[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
marijuana leaf medallion hanging from the requisite gold chain on his neck,
sauntered forward. "Don't mind if we does."
He passed too close in front of her, his elbow brushing her breasts, then put
his butt on the bar and swung his legs smoothly to the other side. "Why don't
you take a cigarette break, Al," he said, and then winked at Rachel, turning
her stomach. "I got you covered." .
Al slapped his towel down on the bar and made time toward the back door.
Now Rachel did take a step back. The other three boys had faded to the sides,
effectively surrounding her. Haggard faces looked on from the barstools and
dim booths. The pool players leaned on their cues to watch.
"What'll it be, ma'am?" the boy behind the bar asked.
The boys on her flanks closed in. "How about Sex on the Beach?" one of them
called.
The other shouted back, "Man, it's too frickin' cold outside for sex on the
beach."
"Yeah," the bartender boy said, leaning so far across the bar that his face
was practically in her bra. "Wouldn't want me to freeze my ever-lovin' cock
off, would you? So how 'bout we share a Screaming Orgasm right here, huh,
Doll?"
Rachel very deliberately stuck her right hand out, palm flat, intending to
shove the cretin away from her, but he was faster than she anticipated. His
hand shot out and he grabbed her wrist, pulling her in closer and taking a
deep sniff behind her ear.
"Mmm, mmm. You do smell good."
She'd made a major tactical error and she knew it. The other three boys saw
she was caught like a fox in a trap and closed in.
Page 55
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
Suddenly her lungs couldn't draw in enough air. Her knees threatened to
buckle. Her mind whirled, sorting through possible solutions, probable
outcomes.
None of them looked good.
Nathan was winded by the time he found the barand crashed through the door
without slowing a step, but what he saw inside made breathing low priority.
Fists clenched, feet spread shoulder width, balanced on his toes, ready to
move, he flicked a quick glance over Rachel and then locked gazes with her
captor. "Let her go. Now." He spoke softly, but the deadly intent behind the
words was clear.
"Ease up there, Pops," the boy to his right said. "There's enough of her to
go around. Maybe we'll let you have some when we're done."
Nathan's head turned slowly toward the boy. He shot him a hard look, then
beckoned him with a waggle of his fingertips.
The boy grinned, licked his lips, and rushed Nathan. A simple duck of the
shoulder and he caught the kid in the midsection, flipped him neatly to the
floor on his back, where he stayed.
Nathan had hardly straightened up before the second boy made his run. He went
low, aiming for a tackle at the knees. Nathan waited until the split second
before impact, then simply lifted his leg so that the boy's chin collided with
his kneecap. A second later he rolled the boy's limp form aside and stepped
down toward the bar.
He raised an eyebrow to the third boy, asking without words if he wanted to
give it a try.
Bar Boy looked back to his friend, the youngest of the hoodlums, for help.
"Take him, Dickey!"
Nathan sent young Dickey a menacing look. The kid stumbled backward and
scrabbled toward the door, but the momentary distraction gave Bar Boy the
chance to gain another advantage. Nathan cursed himself for not paying
attention as he saw Rachel fly through the air. The boy behind the bar had
literally pulled her off her feet. When they landed, he let go of her with his
left hand long enough to fish a small knife from his back pocket. The blade
pressed perilously close to her jugular. She instantly went still in his
grasp.
Nathan hissed. "Big mistake, kid."
Rachel blinked. He willed her not to move. The knife at her throat wasn't
large, just a tiny blade. But how much steel did it take to perforate an
artery?
For God's sake, Rachel, don't move.
"Back off, Pops!" Knife Boy yelled.
Nathan held his ground, fists clenched and murder swirling in his mind. "You
hurt her, I'm going to eat you for lunch."
Page 56
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
"I'll kill her." The boy's hand trembled. The weapon edged away from her
throat an inch, then a little more.
"Yeah?" Nathan said. "Then what's going to stop me from killing you?"
"Are you crazy, man? You don't think I'll do it? I will! Now back off."
One of the drunks that had been hiding in a shadowy corner stood and
staggered into the light. His blond hair stood up in pointed clumps like a
spiked dog collar. Gold hoops pierced both his ears and one nostril. Blue bags
hung under his bloodshot eyes.
Rachel's head turned, pressing her flesh into the blade. "Von?"
"Rachel, be still! Goddamn it, Von," Nathan sputtered, then focused back on
the boy with the knife. "So help me, if you draw so much as a drop of blood
from her, I'll rip your heart out with my bare hands."
Von grinned drunkenly at Knife Boy. He swayed as he jerked his head toward
Nathan and belched. "He's not kidding, you know. The man is deadly."
Nathan's jaw turned to stone. "Shut up, Von."
Rachel's captor shuffled nervously behind her. The knife moved another inch
or two away from her throat. He waved the blade in the air around her ear.
"Shut up, both of you! I said I'd kill her."
Von laughed. "With that little knife? Man, what're you doing waving around a
stubby little pecker like that? You couldn't cut Jell-O with that thing." He
wobbled a step closer. His voice got softer, conspiratorial. "But you know,
you forget the knife, give the woman a shove, and make a run for the back
door, you just might get away before the big guy can get across the bar after
you. You're fast, aren't you? You look fast. You're gonna have to be to outrun
a "
Now Nathan cut Von a look. His lip curled. "If you don't shut your mouth, I'm
going to forget about him and kickyour ass."
Rachel rolled her eyes. "You three want to have a pissing contest? Take it
out back. The rest of us would like to get on with our afternoons."
Nathan frowned. A fragile conduit opened between his mind and Rachel's. He
sensed something from her. Some plan.
She was going to do something stupid. He just didn't know what.
Von put on a cheesy smile. "Uh-oh. Now the big man's really torqued. You'd
better run." Feigning fear, he waved at Knife Boy. "If I were you, I'd hurry."
"I ain't running, man. Not from nobody." Knife Boy jabbed the air in Nathan's
direction to punctuate his point.
Nathan felt Rachel's breath. Felt her start to move.
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]