Playing Easy to Get

by Kresley Cole

  But at least he didn’t see anyone.

  Then again, that didn’t mean much. He knew from experience just how well someone like, oh say, him could blend into the background until he struck. Whoever was working with Paulie could be lurking around any corner, watching them. So they would have to move slowly to get out of here.

  He turned back to find Allison staring at him. He offered her a smile. “We’re going to work our way around to the front of the hotel and get on my motorcycle.”

  “Okay.”

  As they eased their way around to the side of the building, she proved herself. She must have been one hell of a hunter as a kid. The woman could move every bit as silently as he did. There were no missteps or mistakes. Allison handled herself like a pro.

  Vince kept his eyes peeled as they stayed close to the wall, behind the shrubs. Luckily, he saw nothing. Everything was quiet and normal.

  At least until they came around the last hedge. He froze instantly with Allison following suit. She ducked down, out of sight, while he continued to glare.

  There was a man in front of the door, talking to “Harry.” And as Vince watched them, his gaze turned red. It was Tony, Gino’s son and right hand. If Gino couldn’t come himself, he’d sent old Tone out to get him.

  It figured.

  And Tony knew the little prick who was playing Harry. Well, by the looks of things. They were too friendly, and he knew enough about Tony to know he was never friendly with strangers. Harry had to have been the one to let Gino know where he was. Most likely it was just a freak case of happenstance…. Or was it? If Z’s people were hiring actors, they were probably hiring them out of New York where they were based. Yeah, it was a big city, but in some ways, it wasn’t big enough.

  It would actually be frighteningly easy, given the size of their families, to hire someone who knew someone.

  Damn it. How could he be so stupid? He should have thought about this before now. Harry had only been on the island for the last four days, getting ready for Allison’s arrival.

  Now that he thought about it, he remembered little telltale clues that should have warned him Harry knew about him. The little bastard had even made a comment about Mafia families.

  “I can’t believe I didn’t catch it,” he muttered under his breath. But then it’d been easy. He’d wanted to be safe here and had convinced himself that no one would find him.

  He was a first-rank ass.

  Allison put her hand on his arm in a soothing gesture. Vince covered her hand with his and gave a light squeeze to reassure her. He kissed her lightly, before he looked back at Tony.

  It wouldn’t take him long to figure out what had happened. Any time now he’d check that watch and go after Paulie and Frankie.

  Allison started to rise.

  Vince grabbed her and shook his head no. She held her hand up in a placating gesture.

  “Trust me,” she whispered.

  Trusting people wasn’t something that came naturally to Vince. But at this point, he didn’t have much choice. He pulled his gun out, preparing himself to fight his way out of this if he had to, and watched from the shadows as Allison walked over to the men.

  “Hi, Harry,” she said cheerfully, acting as if nothing were out of the normal. He had to give her credit, she was better than most of the actors here. “I’m really sorry to disturb the two of you, but I was wondering if I could take a ride on your bike? I’d really like to sight-see a bit before we get started tomorrow.”

  Harry looked around suspiciously. “You didn’t hear anything a little while ago, did you?”

  She shook her head innocently. “Just my radio. You ever listen to heavy metal? It’s the best music in the world, but it’s only good when it’s really loud.”

  His face softened as he reached into his jean’s pocket for his key and handed it over.

  Without betraying a bit of nervousness, she thanked him, took the key and headed for his bike. Vince frowned as he watched her looking at the other bikes that were parked around it. She ran a loving hand over them as if she were admiring them.

  Why on earth wasn’t she hurrying a little bit more? It wasn’t like someone was trying to kill them or anything….

  He glanced back at Harry and Tony who were again talking and not paying attention to Allison.

  Suddenly, Jeremy came through the doors to grab Harry’s arm. Jeremy wasn’t quite as swift as Allison. Without hesitating, Jeremy asked the question that made Vince inwardly cringe. “Do either of you have the number for Mr. Zimmerman?”

  Harry immediately clued in. “Is there a problem?”

