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Okay. That should make the grab and dash a little easier. There might be more goons inside the bakery, but Ryder wouldn’t know until she got closer.
This was her chance. Adrenaline pumped through her veins, sharpening her focus. She glanced up at the rooftop garden above the bakery, grabbed her phone, and dialed Devin’s number. “She’s in the bakery across the street.”
“What the fuck is she doing there?”
Sarah sipped from a mint-green cup as if she didn’t have a care in the world.
“Maybe she’s sneaking a cup of coffee instead of tea.” Ryder stayed out of Sarah’s line of sight as she crossed the bustling street and made her way toward the bakery.
“I’m on my way down.” The sound of Devin’s feet thumping across the roof echoed over the phone line.
“No, Devin. You get the Jeep.” She paused at the corner of the bakery, her back flat against the cement wall so she couldn’t be seen from the window. “I’ll grab her and meet you out front. Then we’ll blaze a trail for the airport. Alert the jet to be ready to take off.”
“I don’t like it.”
“You don’t have to. You just have to trust me to know how to do my job. Be out front in three minutes.”
”Ryder—”
She clicked off her phone, more than finished with that conversation, and kept her face averted as she strode toward the door as if nothing in the world was the matter. After two years of following cheating husbands and sneaking wives, she knew the drill well. Skulkers drew attention. People who acted like they belonged somewhere blended into the scenery.
Angling her body so her face couldn’t be seen and inhaling a deep breath, she reached for the bakery door handle.
The screech of brakes sounded behind her. Ryder didn’t have to look back to know trouble had arrived. In the front door’s reflection, she spotted the dark blue van with a bruised up Long Hair in the driver’s seat and Freckles riding shotgun. She watched them with a muttered curse, but something else had captured their attention.
“Americano.” Freckles pointed down the street.
She turned in time to see the hot pink Jeep peel around the corner, heading straight for them.
The bakery door opened behind her.
The Jeep squealed to a stop.
Behind the wheel, Devin’s eyes rounded. “Ryder!”
In the next instant, everything went black.
…
Devin’s throat closed as Ryder crumpled to the ground in front of the bakery and lay unmoving. They’d gambled and lost on whether Sarah had laid a trap, but the payment was more than he was willing to give. Adrenaline hit his blood stream at one hundred proof.
One of the Molinas’ gorillas loomed over her, holding a broken ceramic cat in his right hand. Devin didn’t think, he didn’t consider, he just knew. He was going to kill that man. Slowly.
Powered by blood-boiling rage, he shot out of the Jeep. His only aim was to destroy everything within reach and get to Ryder.
Men poured out of the van like rats escaping a sinking ship. Most were bruised and battered from the day before. Each looked more than ready to even the score. Devin didn’t give a shit. Pulling Ryder out of this shit storm and getting her on the jet was all that mattered.
He executed a hammerfist punch, connecting with a long-haired guy’s jaw. The crunch of breaking bone fed the flame of fury inside him. He wheeled around, executing a chest-high side kick that planted his boot against the second thug’s sternum.
After that, it was just a maelstrom of jabs, kicks, and punches. Each was meant to inflict the most severe pain possible and clear a path to Ryder.
He got within arm’s reach of her when a forearm as thick as a redwood wrapped around his neck. In the next heartbeat, only his tiptoes touched the pavement.
He landed an elbow to the man’s solar plexus. Air wheezed out of the giant, but his grip stayed true. Smelling blood in the water, the other goons circled closer. The cocky looks on their faces showed they thought they’d already had this thing won.
They were wrong.
Back in his mixed martial arts days, the fights were hard, but they were one-on-one. The odds were majorly against him now, but what was on the line mattered a hell of a lot more to him than a champion’s belt.
