hypocritical son-of-a-spider-frog, Rexford Eaton. You had no compunction about throwing me to the press in order to cover up your cozy little arrangement with your wife and Miss Gardener.'
Daria's face went rigid. 'Speaking of cozy arrangements, Miss Spring, how does it feel to be the current mistress of the notorious Nick Chastain? I assume there are some interesting financial advantages to the position?'
'Nothing compared to the financial advantages a politician like you receives from sleeping with the Eatons,' Zinnia shot back.
Bethany gasped. 'You little tramp. I can't imagine why they let you or Mr. Chastain attend this ball.'
Nick grabbed Zinnia's arm and hauled her back to his side before she could get her fingers on Daria's throat.
'Think respectability,' he said. But his eyes were gleaming.
'That does it.' Rexford clenched and unclenched his hands. 'I'm calling my lawyers in the morning.'
Nick looked at him. 'Before you call them, I suggest you talk to your nephew, Warren. He owes me over sixty thousand dollars. At this point, it's a private matter. But I can certainly arrange for the debt to be made public. I'm sure it would make interesting reading in the tabloids.'
Rexford's face turned an unpleasant purple. 'Why, you . . . you bastard.' He took a menacing step forward.
'Rex, no,' Daria snapped.
Nick grinned. 'You heard her. Down, Rex. By the way, just how far down do you usually go?'
Rexford gritted his teeth in rage and threw a roundhouse punch.
'Nick, look out,' Zinnia yelled.
Someone at the wine bar screamed.
A familiar figure leaped out of the hallway that led to the restrooms.
'Totally synergistic,' Cedric Dexter said happily. He raised his camera and grabbed the shot.
The flash exploded just as Nick crumpled dramatically to the floor.
Zinnia gazed steadfastly at the closed doors of the elevator that was carrying them to the parking garage twenty floors below. 'I can't believe it. A brawl in the hallowed halls of the Founders' Club.'
'Hey, these things happen even in the best places.' Nick straightened his black bow tie. 'No harm done.'
'No harm?' She was nearly speechless. 'That picture that Dexter took will be on the front page of Synsation tomorrow.'
'We've been there before,' Nick said. He looked remarkably cheerful.
She shoved her hands into the pockets of her coat. 'What about your plans to become respectable?'
He smiled as the elevator glided to a halt. 'I keep telling you, respectability is a commodity. I can afford it.'
Zinnia watched the doors slide open to reveal the dark confines of the third floor of the underground garage. 'For the record, I want it noted that this time, it was not my fault. You started that scene.'
'I had help.' Nick's eyes were wickedly amused. 'I thought we worked well together, partner.'
She glanced back at him over her shoulder as she stepped out of the elevator. 'You deliberately took that fall. Eaton missed you by a mile.'
'Not for lack of trying.'
She eyed him thoughtfully. 'Is Rexford Eaton's nephew really in hock to your casino?'
'Yes.'
'I'll bet you set him up,' she accused. 'What's more, I'll bet you planned that whole confrontation with Eaton and his wife and Daria Gardener.'
'Now, Zinnia, how could I have known we'd run into them tonight?' Nick followed her out of the elevator.
'Maybe you didn't know it would happen tonight. But you knew that sooner or later we'd encounter them if we went to functions like this one. What's more, you knew that Rexford would very likely threaten to sue when it did happen.'
'It was a possibility.'
'So you arranged to make sure that his nephew was in an embarrassing financial position with your casino before you made your move tonight.'
'You're getting pretty good at this conspiracy-theory stuff,' he said approvingly.
'It comes from hanging around you.'
'The lights.' The laughter vanished from Nick's eyes in the space of a heartbeat.
'What?'
'Zinnia, come here.' Nick reached for her.
'What's wrong?' At that instant it hit her that all of the lights in this section of the garage were out.
By then it was much too late to retreat to the safety of the elevator.
She heard the rapid footsteps behind her and whirled around to see two men leap from the deep shadows between the parked cars. There was just enough light spilling from the crack between the closing doors of the elevator to see the scarves around their faces and the knives in their hands.
'Don't move,' one of them shouted. 'Don't nobody move.'
'Oh, my God, Nick. Look out.'
Nick went past her in a smooth, silent, utterly lethal rush. She saw the two muggers halt in shock and confusion when they realized that one of their victims was attacking.
'He's crazy,' one of them shouted.
'Not as crazy as he's gonna be.' The other man slashed wildly with his knife.
And then Nick was upon him. Zinnia heard a knife clatter on the concrete garage floor.
'Get him.' The second man reeled backward and fetched up hard against the hood of a car.
'It wasn't supposed to go down like this,' the first man yelled.
Zinnia watched in horror as the shadows of the three men merged. She looked around desperately for a weapon. She could barely make out the shape of the metal trash bin stationed beside the elevator.
She seized the lid and dashed toward the struggling men. The dim glow filtering from the far end of the garage enabled her to distinguish Nick from his two assailants.
One of the attackers was on the floor, groaning. Zinnia saw that he was clutching his groin. The other one rolled heavily past her feet and scrambled erect. He lurched backward toward the elevator.
Nick came up off the floor in pursuit.
Zinnia saw something gleam in the shadows. 'Nick, he still has his knife.'
The man who had been groaning and clutching himself tried to stagger to his feet. He lunged for his fallen knife.
'Forget it,' Zinnia said. She swung the lid hard against his head and shoulders. He flopped back down to the floor and lay there, moaning.
She kicked the knife under a car and whirled back around. She heard a sickening thud as Nick shoved his quarry up against the wall. The knife fell from the man's hand.
Nick smashed a fist into the mugger's midsection.
Zinnia heard the sound of shattering glass and a faint hiss.
'Enjoy, sucker. Compliments of the house.' The man's voice was slurred but unmistakably triumphant as he slithered to the floor and collapsed.
Nick stood utterly still in the shadows, staring down at the fallen man. He said nothing.
'Nick?'
A great terror unlike anything she had ever known swept over Zinnia. Something was very, very wrong.
'Nick.' She dropped the trash-can lid and rushed toward him. 'Are you hurt? Did he cut you?'
'No.' His whisper was barely audible, impossibly remote. 'He didn't cut me.'
The elevator doors opened at that moment. Two couples made to step out.
'What the hell happened to the lights?' One of the men demanded.
'Oh, my God,' a woman whispered.
All four people stared in shock at the sight of the two men lying on the garage floor.
