“But so are you. You screwed the pooch, Malcolm. We lost major players.”
“That wasn’t me!” Malcolm told him. “Idiots—”
“Idiots you dragged into the ring, mi amigo.”
“I’ve got the money. The operation wasn’t going to run forever. I did my part.”
Malcolm was dragging Sky to the plane, looking back to see if anyone was coming.
“Well, we have a long flight in which to discuss the future,” Esposito said. “For now...send up the chica!”
Chase quickly weighed his options—and his chances. Sky was with two men who were hardened killers, both armed. While it would be one hell of a thing to bring down Esposito, Sky was his priority. If he shot, he had to do so damned fast: kill one, the other might instantly aim at her and...
Esposito turned back into the plane. Malcolm was forcing Sky up the small set of stairs.
But Sky was apparently going for broke. Even though Malcolm held his weapon loosely in his hand.
Maybe she knew that Malcolm would eventually have his way. That Esposito might have fun with her for a bit, but eventually...
She wasn’t suicidal, Chase knew.
But she was no one’s patsy.
She spun suddenly, quicker than lightning, slamming a knee into Malcolm so hard that he teetered on the first step behind her and started to fall. And Sky was ready to pounce, ready to fly for the gun he was holding.
But she might not make it.
Chase wasn’t alone: he had Larry.
He fired.
His aim was true. He caught Malcolm dead center in the back of the head, and the man went down.
Esposito reappeared, gun out. He didn’t know what had happened, but he was ready to take on the woman who had already leaped down the last steps and ducked behind the ladder in hopes of reaching for Malcolm’s weapon which had now flown just steps away...
But Esposito didn’t see her right away. Of course, he would have known from the sound of the shot that it had been fired from a distance.
“Now, boy, now!”
Larry went running out for his new mistress, barking and growling furiously.
Esposito was distracted, trying to take aim at a dog that seemed to have the speed of a greyhound.
Chase stepped out where he could be seen.
Esposito whirled around, taking aim at him then.
Not fast enough.
Chase had known exactly where he was aiming, and with Esposito determined to fire, he had no choice.
He fired himself. The king went down. Sky emerged from her ducking stance beneath the steps.
Larry threw himself at her, and she almost fell backward again, taking the giant pup into her arms. She soothed the dog, assuring him she was all right, and stared at Chase incredulously.
He ran toward her, just as an explosion of sirens burst into the air, and the backup he’d been promised came barreling through the gates to the private airfield.
SKY COULDN’T SPEAK as she held Larry, and Chase came to take them both into his arms. She’d been thinking that she was an idiot—when she’d been thinking at all. Fear had all but paralyzed her when she’d seen that she wasn’t up against just one man with a gun but two.
And still...
She wasn’t going to be taken. She wasn’t going to be tortured before she was killed. There had been no choice. Her plan had been to throw Kenneth Malcolm off so badly that she’d seriously injure him and grab the gun and then duck under the plane until she got a chance to either try to shoot the other man or somehow escape.
She’d thought she had a chance.
Because while she might have been disposable, she was certain that, to the man on the plane, Kenneth Malcolm was equally disposable. And whoever the other man had been, Malcolm had caused him some considerable trouble. Considering the consequences, if Kenneth Malcolm was down, he might have shrugged it off and left without her.
No. Probably not. But there was always hope, even if it hadn’t done too much for Malcolm.
She’d prayed that help might be coming...
How, she wasn’t sure. But Chris and Brandon had known that Malcolm had her and...
“Oh, my God!” She found speech at last, pulling away from Chase and asking him desperately, “You got Larry. You and Larry—but, oh! Chase! Chris! Chris Wiley. He was shot, and a man in the parking lot—”
“They are being taken care of. I truly believe they’re both going to make it,” Chase assured her. “Skylar...oh, God, Skylar!”
“You came in time!” she told him. “How...?”
