For a split second, she met Toni’s eyes and then Toni stomped on Pete’s instep. At the same time, Julie attacked, swinging her right leg to kick at Pete’s kidney. Luckily, Pete had been distracted enough that the two-pronged attack took him by surprise and Toni slid out of his embrace.
Ideally this would be where they’d run, but with someone possibly hurt in the back room, they couldn’t leave and neither one was willing to abandon the other. But as she exchanged glances with Toni, it looked like neither one of them were at the point of being able to actually attack Pete either. They both cared about him.
They circled on either side of him, ready for him if he acted aggressively again.
“Pete,” Julie said, needing to draw his attention away from Toni so she could call for help, “what’s going on? I don’t understand.”
His face crumpled a bit. “I know you don’t, but I’m going to explain it all to you, I promise. You’re going to do such an amazing thing here. Your sacrifice will be worth it.”
A chill rolled down her spine at the madness glimmering in his eyes. What the hell?
Julie could see Toni trying to call on her cell phone out of the corner of her eye, but it didn’t look like her phone was working.
* * *
Chris and Colton walked out of the conference room with their new contacts from the Department of Homeland Security. The meeting had been to discuss the parameters of their agreement and mission for the DHS for the next several months and to work out the finer details about the employee security clearances for their upcoming missions. It had been a success.
But as they came out of the room, laughing and doing the small-talk thing, Chris was curious to see Jake sitting in the outer office instead of Toni. “Where’s Toni?”
“She went to lunch. She mentioned something about taking lunch to her boyfriend, but she should be back soon.”
Chris and Colton shared an alarmed look. They had no idea what, if anything was going on with Pete, but if something was, then Toni could be in danger. “You call Brian, I’ll call Toni,” he instructed Colt.
Neither one of them got an answer. “We could call Pete’s place and act like we don’t know anything.”
“That’s the problem, we don’t know anything,” Colton retorted.
Jake had been watching the discussion between them in silence, but now asked, “What the hell is going on? Why is Toni going to Pete’s place a bad thing?”
Colton rounded on him. “Are you sure she was going to his place?”
Jake nodded. “That’s what she said.”
“Do you have the wedding invitation list on your computer?” Colton asked.
“Yeah, but—” Jake began.
“Go get Pete’s address off it. Quickly. We’ll explain later, but Toni could be in danger.”
* * *
Julie barely had time to react when Pete came at her. He threw a fist first which she managed to block, but he quickly followed it by a side kick. The slicing pain through her side was immediate as was the lack of ability to breathe. Nevertheless, she managed to keep her feet below her and turned to round on him, grabbing hold of the leg he’d kicked at her, twisting it at the same time. That took him down to the ground.
He scrambled to grab her by the leg, but she stomped on his hand. His howl of pain filled the house, and he charged at her, tackling her low. As she fell back, the side of her head slammed up against the coffee table.
Pain burst through her head as the world faded to black.
* * *
The sounds of a struggle filled the air, but Julie couldn’t focus enough to see. He had to be fighting with Toni, but Julie had no idea who was coming out ahead. She swiped at her eyes, trying to clear them. Her fingers came away wet with blood. No wonder she couldn’t see anything.
A starburst of black began to creep into the edge of her very limited vision. She couldn’t pass out again. Toni wasn’t proficient enough to take on Pete by herself. Struggling to pull herself off the floor, Julie finally managed to locate the two combatants, not realizing that their struggle had already gone quiet.
She was right. Toni hadn’t been effective for long against Pete. He had her hands cuffed behind her back. She was completely limp as he picked her up, tossed her over his shoulder, and lugged her down the