Kat barely tracked, plunged a hypodermic needle into Pete’s neck.
Pete hollered, jerked his attention back to Busir. His eyes flared. He reached up, pulled the needle from his neck and stared at it. In the split second of Pete’s confusion, Busir shifted out from the wall and plowed his fist into the side of Pete’s face. Pete hit the wall, ricocheted off. He lunged at Busir, taking them both down to the ground hard.
Kat screeched and jumped back as the two grappled. Fists flew, and bodies smacked the hard concrete. She knew she needed to do something, but she was too stunned to do more than stare, especially because Pete was handling his own and beating the crap out of Busir.
Until, that is, he threw a punch that missed its mark by a foot. And another. And another.
Oh, God. That needle had to have hit an artery or a vein. He was fading fast and losing whatever advantage he’d just gained.
Blood and sweat dripped down Busir’s face. When Pete blinked and gave his head a swift shake, Busir wriggled out from under him and pushed to his feet. Back to her, looking down at Pete who was fighting to stand himself, Busir let out a low chuckle. One Kat had heard years before and would never forget. It was all she needed to shock her right back to reality.
She charged before she could change her mind and hit Busir hard in the back with the stun gun. He jolted, screamed, whipped around. And she hit him again dead in the chest without even a second thought.
She gritted her teeth and held on to the stun gun even as his coal black eyes focused on her. His body jerked and seized. His eyes rolled back in his head, and then he fell to his knees, finally slumping forward on the ground where he continued to twitch as electrical impulses flickered through his body.
Slick with sweat and breathing heavy, she stared down at what she’d done for the second time tonight. Not an inkling of remorse rushed through her. At that moment, she understood how men could kill. He deserved that and so much more for what he’d done to Sawil. To Shannon. To her.
Tires spinning on slush out on the road pulled Kat back to the present. She had mere seconds before Busir’s buddy in the car revived; minutes before Busir came to or his other friend from the auction showed up to help.
She hurriedly stepped over Busir and dropped to the ground next to Pete, slumped back against the wall, his head and eyes tracking her like he was operating in serious slow motion. Confusion drew his brows together as he stared up at her with wide eyes.
“We’ve got to get out of here,” she said quickly, checking to make sure there weren’t any bones sticking out of his body anywhere.
“Kat?” he croaked.
“Can you walk? I don’t think I can carry you.”
“Whoa.” He gave his head a hard shake and leaned it back against the wall. “Real…real…trippy dream.”
A nightmare was more like it.
His words were slurring together, and she knew the drug was taking effect. She had to get him up and out of this alley before it was too late. “I need you to stand.”
She stepped over him, slipped both her arms under his and around his back. A grunt tore from her chest as she used every last bit of strength to help him to his feet. Good God, he was nearly dead weight already. And smelled…oh, heaven…so incredible. She took a deep whiff of his scent and was bombarded by a thousand memories she’d put out of her mind years ago.
“You…” He set both hands on her shoulders as she pushed him back against the concrete wall and used her shoulder to brace him up. “You look like som’un I know.”
Definitely losing it. She needed to hurry.
“I get that a lot.” She shifted around, looped his arm over her shoulder. It slid down her back as his head fell back against the concrete again.
“Motherfucker…I feel like shit.”
That made two of them.
She grabbed his arm with her left hand and held on tight as she slipped her other arm around his waist and pulled him away from the wall. Her back and shoulders immediately screamed in protest. Panic set in when she looked up and saw how far away the car was. “Pete, you have to help me here. I can’t do this on my own.”
Somehow he listened.