Tessa was smiling at me.
My grip on the spear tightened, white smoke curling up around my hand and arm.
“What an interesting weapon,” she drawled. “Get him.”
The men charged at me, Sonny letting out a cry and falling back. Any sympathy I’d ever had for him had gone. A true snake in the grass. He was so, so dead after this.
I spun my weapon, cracking the ax-guy in the face with the flat side of one of the spear-ends. He went down hard, his weapon clanging on the ground. Parrying a swing from sword-guy, I took a swing of my own at the big bastard with the sledgehammer, missing him by inches. I spun, making another attempt on sword-guy. His weapon met my spear with a loud crash. I pushed up against his blade, the smoke licking at the sword but doing nothing. If only it was the start of something flaming! He backed off, alarmed by the smoke getting too close to his hands.
The man with the sledgehammer cursed me in Dutch, but he and sword-guy backed off.
“Just grab him!” Tessa yelled.
“We had to defend ourselves!” sword-guy responded.
“There is no time for this nonsense. Stand down!” She directed that last part at me.
“Are you having a laugh?” I retorted. “Stand down? You’d better get the hell out of here.”
“Not without you, I’m afraid.”
I knew it. Some fucked up kidnapping plan! The sirens were growing closer. All I had to do was hold them off until the cops arrived. They hadn’t been using their weapons to harm me but stop me from harming them. Which meant they needed me for something. Ransom? Torture? Information? What information could I give them that they didn’t already know? They must be well aware that they were a pack of wankers.
“Yeah, I ain’t going anywhere with you.”
She huffed. “This is ridiculous. There are three of you!”
“That pointy thing is dangerous,” the sword-guy proclaimed. “Look what it did to Robert!”
Ah, so the ax-man was Robert. Good to know. He didn’t look dead, but his head was gonna hurt like crazy when he woke up.
I’d cracked him pretty hard.
I scanned my surroundings, careful to keep the black van in my eye line. Sonny had disappeared.
“You didn’t think this through, did you?” I told Tessa, giving my spear a spin to show just how nasty I could be with it. Dean had trained me well, plus, me and the spear were best mates when it came to a fight. “Don’t think I won’t gut you if you try laying a hand on me.”
“Is that so?” Tessa asked.
“Yeah, it bloody well is! Better run along now. Cops are almost here.”
She smirked. “Do you always depend on the safety net of the police force?”
“Do you always depend on that cheap hair dye?”
She glowered; smirk shut down. “Throw it.”
“What?” the brute with the sledgehammer questioned.
“Just throw it.”
“But—”
“Then we’ll deal with it.”
The best way to handle this was to turn and run into the park. They could chase me on foot all they wanted, but did they really want to draw too much attention to themselves?
Getting back on my bike would waste precious seconds. It was all about the sprint, and I could put some serious distance between me and these fucking Conclave goons with the power of my legs.
That van wouldn’t be following me.
A few more moments and the police could slap these knob heads in the back of their vehicles and cart them off to do some cell time.
“Boss, we can’t—”
“Throw it!” she screamed.
The big guy lobed his hammer at me. I dodged it, diving into a roll, then tore off toward the park.
“No!” she bellowed.
I heard the van tires scream, the engine rev.
Ha! Good luck with that, prick!
There was a road behind the sports hall. They could probably get the van onto it by driving down the side of the dilapidated building, which would take them up to the canal. Let them. I wasn’t stupid enough to head that way.
I zoomed along a path, then made a right across the grass toward some trees. I passed some dog walkers, a tiny friggin’ Fido barking at me like I was a hock of ham. Darting into the trees, I could see the lake on the other side. I’d hit the pathway that ran alongside it. The fuckers would never catch me.
Fumbling for my phone to call Dean, I almost didn’t see the green pod on the lakeside path. I stumbled out of the trees, veering right, and fell. My phone flew out of my hand, landing on the path and not in the lake—thank goodness. The sirens were on top of the park now.
I pushed myself up, glancing back at the pod. Man, that’d been close. It was a big one, all emerald and swollen. Taller than me, the poxy thing would’ve swallowed me up and sent me on one wild trip.
How the hell had I missed it? That would teach me for fiddling with my phone while running.
I took a look behind me. No sign of my pursuers anywhere. The police were probably way too close, but now wasn’t the time to slow down. I’d circle back round to the carpark, vigilance turned up to a million, then I could rendezvous with the police.
As I turned my attention back ahead, a man was now standing where my phone sat.
It was Parker Smith.
He waved. “Hi!”
That was all the confirmation I needed that Parker was a part of the Conclave. What a bolshy piece of shit. I charged at him.
“Sorry I haven’t returned your call.”
“What?” Though my spear was drawn and ready to get skewering, I veered away. I didn’t like the creepy smile on his stupidly cheerful face.
“Can we talk, Jake?”
“Just fuck off!” Like I was falling for that crap.
Something hit me in the chest, and I went down hard on my back. My head smacked off the grass, missing the rock of the pathway by inches. Thank the universe for small friggin’ mercies. Didn’t stop me
