With that threat gone, Payton spun around to face him and drove her knee into his solar plexus hoping to knock the air out of him. He was physically fit, but he was a desk man, not used to physical labor.
Before her next punch could make contact, his free hand came up and struck across her cheek. Payton was momentarily dazed and seeing stars before her vision cleared. It was just long enough for Simon to come at her again, this time with a meaty fist.
She was ready for it this time. Payton pivoted to the side just as his fist was about to connect. The momentum carried him through and almost set him off balance. Payton used it to her advantage and kicked out at the back of his knee, dropping him to the ground.
Payton pounced on top of him, straddling his waist and raining down blow after blow to his face. She only got a few hits in before he crisscrossed his forearms together to block her blows. He twisted to the side, throwing her balance off, and forced her lean forward.
His elbow snapped back catching her in the jaw, then he shoved her away from him. As Payton fell to the side, Simon scrambled out from under her. Payton rose to her feet ready to jump back on him when she spotted him reaching for something.
The gun.
She dove behind the desk just as two bullets whizzed past her. Payton retrieved her knife, ready to defend herself. She needed to end this to help Duke. She knew he’d been shot, not where and how bad the wound was, but Simon would shoot her as soon as she showed herself. She dropped to the ground and looked under the desk to see where Simon was standing. If she knew where he was, she might be able to throw her knife and end this.
“You have been nothing but a pain in my ass for the past few days.” His voice was low and menacing. She doubted she would talk herself out of this one. But she had to try. Duke lay only a few feet away, bleeding. She didn’t know where Alex and Colin were. “But it’s over now.”
Payton tried not to outwardly show how scared she was by that statement. “What do you mean?” She was proud she kept her tone steady while she was shaking like a leaf on the inside. What had he done? It couldn’t be anything good. Alex and Colin should have been back by now.
“I know what you’re trying to do, Payton. Stall for time for your precious guardians to come rescue you. But no one is coming to save you, Payton. This little game of hide and seek is over. Now, be a good girl and come out with your hands up. If you surrender now, I won’t kill you.”
Lies. Payton wasn’t stupid. He would kill her the second she revealed herself. She looked around, expecting someone to sneak up on her. Simon would never come for her on his own, but there was no one with him. Why was Simon here without his goons? He was a puppeteer. He didn’t do anything without his puppets. “Where are Donaldson and Bradshaw?” she asked instead of complying as she moved slowly around the back of the desk to the other side. He didn’t know she had a weapon yet. She could use that to her advantage.
“They’ve outlived their usefulness.” Translation: They were dead. She couldn’t say she mourned their deaths. They had been trying to kill her.
“You’ve killed a lot of people, Simon, over the years. Is that what you do now, kill things that get in your way?”
“It’s what I did to your father and what I’m going to do to you if you don’t tell me what I want to know.” He hadn’t even bothered denying he’d killed her father or others. Payton had seen the evidence. All the poor people killed just for the knowledge her father possessed. She wouldn’t let his death be in vain.
When she’d first heard the news that her father was dead, she didn’t believe it. But this was the man that had him run off the road. Possibly held prisoner. If anyone knew her father was dead, it was him.
“And what’s that?” Payton looked under the desk to see if Simon had moved. His voice sounded like he was on the move. Nothing. Not even a shadow. Shit, where was he?
“You saw what’s on the drive.”
Payton prided herself on not being shocked often. She’d learned to roll with the punches, but this man just kept surprising her. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She tried playing it off.
Simon chuckled at her, his voice coming from her right. For a second he reminded her of the man she used to know. The man who looked so sweet and innocent. That looked up at her father like he was a role model. “I’ve known you long enough, Payton. Don’t try to play dumb. It’s beneath you. Now come out from behind the desk, before I put another bullet in your friend here.”
It was a threat she knew he would carry through. Simon was the type who didn’t blink about killing people he thought were in his way. She now had the evidence of just how many people he’d killed. At least those they could find.
“There’s no point in threatening Duke.”
“You don’t get as far as I have, Payton, in this life by leaving anything to chance or witnesses alive. Now quit stalling, I’m out of patience.”
Payton tried one last time to reason with this maniac for Duke’s life. “Leave Duke alone and I’ll tell you what’s on the drive.”
“You’re going to tell me everything I want to know anyway. I’ve waited a long time for this. And to think all the answers were always right in front of me. Nick must be laughing from his grave.”
Payton felt a rage wash over her like a blanket. She could hear Duke groaning on the ground. She had no idea how badly he was hurt. All she knew was that he needed medical attention and rescue wasn’t coming. It was time to finish this.
“My father is twice the man you could ever hope to be,” Payton growled as she moved around the side of the desk. She had a pretty good idea where he was standing. There was a chance she’d toss the knife at him, and he’d shoot her before she let it loose. There was also the chance she’d miss or he’d duck. If he fired, he stood a perfect shot to get her or, worse, Duke.
It was a risk she had to take. Payton lifted her knife and was about to spring to her feet when the hair on the back of her neck stood on end. She could feel eyes boring into the back of her head.
Payton spun on her heel ready to strike only to freeze when she came face to barrel with a gun. Simon stood at the back of the desk only a foot away. Damn, he was sneaky. She’d underestimated him.
Her knife was gripped tightly in her hands. Maybe she still had the element of surprise on her hands. If she could toss her knife or stab him in the arm, there was still a chance.
“Don’t even think about it, Payton,” he threatened in a low gravelly voice as if sensing her thoughts. “Get rid of it.”