  “I would say so. Two guys just tried to kill Vince. He’s got them hand—”

  Before he could say anything more, Tony ran into the hotel. Harry, on the other hand, started looking around the parking lot. His attention went straight to Allison, who was starting up his motorcycle.

  His eyes narrowed on her with deadly intent before he headed toward her with long, malicious strides.

  “Hey?” Jeremy called after him. “Do you have the number?”

  When Harry didn’t respond, Jeremy started after him. Harry continued to head for Allison and as he did so, he reached beneath his lightweight jacket.

  His only thought to protect her, Vince shot out from behind the shrubs to tackle him.

  Jeremy jumped back and gaped as Vince quickly subdued Harry on the ground and knocked him unconscious. “He’s one of them?”

  “Apparently,” Vince said, his tone full of sarcasm as he pulled Harry’s gun out of its holster.

  Jeremy cursed. “Fine, each man to himself. I’m out of here.”

  “In your bathrobe?”

  Jeremy hesitated. “Okay, after I dress.” He dodged back toward the hotel.

  Allison rode the motorcycle over to Vince at about the same time he saw Frankie, Tony and Paulie returning. Damn it!

  They started running toward him as Jeremy ran into the hotel.

  Vince quickly jumped onto the bike while Allison slid back to make room for him. He took a heartbeat to savor the feeling of her arms around him, but a heartbeat was all they had.

  Suddenly, bullets shattered around them. He could feel Allison cringing as he gunned the engine and took off out of the parking lot with squealing tires. He glanced over his shoulder to see the others head for more bikes.

  Vince cursed.

  “Don’t worry,” Allison shouted in his ear, over the sound of the engine.

  “Don’t worry?”

  “When I was looking at the other bikes, I pulled the spark plug wires off. It should take them a few minutes to figure out what I did and why the bikes won’t start.”

  Amazed by her, he laughed. “How did you know how to do that?”

  “I’m a Southern girl, Vince. Every male in my family used to love his cars and bikes. They’d work on them in my mom’s backyard and I paid attention over the years. Not to mention, pulling the spark plugs out was a good way to make sure my ex didn’t go anywhere when I was mad at him.”

  He laughed again at that image. “You’ve got some spunk there, Allison.”

  “Piss and vinegar all the way, just like my mama.”

  Oddly enough, he liked that about her and right now he was truly grateful for it. Vince accelerated as they flew down the vacant road.

  It wouldn’t take the others long to figure out what’d happened and be after them again. They couldn’t head for the small airstrip since Tony no doubt had a pilot there who was in the family. If he and Allison showed up, Vince was sure they’d kill them. Not to mention the small fact that he didn’t know how to fly a plane and Z’s pilot wouldn’t be back until the end of the week.

  Like it or not, they were stuck here. And right now, they needed to find some high ground so that they could face Tony and his thugs on equal footing. But where? There wasn’t exactly an abundance of places to hide on this tiny island.

  Except…

  Vince paused as a thought occurred to him. He glanced over h
is shoulder to make sure the others weren’t gaining on them before he headed toward the restricted area. It was a part of the island that Z rented out to some government group for training. Z had warned him that if they ever learned who and what he was, they’d be honor-bound to turn him over to the authorities. But being the adventurous sort, Vince had gone over there a few times just to check them out. Not to mention, he wanted to know their layout in the event they did come after him.

  He’d even befriended one of the agency members, the surly hotel manager who was usually alone with no one for company but his dog, Roscoe. To date, Vince had never seen any of the government people over there for training. But if it was a training ground, they were bound to have some supplies he could make use of.

  Yeah, that would be their best bet….

  It only took a few minutes to make their way over to the other side of the island. Vince kept checking behind them, but so far, there had been no sign of Tony or the others.

  He breathed in relief as they neared the parking lot. On the outside, the white stucco was reminiscent of a typical small hotel that had minimal landscaping. But inside it was really nice, if not overly spectacular.

  Still it would give them some cover, especially since Roscoe was bound to start barking if anyone unusual approached.

