Page 54 of Close Encounters of the Sexy Kind
Tiberius was holding his arm, blood seeping out through his fingers. He lookedfurious.
Tiberius looked down at his injury then roared. The sound echoed throughout the area as he charged forward, leaving Ryan behind to follow in his wake.
She was terrified that another shot would ring out and Tiberius would be hit head-on by the next blast, but between one blink to the next, the situation had changed dramatically.
Inside the shack, she found Tiberius holding Drew by his neck, lifting him off the ground and shaking him like a rag doll with the very arm that was bleeding.
“WHERE IS MY BROTHER?” The words were guttural, almost unrecognizable in their fervor.
A chill went down Ryan’s spine. Tiberius wasfierce, all traces of refined civility gone.
Drew was sputtering, trying to get words out, but Tiberius had his hand wrapped so tightly around his throat that it prevented Drew from drawing in enough air.
Ryan walked forward, stopped next to Tiberius, and then picked up the shotgun that Drew had dropped and pressed it against his manly bits. If possible, Drew’s eyes bugged out even more.
Fighting the nearly overwhelming urge to see to Tiberius’s wound, she concentrated on her former informant’s face as she stood to her full height next to Tiberius, presenting a united front. “Where did Nez take Quintus?”
“Yuuucnttdts,” Drew garbled out.
Tiberius shook him again. Ryan could feel his rage coursing through her, powerful, dark, and dangerous. She attempted to tap into his thoughts—hey, it had worked in the car—but all she got was a slew of words in a language she didn’t understand.
Placing a gentle hand on his uninjured arm, she said softly, “Loosen your grip so he can tell us what he knows.”
She watched as the opposite happened. Tiberius squeezed even harder, turning Drew’s face an unattractive shade of purple. Or indigo, maybe. It was hard to tell.
“Tiberius, please.”
With a snarl and a growl that made Drew wet his pants, Tiberius loosened it enough so Drew could speak.
“You can’t do this. You’re a cop,” Drew croaked out.
“I’m off the clock,” she sneered. “We know you’re working for Nez, you little weasel. Tell us where he took Quintus.”
“How the hell should I know?”
Lifting an eyebrow, Ryan never took her eyes off Drew as she told Tiberius, “Shake him again.”
Tiberius was only too happy to oblige. Once again, he tightened his grip and shook Drew like a rag doll.
“Okay, let’s try this again. Where did they take Quintus?”
When Tiberius loosened his grip once more, Drew wheezed a few barely recognizable words.
“Docks? Black Eagle’s at the docks?”
Drew nodded to the extent that he could.
Ryan frowned. The docks covered a large area along the waterfront. Searching there would be like looking for a needle in a watery haystack.
“Do you know what part?”
“N-No. I swear.”
Convinced they would get no more from him, Ryan looked to Tiberius and said, “Take him outside.” She handed him the shotgun. “If he tries to run away, shoot him in the kneecaps.”
Drew garbled a protest.
“And what of you?”
