With A Twist(37)

“Wake up, Nikki. Time to dance, darlin’.” I turn, giving a smirk and a wink to the men, and they grin back cheesily at me. I think I see the buyer lick his lips as his eyes run down Andrea’s body, who is now coming awake. She lifts her head, blinks with bleary eyes, and then stands uneasily. I release my hold around her ribcage and take her by the arm. Standing beside her, I look down at her, and say, “You good? You awake now?”

Andrea looks up at me, blinks her eyes again, and then rubs them with her free hand. She then turns slowly, looks at Simon, then the buyer and his driver, continuing to blink away the sleep.

“What’s going on? Where’s the party?”

“This is the party, baby,” I say as I tug her toward the men.

“She’s fucking gorgeous,” the buyer says, and I notice his voice is nasally. “I might have to fuck her right here in this parking lot… don’t think I can wait.”

He punctuates this sentiment by reaching down and rubbing his dick through his pants.

While this is a disgusting move, I don’t have time to be affronted on Andrea’s behalf, and besides, that was the perfect opening for Nikki to start rebelling a little.

She pulls against my arm and digs her heels into the concrete. “What the fuck is going on here?” she asks hysterically, while pointing at the buyer. “He is not fucking me.”

“Feisty,” the buyer sneers. “I like a good fight.”

Andrea starts struggling hard against me, and just as we reach the group of men, she breaks free of my grip. Things happen fast but I manage to freeze everything in my mind, noticing several important things at once.

Simon is surprised Andrea broke free, but he’s prepared to protect the product, so he throws his arms and legs wide in case she tries to dart past him. His eyes are pinned on Andrea.

The buyer is completely turned on by her spirit, his erection tenting his pants, and he turns his head lazily to the driver and says, “Get her under control.”

Neither of those men are looking at Andrea or me.

It’s the perfect time.

I reach behind me, grab my gun, and because I got the jump and I’m standing closer to them, I decide to take on the driver and buyer. Pointing it at them, I yell, “Police.”

Exactly point-three seconds after I draw my gun, Andrea has hers out… pointed at Simon. “FBI, asshole. Surprise!”

“Hands in the air,” I shout loudly to the two men before me. “Down on your knees… now. Down, now.”

My yelling tactics work, as they are so stunned that their hands immediately go up and they’re lowering to their knees. If Mike’s team is nearby as I expect, they will have heard that as well.

I see a flash of movement from the corner of my eye, and I hear Andrea grunt. I can’t take my eyes off my quarry, but I hear the clatter of her gun skittering across the pavement and the receding sound of running feet.

Before I can even tell Andrea to let him go, I hear her curse and then the sound of her feet are pounding… in pursuit of Simon, who is now on the run.

I risk a quick glance, see him tearing up the alley that we came in on toward Devine. Andrea is after him, her long legs pumping hard, and within seconds, they are both out of sight.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

I itch to put a bullet in both men’s legs before me… hobble them good enough that I can go after Andrea and Simon.

Luckily, I hear more feet… several pairs, and then Mike and his tactical team are swarming the parking lot from the dark alley, just as I’d predicted.

“Cover them,” I yell, turning to start running after Andrea.

I vaguely hear Mike saying, “FBI… you’re under arrest for the…” and then he’s fading away as I enter the alley. Bursting out onto Devine, I see an undercover cruiser with lights flying toward me and a flash of golden-blonde hair disappearing down the alley across the street. I burst into another run, crossing Devine, and dodging one car that slams its brakes on. I slap at the hood with my free hand and keep running.

The cruiser pulls into the alley behind me as I run, but there’s not enough room for it to pass me and I’m not giving up the chase. I can see the shadowy form of Andrea ahead, and she’s closing in on Simon.

Fuck, she’s in great shape.

She’s within an arm’s length of him and in one stride, she pushes off her right leg and leaps at his back. She misses and I watch her start to fall, thinking she’s going to be picking her teeth up off the pavement, but then she manages to latch her arms around one of his legs.

Simons goes down in a tangled mess with her, both of them hitting the concrete hard and rolling. Their lack of momentum causes me to bridge the gap quickly, and just as Simon rolls to his knees, preparing to lunge back into a run, I take three more strides and kick him in the rib cage with a steel-toed boot.