  Vince drove around back and pulled to a stop. After Allison got off, he hid the bike in some shrubs.

  “What you doing, Vince?”

  He jumped at the sound of Sam’s gruff voice. He turned to see Sam standing off to the side, hidden mostly by the shrubs, while Roscoe was relieving himself a few feet away. Sam was the epitome of what a burly Scotsman should look like right down to the ruddy complexion and heavy jowls. He was also stout and powerful with bushy white eyebrows and white hair. As always, he wore a pair of black-rimmed glasses.

  “I’m hiding my motorcycle.”

  Sam scratched his whiskered cheek that looked as if he hadn’t shaved in a couple of days. “Why?”

  “I have some people after me.”

  Sam seemed to take that in stride as he turned toward Allison. “She one of them sex maniacs from the contest?”

  “Excuse me?” Allison said, her tone broken by disbelieving laughter.

  Sam offered her a kind smile. “I didn’t mean no offense to you. It’s just you women come here and go wild on us poor men. Well, not me personally, but all the young bucks. It’s scary what they do.”

  Allison gave another nervous laugh. She looked at Vince. “I think I’m offended.”

  “Ah now,” Sam said good-naturedly, “don’t be. I don’t mean any harm. I usually dream of meeting a sex fiend on this island…but that’s probably more than either of you wanted to know about me too.”

  Allison’s dimples were shining brightly as she smiled at him. “Just a little.”

  Sam nodded before he turned his attention back to Vince. “So who you running from?”

  “Hired killers. You got any guns?”

  Sam scratched his chin as he thought about that. “What are we talking about? Handgun? Automatic? Semi-auto? Single action, double action? Water-cooled? Bolt action?”

  “I’m not picky.”

  Sam gave him a patronizing look. “Well, you need to be ’cause we got all that and more. We even have claymores, rocket launchers, flamethrowers and high-tech explosives. You’ve got to tell me where to start.”

  Vince felt his jaw go slack. “Are you serious?”

  Sam didn’t flinch. “I never joke with or about artillery. That’s how folks get hurt.”

  Yeah…this was better than anything Vince could have hoped for. “What exactly do you guys do over here?”

  Sam was completely stone-faced. “Obviously, blow shit up. You need some plastique? We got that too.”

  Vince shook his head. “I’ll stick to the guns. It’s what I’m best at. And I could use a phone. I need to call Z and let him know he should evacuate Allison before she gets hurt.”

  Sam looked back at her. “There’s not much Mr. Z can do from New York. But I’m thinking you don’t need him anyway.”

  “Yeah, but Alli—”

  “I heard you, boy. But we got agents here training today. Let me get to the radio inside to call them and I can assure you, not even a cockroach will be able to get to your little miss.”

  Vince wasn’t so sure about that. Tony could be pretty persistent. “You’re sure about that?”

  “Oh believe me, these guys know what they’re doing. I pity anyone dumb enough to cross them.”

  Sam whistled for Roscoe, who loped his way over to him. He patted the dog on the head, then led them in through the side door to the counter where he had several phones and walkie-talkies.

  He picked up a yellow Motorola. “Yo, bossman, remember the guy I was telling you about last night? He’s here and he’s being tailed by some of those good-fers. He’s got a woman with him who he doesn’t want to get hurt. Can you guys lay aside training and lend a hand?”

  Vince frowned at his words. “What’s a good-fer?”

  Allison offered him a wide smile. “Good-fer-nothings. You know, good-fers.”

  Vince laughed at that bit of Southern slang he’d never heard before.

  Static sounded over the walkie-talkie before a deep masculine voice broke through. “We’ll be there. ETA about three minutes, Sam.”

  Vince cocked his head at the sound of that voice. There was something vaguely familiar about it, but before Vince could ask, he heard the sound of motorcycles pulling up outside.

  He glanced to Sam. “Is that your people?”

  “I doubt it,” he said as Roscoe started snarling and barking. Sam reached down to calm his dog.

  Vince cringed at that implication. “Where can I stash Allison?”

