A Perfect Storm

by Lori Foster

  To hell with subterfuge.

  Breaking out in a sprint, he leapt over and around people, tables and chairs. He shoved through the doorway and into the thick, humid night air. Scanning the area, he finally spotted her down the walkway, just a little too far away.

  A second later, Carl stepped out of a dark alley…and reached for Arizona.

  No.

  Silent, deadly and more focused than he’d ever been, Spencer charged toward her. Neither Arizona nor Carl saw his approach.

  But he saw the knife in Carl’s belt, and he prayed he’d reach her in time.

  * * *

  ARIZONA’S THOUGHTS were on seducing Spencer instead of where they should have been, so when she saw the dark, indistinct form growing into a long shadow across the walkway, it took a few seconds for the import to sink in.

  Too late to take the offensive against him, Arizona realized it was Carl lurking in the night.

  Well, damn. Had he taken the back exit from the bar and circled around to get her? That meant he had to have seen her leave.

  And it also meant he’d been watching her…maybe Spencer, too.

  If he’d hurt Spencer, so help her, she would demolish him.

  As Carl made a grab for her, she played the helpless victim and let him. He snatched her into the alley with hard hands and careless strength, dragging her down to an open door.

  He shoved her into a small dilapidated room.

  Maybe before all the whiskey shots, she’d have been sharp enough to think of a better plan. Shoot, even two drinks ago she would have been more on game.

  But even over the limit, she wasn’t totally lost to skill. She wanted to get close to him.

  How else could she hurt him?

  Once they were out of sight from spectators, she reacted instinctively to the arm clamped tight across her throat. She went limp, dropping her weight to throw Carl off balance. When he tried to readjust, she grabbed for his fingers and, in a practiced twist, broke two with a satisfying crackle of joints.

  That got her turned loose real fast.

  With grim satisfaction, she ducked away while Carl let loose a string of rank curses. She knew Spencer wouldn’t want her to fight, but since Carl blocked her way out of the room, she couldn’t exactly tuck her tail and run, now could she?

  He left her no choice but to engage in full-go contact.

  Awe-some.

  Taking a stance, ready, even anxious, Arizona smiled at him.

  “You stupid bitch,” Carl said, and with his left hand he pulled a knife from his belt.

  Great. He was an ambidextrous fiend? Figured.

  Stalking her, backing her farther into the dark room, Carl said, “You thought you had us all fooled, didn’t you?”

  She opened her mouth to reply.

  But he barked, “Shut up!”

  Arizona bit back her smile.

  “We saw you fighting. We saw you laughing.”

  We who? She lifted her chin. “So does this mean I’m not hired after all?”

  His hand flexed on the knife hilt. “It means you’re not worth the trouble you’ve caused us.”

  Foolish man. She knew plenty about knives, so seeing one, even in the hand of a maniac, didn’t send her into a panic like it might someone else. “You’re saying my value as a saleable commodity just collapsed, huh?”

  Surprised by her lack of fear and knowledge of their real intent, he hesitated. But only for a second. “You’re not so dumb after all, are you?”

  “Well, ya know, compared to you…” She grinned, reminding him that she had fooled him and his cronies. “Yeah, I look like a freakin’ genius, right?”

  Holding his injured hand out to the side, he flexed his muscles. “You think this is a joke?”

  Her back bumped up to a damp wall. “I think you’re a joke, yeah.”

  A deep, angry breath swelled his chest. “You’re going to regret that flippant mouth, girl.”

  Arizona took in Carl’s aggressive stance and dark scowl, felt his mood change as he prepared to lunge at her.

  Time to make a move.

  Dropping her voice and her chin, looking at him through her lashes, she whispered, “And here I thought you liked my mouth.” To emphasize the suggestiveness of that, she ran the tip of her tongue over her lips, leaving them moist.

  That distracted him enough that he said, “I can think of better uses for it.”

  Men were sooo easy, thank God. Slowly, Arizona trailed her fingers over her chest and down into her cleavage. “I bet I could come up with all kinds of uses that you’d approve of.”

  Putting his attack on hold, he eyed her. “Is that right?”

  She nodded, but he was busy ogling her boobs. She stepped away from the wall. “Maybe if I’m good enough—and, Carl? I can be really good—well, then, maybe I can convince you not to kill me?”

  “Let’s find out.” Seeing her as no threat at all, he took a step closer. “Take off your shirt.”

  You’d think he would have learned from the broken fingers.

  Arizona caught the hem of her top. “You want me naked? Here?”

  Anticipating her nudity, he adjusted his hold on the knife, and his gaze went to her body. Murmuring low, he promised, “I will tear your shit up.”

  Arizona smiled, prepared to attack—and Spencer’s fist came out of nowhere. It struck Carl in the jaw so hard, a tooth came spewing out.

  Euewwww.

  Deciding it’d be a good time to move, she slipped a few feet along the wall and away from Spencer’s rage.

  And he was enraged. Big-time.

  Would he kill Carl? She tipped her head to survey the damage already done. Spencer held up the smaller man with one fist twisted in the front of his shirt while punching him with the other big fist. Carl’s knife lay on the ground. His legs were limp, his grunts of pain dwindling.

