Page 65 of Hidden Ascent

“Hey,” she said. “You don’t have to be so rough. All I was doing was protecting myself.”

“Sorry, lady, but the disturbance in here suggests otherwise.”

“I wouldn’t have had to do that if you turned up in time to do something about it. Where were you two minutes ago?”

He turned her toward the back of the bar. “Doesn’t look to me like you needed any protection.”

When he shoved her forward, she tried to wrestle away from him. “What are you doing? I thought you were kicking me out.”

He shook his head. “You’ll have to come with me.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you. I understand I caused some trouble. I’ll go.”

“Too late for that.”

He had a hold of her weapon arm, so she wasn’t able to reach her gun. “You have no right to detain me.”

“Sure I do. Citizen’s arrest. We’ve called the cops.”

“No, you haven’t. I know my rights. Trust me. You’re only going to make things worse by keeping me here.”

“I’ll let my boss decide.”

“I’m not going.” If they connected her to Jay, they could both be dead. “Hey!” she yelled to the crowd. “What he’s doing is illegal. Someone call the police.”

“Sorry folks,” the bouncer said in response. “I’ll leave you in peace momentarily.”

She continued to resist, but they were almost to the back when Mason shoved his way in front of them. Blood had dripped down his face onto his shirt, and one of his eyes was already turning color.

“Out of the way,” the bouncer said.

“Don’t listen to him, Mason,” Isla said. “You can take him.”

Mason wiped the blood from his nose and growled at her. “I’m not interested in him. I’m interested in you.”

“You want me to let her go so she can blacken the other eye?” the bouncer said. “Move!” The bouncer’s voice boomed over the music, and Mason stepped aside, muttering.

“That was a bit of a letdown,” Isla said, but she used the distraction to twist out of the bouncer’s grasp. She reached for her gun, but he was used to her kind of behavior, and he punched her in the stomach, knocking the wind out of her.

He shoved her forward, and she slammed into the door.

Before she could recover, he opened the door and wrapped his arms around her, restricting her movement so he could pull her through and use his foot to slam the door behind them.

He pushed her down the hall, and she tripped, nearly falling.

She turned to him, unwilling to go any further, but he was pointing a gun at her.

“It’s not really a fair fight if you have a gun,” she said.

“Have you got one?”

“Don’t you think I would have used it already?”

“Lift your shirt.”

“Excuse me?”

“Fine. Arms up. I’ll look myself.”

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