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His words cut off with two swift bangs. I lifted my head to see Rafael framed by the lobby’s archway, his gun raised and the two men crumpling to the ground.
A couple of the girls shrieked. I ran over, holding my own gun low in the hopes I wouldn’t traumatize them even more.
The guy who’d been threatening me had fallen between the one door and the frame, holding it open. I yanked open the other door, closer to the girls, and motioned them out. “There’s no one out here. You can go home. Get somewhere safe! We’ll handle the rest.”
My urgency must have conveyed enough of my meaning even if they didn’t understand my words. Their eyes wide with fear, they hefted their equipment bags and darted across the parking lot.
I met Rafael’s gaze. He tipped his head toward the interior of the arena, where to my anguish I saw the security guard at the desk slumped forward in a pool of blood. But no one came running our way at Rafael’s shots.
“I took down a couple of guys who were patrolling the halls—quietly enough that I don’t think the goons in the rink area noticed,” he said. “How about we take a similar strategy going at the last of them?”
I smiled grimly. “I distract them while you sneak up on them?”
“I was thinking more the coming at them from different directions. You can come out into the base of the stands through the women’s locker room, right? I’ll go through the men’s. From what Dámaso told me, that’ll put us on either side of them. They’ll be nearly surrounded.”
I exhaled in a whoosh. “All right. Let’s do this before they realize something’s gone really wrong for their friends.”
I slipped through the locker room as quickly and quietly as I could. By the exit that led to the rink, I paused and listened at the door. No shots, only a couple of annoyed voices.
“We’ve got to get closer. The Deadly Rose wants them kaput.”
“How d’you figure we’re doing that without getting shot, you idiot? Let them waste their bullets taking potshots, then we go in for the kill.”
Oh, he thought so, did he?
Scowling, I eased the door open just a couple of inches. Across the way, I spotted Rafael at his own door. He gave me a brisk nod from the narrow gap.
We shoved all the way past the doors in unison, each shooting at the men standing closest to us. The cluster of seven scattered—two, then three crumpling before they’d taken more than a couple of steps.
The other four bolted toward the ice. Rafael raised his voice in a bellow. “Now!”
More shots rang out from the other end of the rink. The gunmen jerked and collapsed. One flung himself toward the shelter of the boards, but Rafael strode to an opening and put a bullet in his head too.
My arm sagged to my side. I stared at the carnage we’d left behind, my gut churning.
“Fuck. This is a mess.”
“I’ll deal with it,” Rafael said in his impervious tone. “I’ll get the turncoats to help me take care of this and the taxi. You just worry about getting these guys home.”
I found myself nodding automatically. He sounded like he knew what he was talking about—which, of course, he did.
He sounded like a leader.
A spark of an idea tickled up in the back of my head, but I couldn’t pay attention to it when the men I’d left behind were hustling over to join us.
“Lou!” Niko exclaimed. “You’re okay.”
I caught him in a tight hug. “I should be saying the same to you.” I turned to grip Jasper’s and Quentin’s arms tightly, my throat abruptly choked up. “I was so worried about you.”
My gaze slid past them to the three defectors. Frankie was frowning, but Ursula held her head high, and Dámaso looked almost smug despite the bulge of his remaining bandages under his shirt.
“Thank you,” I said. “You were amazing. Now we’d better get the fuck out of here.”
As Rafael motioned the defectors over with brusque orders, my skater men and I hustled out to the rental SUV they’d arrived in. Quentin pushed behind the wheel, and I found myself tucked between Jasper and Niko, clutching them like I was afraid they’d disappear on me.
“She’s not going to get away with this,” I muttered. “She won’t. I won’t let her.”
Jasper stroked my hair soothingly. “Hey, it’s over now, Punk. I’m just glad we made it out in one piece.”
