Page 86 of Royal Pain

A single assailant had easily gotten in through the window. Now he had Evangeline up against a wall, strangling her with both hands. I could tell she was losing the battle.

With a single swing of the borrowed assault rifle, the man was down but I knew not for long. “Get to the bathroom. Lock the door.” While it didn’t mean the bastards couldn’t come in through that window, I had to trust Jeff had a hold on the defense.

Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop!

The screams coming from outside matched the shots from rifles coming from all directions. I could not believe this fucking cult had managed such a calculated attack. It was insane, the shit reminding me of the OK Corral.

She crawled her way into the restroom just as another asshole came in through the window. The bastards had scaled the roof and the location of the bedroom window was unfortunately easily accessible. They’d simply climbed onto the balcony and taken their time to break in.

“Fuck this.” It was getting old. With one hand, I pulled out my Glock, shooting the one lunging toward me from the window with two bullets, both direct hits to the face.

I didn’t have time to shoot the other guy, instead using the strap attached to the rifle and strangling him just as he’d been trying to do with Evangeline.

We pitched and rolled, the man grunting as he tried to slap me with his hands. It was no use. I had enough martial arts to know just how much pressure to use and when to back off.

Only I didn’t back off, my rage so significant.

I could taste blood, the coppery substance covering my lips. I was pretty certain my clothes were a tattered mix of blood and brain matter.

When the asshole finally went limp, I heard two sets of footsteps, boots pounding down the corridor. I pushed the dead asshole off, fighting to get to my feet. I aimed the weapon at the door just as Jeff and one of his men came bounding into the room.

Jeff flicked on the light and I’ve never seen his eyes opening up so wide.

“Goddamn it, boss,” he said. “You are a one-man killing machine.”

The second man jogged toward the set of French doors and immediately headed outside.

I glanced at the bathroom door. “Is everything secure?”

“Yeah. They’re all dead. Definitely ops or rangers. I cannot believe they’d accept a job like this.”

“It’s called mercenaries for hire. I need to take Evangeline to safety. I’m taking her into the other room and packing a bag or two.”

“I have a place near the private airport no one knows about. I don’t use it all the time. We’ll go there.”

“I appreciate that, Jeff. More than you know. Now we know what to expect when we get there.”

“Yeah. We do.”

I headed toward the bathroom door and knocked. “Baby. It’s all over. Okay? Open the door for me.”

“For what it’s worth, Mr. Royal, I’m sorry. I should have been more prepared.”

The exhausted side of me, the one with no patience left, wanted to bark at him, which would be not only ridiculous but counterproductive. But as I heard the lock disengage, I tipped my head. “Don’t worry about it. You can get a cleanup crew together?”

“Already in the works. You won’t see anyone in a couple hours and don’t worry, they won’t be found.”

“Find out as much as possible about them as you can.”

“Will do but you know how these things go.”

Yeah, I did. No markings. No affiliation. No identification. No indication of nationality. Unless Jeff and his team could getsomething off the weapons, which I doubted. The serial codes were no doubt filed off, no link to where they were bought off the black market. That was the way of crime syndicates, worldwide mercenaries and worse.

It was tough to believe the lengths Dreyfuss Winston and his cronies would go to. Then again, at this point, I’d buy anything.

There was no time for anger or for second guessing. This was some freaking battle. As soon as I opened the door, I had to catch her before she slowly dropped to the floor.

Evangeline was the strongest woman I’d ever met, including my mother, but to see the weakness in her, the will to live and her spirit ripped out tore at my heart.

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