  Sam took her gently by the arm and pulled her around to his side of the counter, but it was too late. The others were already heading in.

  Allison held her breath as Vince took aim, but before he could pull the trigger, the tallest man coming through the door opened fire on them. Gunfire rang in her ears as wood and glass exploded around them. Sam pulled her down behind the counter and she lost sight of Vince while Sam tied his dog to a hook so that Roscoe wouldn’t get in the way or hurt.

  Sam grabbed a gun that was hidden at the small of his back and stood up. He fired two rounds.

  Her heart hammering as more shots rang out, Allison realized that there was a shotgun dead even with her behind the counter. Roscoe increased his howling as shot after shot was fired.

  Sam ducked down to reload.

  “Get ’em.”

  Reacting on pure instinct, she grabbed the shotgun while Sam reloaded and stood up.

  There was one man headed straight for Vince while another was headed for her. She took aim at the one gunning for Vince and pulled the trigger.

  The man flew back. She cocked the shotgun and turned it to the one nearing her.

  “Drop it,” she growled at him.

  He didn’t. Instead, he glared at her. “This ain’t no game, sweetheart, and your boyfriend is out of ammo.”

  She glanced to see that Vince was on the floor wounded in his shoulder. He held his gun up and nodded to confirm that he was indeed out of ammunition. She tightened her grip on the trigger as she returned her attention to the other guy. “No, it isn’t a game. Now drop it or I drop you.”

  Vince came to his feet. “You better do it, Paulie. She doesn’t play.”

  Suddenly, applause broke out.

  Behind her.

  Still, Allison didn’t look. She didn’t dare.

  “Tell your woman to drop the gun, Vince. No need in spraying her pretty little brains all over the old man and his dog.”

  Sam put his hand on her leg. “Put it down, Allison.”

  She saw the confirmation in Vince’s eyes as he tossed his own gun to the floor. It was followed by Sam doing the same.

  Her heart sinking, she reluctantly complied and turned to see another man behind her who was ho
lding a gun straight at her head. Her heart literally stopped beating in terror.

  It was the man who’d been talking to Harry outside the hotel. Which made her wonder what had happened to Harry, since there was no sign of him now.

  The man holding the gun at her head tsked at them. He cast a condescending look toward Vince. “Vinnie…Vinnie, Vinnie, Vinnie. What am I going to do with you? You leave town. You don’t say goodbye. You don’t write. You don’t call. Your poor mama is worried sick about you.”

  Vince’s body went rigid as his face turned to steel. “You better leave my mother out of this, Tony. You touch her and so help me, I will kill you.”

  The man Vince had called Paulie walked closer so that he could take the guns that she and Sam had laid aside.

  Tony ignored Vince’s threat. “You know, I’ve got to give you credit, sending your mama off with that rich prick friend of yours was a good move. But sooner or later, she’s going to want to go home. What’s going to happen to her then?” He paused dramatically. “I guess you can die knowing that I plan to take real good care of your mother after you’re gone. I’ll also make sure she knows all about her son and how he’s responsible for what happens to her.”

  “You bastard!” Vince took a step forward.

  Tony cocked the gun he held to Allison’s head. She squeaked as her eyes filled with tears, but she didn’t move or make any real sound. She was terrified of making Tony nervous. The last thing she wanted was for that gun to go off.

  Oh, God, please help me! In that moment, she wished she’d never won this trip. She wished she were still in Madison, Georgia, in her tiny, two-bedroom house where her biggest fear was the summer mosquitos.

  But she wasn’t…

  Vince cast her an apologetic look.

  “Now, now, Vinnie,” Tony said in a mock parental tone. “You need to mind that temper of yours.”

  Vince froze, but if looks could kill Tony would be dead.

  “Get on your knees, Vinnie.”

  He shook his head no. “If you’re going to kill me, then you’re going to shoot me standing.”

  Tony pressed the gun against her head. “On. Your. Knees. Asshole.”

  Allison held her breath as she expected Tony to kill her any second.