Page 59 of Hat Trick

Adrenaline hammers at me as I slip away from the side door. Even if I have to break a window, I’m getting the hell out of here and heading home toGwen.

One glance upward proves that plan is total crap—the warehouse does have windows. Problem is, they’re a good twenty feet up. I’m big, but not thatbig.

I turn the corner toward what I think might be the front of the building. My hands coast along the wall, keeping myself oriented in the pitch-blackroom.

I hear the running of footsteps before I see their shadowed silhouettes on the oppositewall.

It’s not enough time, no matter how skilled I am orfast.

One second I’m bringing my fists up, ready to glance off a blow, and in the next I’m on the ground thanks to an unseen tripwire.

22

Hunt

Like the sadisticbastards they are, they strap me to a chair in thering.

Dave waltzes around me, high as a fucking kite. “So glad you could join us, bro,” he says now, pointing to his four conspirators. “We’re so glad you could makeit.”

I don’t say a word, not even to snidely point out that he’s repeating himself. It’d probably go right over hishead.

Quietly, I watch as my silence sends my brother into a small flounder. He cuts a quick glance to his buddies, and for the first time I have to wonder if he’s not the top dude around here. From the reports I’ve picked up over the years, I’d always been under the impression that Dave ranshit.

He wins,always.

Now, I’m not too sure about the dynamics in thegroup.

“Did you bring the cash?” Dave prods as he approaches. A tick comes to life in his forehead, and he does a quick swipe of his forearm just under his nostrils. “I told the guys you were bringingcash.”

“How much cash?” asks the bald guy in the corner. I size him up: six foot, two-hundred, thick around the middle. I’m a bigger match, but the fact that my wrists are tied is proving a difficult thing tomanage.

I think of the knife strapped to my calf—utterly useless while my wrists aretied.

My notorious slow-growing temper spikes. “Is this how you guys celebrate the holidays?” I raise my brows, daring them to do something besides stand there. “Do you idiots get your rocks off on tying people up so you can, what, fuckthem?”

The bald one mutters something under his breath. “It’s not going towork.”

I hold my breath,waiting.

Dave sighs like I’ve personally done him wrong. “You’ve lost your touch, bro. You can’t best us. You know that, right? You can’t trick us into untying you just like you can’t fool us into thinking you didn’t come here armed.” He drops to his haunches and yanks up the hem of my pants. Atsk-tsksound escapes him as he removes the knife and tosses it to the side, where it slides across the smooth flooring and nose-dives off the ledge into the arena area below. “You went into your big fucking world with hockey and you left this allbehind.”

At that, my brother widens his arms as though demanding I take notice of oursurroundings.

Then he leans in. “You don’t know how to survive here anymore,bro.”

His arm reels back and I know what’s coming just before it does—my brother’s fist hand-delivers a right-hook that whips my head to the side. Stars burst like mini-fireworks in my vision and I taste the distinct tinny flavor of blood on mytongue.

“Untiehim.”

Dave steps back as the bald man sweeps in close. The rope-ties around my wrists tighten before loosening, and then he’s forcing me upward, regardless of the fact that my ankles have been tiedtoo.

I catch myself before I stumble, ignoring the pain in my face and focusing instead on staying on my feet. I have no doubt I could get off the remaining ties in seconds,but—

“Zip-ties,” Dave cuts in with a nasty grin. “The rope was just for your wrists.” He points to his head. “Survival,right?”

Just like that, my temper snaps. “Fuck you, Dave. If you think for a goddamned second that I’m going to give you a dime after pulling this shit, you’redelusional.”

Dave only snaps hisfingers.

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