Page 23 of Soft Tissue Damage
“You’re not from around here,” says the other man. “I’d remember that sweet ass.”
I glance over my shoulder and see that a third man has joined them. They all laugh at the fear that must be etched on my face. The street is deserted.
“Mr. Grant, I—I don’t know what to do.”
He speaks urgently, but I can’t make out what he’s saying over the blood roaring in my ears.
One of the men grabs me, and I scream and drop my phone.
5
Cullan
“Elena.Elena?”
Dead air. The call has hung up, but Elena’s scream of terror is ringing in my ears.
I step on the gas and overtake two vehicles. The oncoming car blares its horn at me and veers out of the way.
Things have been going down in Fenton for the past few weeks. There were a series of armed robberies and murders, and strangers are not welcome. People are out for vengeance. Anyone unknown on the streets is being beaten and thrown back where they came from. Women are being dragged into dark houses and buildings and being made to sufferlike no woman should.
I drive as fast as I can and reach Elena’s last known location. As I get out of my truck, I grab the gun that’s hidden under my seat. I spot a pale blue high heel lying in a puddle, along with a fern that’s falling out of its pot. Soil has scattered across the ground. Her phone is in the road. I pick it up and shove it in my pocket.
I turn on the spot, searching the surroundings for any sign of Elena with my fists clenched at my sides. Cold black dread is mounting within me. I care about this young woman. She works for me, and I haven’t kept her safe. I should have been monitoring her whereabouts at all times with a tracker in her phone that alerted me when she arrived in a dangerous place like Fenton. I was careless, and now she’s going to get hurt.
From within one of the nearby houses, I hear a scream. A woman’s scream that sounds like Elena.
I charge up the steps and try the front door, but it’s locked. I aim one hard kick beside the lock, and the door pops open and hits the wall inside with a bang.
The house is a squalid mess. I don’t have to look far to find Elena. She’s in the front room cowering away from the men who have abducted her. Her clothes are ripped, and her hair is in disarray. The reason the men are surrounding her and are not on top of her is that she’s got a hold of a large, sharp knife, and she’s brandishing it at them.
Our eyes lock across the room, and hers are very wide, very blue, and filled with fear.
As she looks at me, the fear bleeds away. Her jaw firms. When one of the men reaches for her, she stabs him in theshoulder, a fast, downward strike. He reels back with a scream, and she lets go of the knife that’s stuck in his shoulder. The other two try to grab her, but Elena picks up a porcelain lamp from a side table and swings it at her nearest captor’s head with both hands. It explodes in porcelain shards, and the man falls to his knees.
Holy shit.
Elena is magnificent.
The man nearest me is reaching behind his back, in the manner of someone going for a weapon.
I point my gun at his head. “Don’t move.”
He puts his hands up. The man who’s been stabbed is focused on the blood pouring down his arm. The one on his knees glares at me with hate-filled eyes for spoiling their fun.
While I have control of the room, I take a good look at Elena. If they’ve hurt her, I’ll hurt them tenfold. She has her hands crossed over her chest because her top is in tatters and falling off her. At the edges of my vision, the world turns red.
They’re going to pay for that.
“Mr. Grant—” Elena has gasped a warning, but it’s too late.
Someone hits me across the head from behind. I stumble forward, the world turning white for a few seconds. The gun is knocked out of my hand. I can’t pass out or Elena is going to die.
I feel a doorjamb beneath my fingers, and I grip it hard. Through sheer force of will, I manage to stay on myfeet. Out of the corner of my blurred vision, I see a man coming at me while brandishing something shiny and pointed.
As the knife plunges toward me, I grab the man’s wrist, twist his arm, and snatch the weapon away from him. I overbalance, and we both tumble to the ground, me on top of my attacker. He fights me while I press a forearm to his throat.
Kill him.