  “Hey, Spence.”

  He ignored her and landed yet another blow. Blood sprayed from Carl’s nose. He hung boneless, unconscious, in Spencer’s hold.

  “Yoo-hoo, Spe-ence,” she sang. “I don’t mean to be a party pooper, but we did hear sirens, right? You think we should get going before the cops find us here?”

  Fist suspended, he stopped hitting Carl, but his chest still heaved. Rage had bunched his muscles through his biceps, shoulders and across his back. He stood with his legs braced apart, his feet planted solidly.

  Ah, he looked so sweet. All that rage on her behalf.

  Arizona smiled at his back. “It’s been a really great show. Seriously. I mean, nothing I couldn’t have handled myself, of course, but—”

  He jerked around to glare at her.

  His nostrils were flared, his eyes glittering, his jaw clenched tight as granite.

  Okay, so maybe she shouldn’t pull the tiger’s tail just now.

  Gently, she suggested, “Maybe you could take me home?”

  On the other side of the wall, police barked orders. They heard the thumping of running feet and the clash of a tackle. Outside, a window broke, a car horn blared.

  “Any second now, someone is going to come busting in on us. And then we’ll have to start explaining.” Hoping to reach him, she added, “The guys really hate having to give explanations.”

  More breaking glass. More horns. More shouts.

  Never looking away from her, Spencer exhaled, opened his fingers, and Carl collapsed in a bloody heap.

  “There you go!” Arizona praised him. “And look at that. You even managed to drop him on his knife so we don’t have to worry about anyone else finding it before the cops do. Good job.”

  Oh-so-slowly, Spencer stepped away from the carnage once known as Carl.

 
“Come on.” She said it the same way someone would call a pet. “Come on, Spence. Let’s go.” Patting her thigh as she backed up to the door, she beckoned him.

  Brows pulling tighter, Spencer closed his eyes for a few deep breaths, then opened them again. Through stiff lips, he ordered, “Wait.” He moved around her to the door, looked out, then said, “Start walking.”

  “Got it.” Feeling lighthearted, a little drunk and sort of…euphoric, Arizona twirled around and marched ahead.

  Part of her silly mood came from recognizing, and accepting, that Spencer was the right guy for her. Not just as an ally. Not only for a friend.

  He impressed her. She respected him. And she admired everything about him—but especially his ability.

  She wanted him in ways she’d thought long lost to her.

  She wanted him as a man.

  Tonight, if she played her cards right, she just might manage to get lucky.

  * * *

  WELL AWAY FROM THE BAR—a few feet in front of him—Spencer watched Arizona skipping along in a drunken trot. He flexed his fists, expanding and contracting his bruised knuckles. All the volatile emotion he’d felt tonight still churned inside him. He wanted to tear apart everyone involved…while Arizona smiled like a kid at a carnival.

  Keeping her within reach, while not yet touching her, and constantly scanning the area, he called Dare. The ringing stopped, but Dare said nothing. “It’s Spencer.”

  “Done playing around?”

  “Carl’s in a room off the alley to the right of the front door.”

  “You immobilized him, right?”

  That was a nice way to put it, but Spencer said only, “Yes.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I went a little overboard on him.”

  “No doubt he had it coming.”

  Spencer saw no reason to explain that Carl had dared to pull a knife on Arizona, that he’d threatened her life.

  Or that she’d been in the process of bartering sex to gain the upper hand.

  “I should have killed him.”

  Dare said, “We need him alive to answer questions. Get her out of here. I won’t be far behind you.”

  “Thanks.” He ended the call.

  As soon as they rounded the corner, Spencer caught up with Arizona, anxious to ensure her safety. “Get in the truck.”

  She nodded but said, “That was so fucking awesome, Spencer. A night I’ll never forget. I’m almost giddy, you know?”

  He couldn’t look at her. “In the truck, Arizona.”

  “I’m going, I’m going.” She laughed as she turned to walk backward, watching him. “Smell the rain?” She flung her arms out wide and inhaled deeply. “Seems appropriate that it’d storm again, doesn’t it?”

  A storm for Arizona Storm? When she tripped, he caught her arm to keep her from falling.

  She snugged herself up to him. “You impressed me, Spence, and that’s not easy to do.”

  He sighed. God, what would he do with her?

  Probably not what he wanted.

  Unless… He eyed her, saw the daze in her eyes and knew she was too drunk. No, definitely not what he wanted.

  “Stop looking so morose, you grumpy Gus.” She nudged him. “Everything is fine!”

  “Yeah, just dandy.” She might’ve been raped, then murdered in a back room off an alley. But she discounted that peril completely. “Pay attention to your feet before you fall.”

  “Nag, nag.” When they reached the truck, she launched into chatter again. “It was so cool how you came out of nowhere like a big avenging angel. A dark angel. And bam.” She threw a shadow punch. “You took it out of old Carl. One blow, and that sucker was done for.”

  Spencer held her door open, saying nothing. Still smiling, she slid into her seat.

  “You did that in the bar, too. I should call you One-Shot Spence, or something catchy like that. Maybe when I’m more sober, I can come up with a good name for you.”

