Cole pointed his gun at Lynch, even while his eyes narrowed through the shadows. Using the light from the suite behind him, Cole tried to find Eva. He groaned when he did. Her arms were tied behind her, her mouth gagged, but she was alive.
Blessedly alive!
Why had the man waited for his revenge? They’d been gone for hours… unless this was it? Lynch’s knife was pressed into her side. They’d been waiting for him. Where was Lynch’s hired help? Had he warned him that Cole was coming as Lynch’s lookout?
Cole’s hand tightened on his gun. He didn’t want to catch Eva in the crossfire. Even a sharpshooter would have difficulty hitting such a precise target in the darkness. The irony was that he had every confidence that Eva could do it herself.
“You came just in time,” Lynch said. “I was beginning to lose hope that you cared. We had a bet going. This trashy airhead said you’d come and rescue her. I said you’d let her rot here. Personally, I was hoping she was right. We were getting bored with just the two of us.”
Eva made a sound of distress.
Cole felt sick. One wrong move and someone would be dead. This wasn’t like the movies where they’d escape with bullets scraping uselessly past their heads. “Get away from her,” Cole said. “I won’t lose any sleep shooting you.”
“Sorry, that’s exactly why I’m not going anywhere.” Lynch seemed far too confident, like he no longer feared any retribution, except losing his pride. “I don’t feel like getting shot today.”
“West is on his way,” Cole said, not lowering his firearm, “along with every Slade we’ve got. They all have guns.”
“Then we’d better hurry,” Lynch said. His hand tightened on the knife’s hilt. Eva sucked in her breath. “Put down your weapon or I’ll gut her. I think that’s how this goes.”
Cole wasn’t an idiot, and he also knew what would happen if he lost his upper hand and put down the weapon.
Did he have a choice?
He lowered his gun by inches.
“That’s right,” Lynch said. “Put the gun on the ground and step away from it.”
Cole gritted his teeth at Lynch’s superior tone. How long had Eva had to put up with this guy while he’d been gone? Cole’s eyes went to hers in sudden worry, but she seemed relatively unhurt, and possibly more angry than traumatized.
That was a relief.
Her blue eyes blazed with emotion as she tried to convey something to him that he definitely wasn’t reading. One thing was for certain, it would be stupid to lose his weapon now.
“I’ll put my gun down under one condition,” Cole said.
Lynch nodded at him to continue, genuinely curious, but not compliant at all.
“Untie her,” Cole said.
Lynch’s bark of laughter rang through the suite. “I don’t think you get what a hostage situation is. I’m calling the shots here.”
“If you don’t, I’ll just assume you mean for us both to die and shoot you and hope for the best,” Cole said.
He’d play madman if that’s what it took.
Lynch let out an angry sound, but in one quick movement, Lynch cut Eva free. And she did exactly what Cole hoped she’d do. Eva tried to rush away from Lynch, who grappled with her arm to tug her back. Cole ran at Lynch. And still not having a clear shot, he got between her and the knife.
Lynch saw Cole’s gun and stabbed at him. Cole blocked it from his chest, his arm screaming out in pain. The firearm clattered to the ground. Cole knocked Lynch’s knife away. They’d both lost their weapons and it was down to fists.
That was how Cole preferred it. He’d gotten into enough fights at Mo’s with his twin brothers fighting alongside him to know what he was doing.
Cole’s fist plowed into Lynch’s stomach. The man shouted like he’d never been punched before. Cole’s next attack met Lynch’s face. Lynch fell back against a table holding champagne bottles and glasses.
They shattered under him.
Lynch collapsed against the ground, next to his fallen knife. The next instant, he was swinging the serrated edge at Cole, who dodged back from him. Eva screamed and Cole realized that he’d been grazed in the stomach, too. Blood seeped through his borrowed dress shirt. His sleeve was torn. West was going to have both their heads.
Lynch came at him with the knife again. A shot exploded through the room. The window burst into shards behind them.