Page 58 of Close Encounters of the Sexy Kind
Chapter Twenty-Five
Ryan stared at thespace where Tiberius had gone over the edge. Was he crazy?
Yes, she decided,of course he was. He thought he was an alien who could take on someone like Atsa Nez unarmed.
She felt his amusement, a flicker of consciousness against her own. “Trust me,” it said.
As if she had a choice.
She had no idea what he was thinking. How were they supposed to work together if they didn’t communicate? Then again, maybe it was better this way. He was safer in the water, out of the direct line of fire. One less thing for her to worry about.
Thankfully, none of the goons seemed to have noticed Tiberius’s mad dash for the sea.
Ryan extracted her gun and took a deep breath. She would give him a few minutes to get a safe distance away, then she was going to create a distraction of her own.
She was considering potential possibilities when a dark sedan with tinted windows pulled up to the freighter. Her heart nearly stopped when two big guys got out, dragging a limp, bloody form. She recognized that dark, shaggy hair.
Quintus!
She was just about to go out, guns blazing, when shouts sounded from the direction of the ship. Was that Tiberius’s distraction?
She didn’t take the time to analyze it. She burst from behind the large metal cargo container she had been using as cover and made a beeline for the sedan.
Taking a deep, cleansing breath, she raised her weapon, aimed, and took the lackeys out with two quick, silent squeezes of the trigger. Looking toward the ship as they were, they never saw her coming.
When she made it to the car, she pushed and pulled Quintus’s heavy weight behind it, out of the direct line of sight and fire. All the while, she waited for the shouts that would announce her presence, waiting for the subsequent sting of a bullet piercing her flesh, but neither came. Whatever had grabbed their attention still had it.
She sent out a mental thank you. “I don’t know what you’re doing, but whatever it is, keep doing it. I am going to reward you in ways you can’t even imagine.” She allowed a few fleeting, explicit images to follow that statement and received a growl and a surge of lust in response.
Turning her focus back to the man before her, she took in his bruised and battered features. “Please let him be alive,” she prayed. Ryan pressed her fingers to his neck and breathed a sigh of relief when she found a pulse, slow but strong.
“I have Quintus,” she whispered the thought. “He’s hurt, but alive.”
When a wave of gratitude washed over her, she knew Tiberius had heard her. Only then did she take the time to look out at the water and see what had garnered the others’ attention.
Just off the docks, the ocean was rising up in huge, angry waves. Schools of fish and other creatures were leaping high out of the water with each surge in an amazing, wondrous performance.
Quintus groaned, shaking her free from the mesmerizing sight.
“Come back, Tiberius, and let’s get the hell out of here.”
“Soon,” Tiberius answered vaguely back in her head. “Stay with Quintus. I shall join you shortly.”
“What are you going to do?”
His only answer was a deep, rumbling chuckle that sent shivers down her spine.
Cursing him under her breath, she looked down at Quintus. He was too heavy to move, and he didn’t look like he would be able to assist anytime soon. Anyone who saw him would assume he had been shot along with the others.
For the moment, that was going to have to be enough.
“Stay put,” she muttered to Quintus, quickly relieving the goons of their weapons and tucking one under his arm. Leaving him was one thing, but she wasn’t going to leave him unarmed.
A quick check assured her that everyone’s attention was still on the spectacle in the water.
“Tiberius!” she hissed out loud, knowing he would hear the echo in her mind. “Let’s go!”
Despite repeated attempts to “speak” with him, he did not respond. He didn’t have to. The swelling need for vengeance within her broadcasted his intent better than any words.
Tiberius was going after Nez.
She slipped from behind the car, rechecked her weapons, and then worked her way back toward the freighter.
She didn’t notice Quintus slipping into the water moments later.
