Into the Flames (Perilous Connections: Book Two) (2 page)

The force of my body slams Emmanuel’
s head into the
front of
Daphn
e’s
wood dresser
with
a muted bang. I am immediately g
rateful for that stroke of luck.
I have only h
eard
of a tenth
of the barbarous acts committed by
this
notorious
hit-man.

The man that Pablo
Guarez
, my former boss,
has sent to kill me
.

I rear back and slam my fist into his still stunned face, the i
mpact jars the bones in my hand, making me wince.

But he shakes off my blow like a pro, and the savage
black
eyes focus on me,
he blocks my next blow,
m
uttering
a string of Spanish
obscenities and I don’t even see his left coming until it connects with
my jaw. Blood, salty
and thick floods my mouth and I barely manage to throw
up a defensive punch before he jerks his
legs and
tries to heave my body off him. But I’m
not exactly a lightweight
and I use my lower body to cut off his mome
ntum,
and
seize the chance to propel
myself back
away
from him.
I wince in agony as
my back slams
into the wood of Daphne’
s
bed
,
it sends the
breath whooshing out
of me
.

Emmanuel
lunges at me and I throw myself sideways
but he still manages to land on top of me, his
weight
pins
me down
as I struggle to dislodge him
and
I catch the gleam
of
a
wicked looking knife half concealed under Daphne’s
bed
.

A
utomatically I reach for it but he grabs the back of my hair and tries to slam my face into the floor. It takes all my strength and concentration to keep my head from reaching Emmanuel’s target. I rear back and his hands wrap around
my
chest and we go tumbling back
wards
again o
nto the f
loor. S
omehow we disengage and both of us scramble to our feet, chests heaving, eyes glaring
darkly
into each other’s.

There are no shouts or curses from either of us, just
a deadly confrontation between two combatants who know they mu
st go through the other to win.

Daphne moves and the twitch of my neck almost
cost
s
me my life
. M
y hands shoot ou
t just in time to block a lethal
kick which wo
uld have knocked me off my feet but
the strength of the blow
throws me off balance and faster than a snake Emmanuel manages to scoop the knife out from under the bed.
In
mid-air I evade
a wicked
upward
stab aimed at my crouch. B
efore he can retreat
,
I latc
h onto his wrist
with all my strength an
d snap
it backwards,
then slam it
to the
floor
. T
he sound of the
bones crunch
ing
from the unnatural angle
fills the room, and Emmanuel’s mouth opens in a silent scream, the knife tumbles from his hand and mercilessly I
press my entire body weight down unto his broken hand.

Spittle flies from his mouth as
he hisses in pain
,
“
You fucking bastard,
”
he snarls
between clenched teeth.

I grin evilly, enjoying giving him back just a li
ttle of what he’d always loved
handing out to others.
“
Yeah
, that’s me.”

But I
underestimated the effects of my charm
because even with a broken hand
Emmanuel lunges forward, a move that should have been impossible with my two hund
red pounds of muscle pinning one of his hands to the ground and
he
head-butts me viciously.
Though it misses my nose, his intended target, the top of my cheekbones erupts in flames at the impact from his head.

Artificial tears fill my eyes, causing my
vision
to swim
.
I blink them away rapidly. T
he p
ain is nothing. To let go of Emmanuel
, who is worse than
the poisonous
bushmast
er
snake, would be even
more fatal. I would not have
hour
s
to live.
Perhaps milliseconds.

Through a supreme effort I barely duck a
vicious
left hook from him
with his good arm and I use the off balance created by his failed blow t
o deliver one of
my own straight to his temple, the impact is stunning for both of us and a
gust of moist air whoosh
es
from
of his
mouth. S
pittle hits
my cheek
. Still he isn’t done and despite myself I experience a grudging admiration for his ruth
less stamina. B
ut I have to be ruthless too and
I slam my fist down repeated
ly
in
his
face, his head, every available surface c
overed by skin, bone and flesh.

He flails
madly at me but he is slowing down and
I seize the
miraculous
second
chance and land
a
not
her blow
to his temple.
H
is body convulses and I rear back
for
another attempt when
his eyes roll back into his head a
nd he mercifully goes limp
beneath me.
I hold still for a few more seconds, not daring to believe
it. W
hen nothing happens
for several tense heartbeats,
I
allow myself to
slump forward
and try
to catch my brea
th
.