  Again checking the area, Spencer closed her door, then went around the truck and got behind the wheel. He immediately locked the doors and started the truck.

  Oblivious to his mood, Arizona said, “I broke Carl’s fingers. Did you see that?”

  “No.” All he’d seen was Carl dragging her away… His heart ached, just remembering. He never wanted to see anything like that again.

  “Must’ve been after he got me into the alley.” Arizona made a twisting motion in the air. “Felt damn good, getting him like that. You know he had broken poor Quin’s finger, right? I wanted to pay him back in kind. But you know, I wasn’t even thinking about that when it happened. He tried to choke me—the dick—and I went on auto-drive.” She gave him a fat smile. “See, training pays off. Told you everything would be fine.”

  Adrenaline still pumped through Spencer’s veins, making everything she said feel like nails on a chalkboard. “Put on your seat belt.”

  After a long look, she huffed at him. “You are being such a pill.” She latched the belt.

  A pill? He wanted to raze that goddamned bar and half the men in it, yet he held on to his temper—just barely. Spencer put the truck in gear and, deciding he needed to get moving before he blew, pulled out to the road.

  “Wish I could have stomped on old Terry a little more, too. Cowboy.” She snorted in utter disdain. “What an ass.”

  Grinding his teeth, Spencer tuned her out and concentrated on his driving. They got a few blocks more before she started in again.

  “He thought he’d break me in. That’s what he said. His exact words. Can you believe that? I’d break him.” She laughed. “Just like I broke Carl’s fingers.” She reached over and patted Spencer’s thigh. “And just like you broke the rest of him.”

  At her touch, his whole body tensed more.

  The pat turned into a tentative stroke, moved to his inner thigh, and Arizona gave a bold and curious squeeze. While playing with him, she said, “I hope when we go back, I get a shot at Terry—”

  Primed to the breaking point, Spencer snapped, “Enough!” He knew he wouldn’t make it until they reached his home, so he jerked the truck off to the side of a busy street. He put it in Park with jarring impact.

  Clenching the steering wheel, he struggled, striving for a calm that remained well out of reach.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  ARIZONA TIPPED HER HEAD to study him. “Damn, Spence, what’s the matter? You get a bee in your boxers?”

  He ignored her question. Something felt wrong—something beyond Arizona’s cavalier disposition and inebriated boasting. He searched the streets, watching for a tail, but saw nothing.

  When his cell phone rang, he grabbed it up, expecting the worst. “Yeah?”

  “You’re clear,” Dare said. “A cop started to follow you, but I took care of it.”

  He looked around and still saw no one—not even Dare. “Just like that?”

  “Yes.”

  Itching for violence, needing release, he breathed hard.

  “You okay?” Dare asked.

  “Yeah.” He ran a hand over his face. More curious than alarmed, he said, “About that cop…”

  “We work with them when possible. Sometimes we have to exclude them so they don’t get in the way, but we do not commandeer their authority when it’s avoidable, and we never consider them expendable.”

  He knew they didn’t harm innocent bystanders, but the rest was news to him. From what he’d observed so far, the trio recognized only their own command. “Good to know.”

  Arizona turned in the seat and treated him to a dreamy-eyed smile.

  Places on his body that were already jumpy twitch
ed in redirected interest. She reached for him, but Spencer caught her hand and held it still. Thinking of how the lights had gone out, he said to Dare, “So it all went down already?”

  “It did. I can explain later, but a situation arose that forced my hand and gave us enough reason to move in ahead of schedule.”

  Arizona stiffened. “What do you mean it went down? What? The bar?”

  He shushed her while rubbing his thumb over her knuckles and, then to Dare added, “You got Carl?”

  “I sent two officers around to that room off the alley to collect him. I got Terry Janes myself.” Amusement entered Dare’s tone when he said, “You can tell Arizona that Janes resisted.”

  No, he wouldn’t tell her a damn thing. Not yet anyway. Resistance would mean Dare had had to restrain Terry, and that meant he’d probably pulverized the guy. The last thing Arizona needed was more encouragement toward fighting.

  Instead, Spencer concentrated on getting the facts. “He was the one running things?”

  “He hasn’t admitted as much yet, and we don’t make assumptions.”

  “What do you think?”

  “My gut tells me something more is going on.”

  “Damn.”

  “We’ll have confirmation soon.”

  “The workers?” Arizona asked.

  Spencer repeated her question.

  “Everyone we could find is now safe.”

  He nodded to Arizona and saw her slump back in relief. It touched him that she’d been so genuinely concerned for people she didn’t know.

  Dare added, “We got info on another group of young Hispanics in transit. They would have mostly been used for labor at a nearby motel, but a few of the females were intended for trafficking. They should be freed within the hour.”

  Incredible. “So Janes spilled his guts about that?”

  “No, but he will.” Before Spencer could ask, Dare said, “Actually, it was two bozos I found around back in a van. But I can catch you up on that later.”

  Like hell. “Tell me now.” His gaze landed on Arizona. And because he already knew it, he said, “They were there for her, weren’t they?”