Page 61 of Evidence of Deceit

Toward them.

She sensed danger in the air. Joe did too. He was getting up from the ground, the broken lug wrench in his hand. She saw him tense, prepare himself.

Oh, God. Two men were running toward them. The scene put her back to the attack her freshman year, but then it was boys. These were men. Burly men. Two mean-looking burly men. And they were looking for trouble. One got behind Joe, the other in front of him, jumping from foot to foot.Were they on drugs? What did they want?Joe turned sideways to face both.

The first man had a bat he’d been bouncing against his hand. He swung at Joe’s head. Joe deflected it.

She reached for her phone and quickly dialed 9-1-1.

“9-1-1. What’s your emergency?”

“Help!” she screeched, then gave them the information.

“Stay on the line, ma’am. The police will be right there.”

Stay on the line? As if.Joe needed her. She got out of the car and ran to the trunk, picked up the jack.

“Oh, shit.”This was Joe’s worst, well, one of his worst nightmares. He could handle the two men easily, but with Claire in the way, the situation was going to be more challenging.

He quickly dispensed with one attacker, who’d brought out a knife and had been slicing through the air—thankfully missing him.

Oh, dear lord, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Claire get out of the car, run to the trunk.

“Run,” he yelled.

The man with the bat was swinging it around again. Joe had dodged it once, but the second time, he took a blow tohis side. It felt like he had bruised or broken ribs—too bad. He was watching Claire. Why didn’t she run?

She approached the man from behind with the jack. What on earth did she think she could do? The attacker was a big man and angry. He had to dispense with this asshole now before she got hurt.

A quick roundhouse kick, and the man was down. But now the other attacker was getting up with a gun in his hand—no time to be nice. The SEALS had taught him more than one way to disarm a man.

He kicked the gun out of the guy’s hand. But the stupid man just kept coming. A swift hook punch to his face stopped him. Joe heard the man’s neck snap, and down he went.

Claire screamed.

Lights were flashing.Sirens were screaming. Cops were yelling.

“Get down. Down on your knees.”

One cop had his gun pointed at Joe. Joe got down on his knees and landed on a sharp stone. His heart raced as the adrenaline flowed through his body. Claire could have been hurt. What did those assholes want? They appeared to be hopped up on something. Was the flat tire a coincidence or planned? Argh. And what was with the stone in his knee? He lifted the one knee resting on the stone and caught a dirty look from the cop. His side hurt. He didn’t think anything was broken, just bruised.

“Drop the weapon.”

“DROP THE WEAPON.”

He looked over at Claire, who was staring at him, holding the tire jack, looking confused. The one cop had his gunpointed at her, getting angrier and angrier.Oh, God, please don’t hurt her.

“Sweetheart, drop the jack.”

Her hands were shaking, and Joe wanted to make this all go away. She’d had enough angst and pain in her life, and he just put her in another situation. She placed the jack on the ground and knelt, her hands in the air. The cop kicked the jack away. Joe could see her trembling and wanted nothing more than to hold her and tell her it would be all right. It would be all right, but first, he had to deal with a killing because he knew for sure that the one attacker was never getting up. The one man who had the bat was just getting up from the ground and holding his wrist while shouting to anyone that would listen that Joe attacked him.

The paramedics arrived and tended to Joe’s ribs, which they declared were just bruised, and also attended to the attacker’s broken wrist. The coroner hadn’t arrived yet. The cops were taking a statement from Claire, and Joe was pissed.

Hours later,Sam picked them up from the police station. Claire’s car still needed the tire changed, but that wasn’t happening tonight—too much going on.

No charges were made yet. Sam told them her lawyer was on it, and since it was self-defense and Claire was a witness, Joe was probably in the clear. They would have to talk to the cops again tomorrow. The man who was still alive had given no reason for the attack but was in a cell.

Claire was unusually quiet on the drive over. He and Sam went over what had happened.

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