“Tell it to the jury, brother.” One of the men she didn’t recognize held the big gun in his hand steady.
“Jury?” Landy snorted. “You think I can get a fair shake after everything I’ve done? No.” The gun at her head began to shake. “I’ve worked too fucking hard to just give up and quit now.”
As the crazed man continued ranting about what he was owed and how he planned to get what he was due, Evie repositioned the knife in her fist, so she had a better, tighter grip on its handle.
With the blade pointed backward, toward the man using her to keep himself alive, she waited for the perfect moment to strike. Landy’s voice grew more turbulent, and the gun pressed against her head pulled away just a touch, and Evie knew it was now…or never.
I choose now.
Moving lightning fast, she swung her fist backward, bringing the blade toward the meatiest part of Landy’s right thigh.
“Ah!” The man cried out as the tip of the knife pierced his skin and beyond.
On reflex, Landy dropped the gun. His hand going straight to the knife still sticking out of his leg. In a quick, swooping motion, Evie swung her left foot out toward the fallen weapon.
She kicked the gun away. The sound of metal scraping against wood tore through the chaotic scene as the pistol skidded across the floor to where Beckett and his teammates stood.
Landy started to pull the knife free. “Fucking…bitch!”
“Evie, run!” Beckett shouted for her to get herself to safety.
But she was already reaching for the knife. If given the chance, there was no doubt in her mind, Landy would use it to kill her long before she ever got away.
They each had a desperate hand on the knife’s leather handle. Evie struggled against his tight grip as the two fought for control of the weapon.
A sickening, wet sound reached her ears as the blade slid free from Landy’s bleeding, wounded flesh. He howled again, but his hold on the knife never wavered.
As their fight to the death continued, Evie found herself in a twisted dance of deadly survival. Her arms were stretched out as far as they would reach, both hands coated with Landy’s blood. And for the next several, terrifying minutes, the pair swung themselves back and forth with their battling efforts to gain control.
She could hear Beckett screaming her name from somewhere close behind her. But she was too busy focused on the slick blood that had dripped from blade to hilt.
Her immovable grip she’d vowed never to lose began to slip as her palm became coated in Landy’s blood.
“Beckett!” Evie shouted his name as if there was something he could do.
The knife slid against her palm, partially giving way to the man’s forceful pull.
No, no, no, no, no!
“Evie!” Beckett shouted for her again. His desperation clear from the heightened tone of his panicked voice.
Everything that happened next did so as if time and space began moving in super slow motion.
The knife slipped from her hand. Landy pulled his elbow back, positioning the weapon so the bloody blade pointed straight at her gut.
“Landy, please!”Evie’s shouted plea came as she started to lift a hand to block the attack.
But his deadly decision had already been made.
She looked up into the eyes of a man she’d once loved and respected as he started to swing the knife toward her. The deafening sound of gunfire drowned out everything else around her, and Evie thought she may have screamed when Landy’s body jerked beneath the force of the bullets.
What felt like minutes later but was actually less than a handful of seconds, she found herself standing over the man’s dead body.
“Evelynn!”
Evie blinked, and Beckett was there, pulling her into his arms the same way she’d prayed he would.
She wanted to hold him close. To wrap her arms around him and never let go. But her hands were trapped between their bodies, pressing against the fire that had been ignited from somewhere deep inside.