I owe him, big time.”
Jesse laughed, grimacing at the jar to her head. “We’re not in Texas, are we?”
“
Upper Westchester County, New York.”
“
Upper Westchester? Where in upper Westchester?”
“
Pleasantville.”
“
Where’s the doctor?” she asked.
“
He got an emergency call from the hospital.”
“
How did you get me here?”
“
The Starfire.”
The tall Texan didn’t look the type to commit grand theft auto. “No car of your own?” she asked.
“
I have a rental, but took the train into the city. I’m visiting a friend.”
This was getting complicated. “What friend?”
“
A Navy buddy.”
“
You’re an officer?” she asked.
“
Was. A Lieutenant. I worked as an aid.”
That explained his lack of fighting skills. Surprising, considering his size—though he had handled the shooter well. “And you were lucky enough to be walking down Seventh Avenue last night. What were you doing there?”
“
Liberty-versus-Indiana.” His grin went lopsided, and she startled at the jump in her pulse. “I went to the game at Madison Square Garden,” he added.
“
And you didn’t catch the subway from Penn Station?”
Cole looked sheepish. “It’s hotter in the bowels of New York City than the worst day in Dallas.”
“
So you decided to walk from Midtown to…” She raised a questioning brow.
“
Grand Central.”
“
You’d rather face the thugs who walk above ground then the heat below?”
His blue eyes locked with hers. “What were
you
doing there?”
“
The thugs above ground don’t bother me,” she replied.
“
That doesn’t answer my question.”
“
I don’t care for crowds.”
“
What were you doing in that alley to begin with?”
She snorted. “Being stupid.”
He gave her a
you got that right
look, then said, “You could have left me there.” His tone suggested that’s what he had expected.
Jesse started to demand an explanation, then realized he’d probably heard how New Yorkers weren’t the neighborly sort like those from his home state. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes against the dull ache radiating from her shoulder. Whatever the doctor had given her for pain had nearly worn off.
“
I don’t know about you, but I’m getting hungry. Has this doctor of yours got anything to eat around here?”
He gave no immediate response and she started to open her eyes when something cold and wet touched her hand. She recoiled, her eyes snapping open. “What the—” A beast of a dog, a German shepherd, nuzzled her hand.
“
That’s quite a compliment,” Cole said, rubbing the dog above its collar. “Lancelot doesn’t like just anyone.”
“
He’s magnificent.” Jesse buried her fingers in the plush black fur on the back of his neck.
A fierce intelligence gleamed through the canine’s dark eyes. She was instantly captivated. He regarded her with a calm, self-assured manner which said he understood her infatuation and would tolerate it.
“
Is he yours?” Jesse asked.
“
No. He belongs to Charlie.”
She paused in her massage of Lancelot’s neck and looked up to find Cole staring.