But I’
m not taking any chances. I grip the end of Daphne’s sheets, spilled haphazardly acr
oss the bed in our struggle and
in less than a minute using Emmanuel’s
knife
I cut the bedding to strips and
bound hi
m as thoroug
hly as I can.

I look around wildly for a reinf
orced place to secure him to
but
neither Daphne’s dresser nor
be
d is any
good as
they are not heavy enough
.

I
test the bed to make sure and
see a small circle
of blood
in the middle of the sheet
.
A rush of guilty
memories
assails me
of how
good, how incredible it had been
taking her
upon
that very sheet
only several hours
before.

Guiltily I snap myself out of the past and
focus determinedly on the uglier
consequence
s
of my actions. I have now truly involved
Daphne in
the constant danger which has
been seeking
my life for the past year.

And it is too late to try and keep her out of this
. I shake off the feel
ing of foreboding which descends upon
me
.

I
jump to my feet, suck in several
ragged breath
s, my chest
heaving like a boat on a hurricane tossed sea.
My eyes rake the room.
There is nothing else amiss.

As I had listened at the door, my heart racing so hard I was sure that it would drain me
of vital energy
before I could take any further action, I was sure that he had
already harmed Daphne.

A
small
part of me
had wanted to l
eave, to grasp at
the chance at life which my marriage to Daphne and its resultant citizenship had given me.
The opportunity to move about the varied is
lands of the Caribbean
unknown and unseen
.
Not having to stay in any one place longer than necess
ary.

All this had been within reach if I had walked away and left her in harm’s way. E
ven now I could
groan aloud at the missed chance, but a larger par
t of me,
my
damned
conscience
most likely
,
had
chosen this morning to
re-awaken after these many years
.

Despite my promise to her that I would
disappe
ar from her life
, a
fter making love to her I found that
I couldn’t leave without giving her the simple decency of a
goodbye.

I snap out of my ill-timed reverie. Hard, brutal men like Emmanuel did not stay under for long like normal men. The killer in him would awaken and he woul
d be after us the moment he came around.

I rush over to
Daphne
. Unlike any other woman I have ever known, she has managed to remain silent this entire time.

But
she
is cringing
in
a corner. N
aked,
tremulous
eyes rise to watch me approach. I
nstead of fear, they look numb, and I see a
flash of hate
directed at me
.

I steel mysel
f against it. I deserve it
all.
I am responsible
for the harm that has already come to her
and so much more.

But I can’t change any of it now
. I g
rab he
r by the arm, pull her to her feet, her knees buckle and I gather her
tenderly to my chest. I feel the frantic thud of her heart through the soft crush of her breasts. I try to ignore that par
t of me that unbelievably wants to bed
her
again
.
“Get dress
ed now.
”
My voice is harsh with fear for her
, for us
.

With surprising strength she tears herself from my
hold,
the hate illuminates her golden eyes.
“Don’t you ever touch me again,” she spits.

I flinch. I deserve that.
But this is not the tim
e for righteous outrage
.

“
If you haven’t notice,” I
jerk
my head in the direction of the unconscious Emmanuel, “t
his is
not the time for silly tantrums,” I snap
at her,
“g
et dressed. We’ve got to go now.”

She rakes me with a look so
cold,
a shiver goes down my spine. “I will not go any
where with you. Why are you back
? You promised that you would leave and never com
e back. Why?” she screams at me.

Finally her emotions are coming through, her anger and dislike are so plain to see,
I
have to
close my eyes briefly to block out the
unexpected
pain of it.
Then
I hear
the
fain
t stirring
s
from beyond the door, shuffling feet, frantic whispers.
Elaine and Aubrey
are awake
.
We’ve got to get them and leave now.

My face falls into harsh lines.
“In case you haven’t noticed
m
y
unwanted
reappearance wasn’t exactly ill-timed,” I spit back.
She can loathe me all she wants but can she be so dense, so blinded by her emotions as not to see what could have happened to her if I hadn’t shown up
?