Part 33 (2/2)

Liam could hear the hoodlums coming now. He took careful aim. At least one of them would go down before they took him, and the rest would have one h.e.l.l of a fight. It was too d.a.m.ned bad Perry hadn't turned up, so he could have put a bullet in him as wella”

A heavy object smashed into the side of Liam's head. He staggered, struggling to keep his hold on the pistol. It was knocked from his hand. He didn't even have a chance to see where it had fallen before the next blow caught his temple, and then he couldn't see anything at all.

The next thing he was aware of was a voice, a jumble of meaningless sounds. His head throbbed as if someone were twisting a knife into his brain, but he concentrated in spite of the pain, and at length he began to understand.

And to recognize the voice.

”I told you to wait for me,” Perry said. ”It was all arranged. I have the carriage here. Your precipitous action could have ruined everything, and you would have had the police to deal with. They're probably coming now, thanks to your incompetence.”

Someone answereda”a gruff, angry voice heavily accented. ”You were late. Why should we trusta””

”Because you haven't any choice. Your boss agreed to the plan. There's little enough time as it is. O'Shea walked into the trap as expected. I promised to deal with him, and I will. Your operations won't suffer from his interference beyond today. Nowa”” Liam heard a shuffling and someone took firm hold of his arms. ”Kindly help me get him into the carriage, and then I suggest you hide yourselves before the police arrive.”

Liam played senseless, keeping his body limp while they dragged him to his feet. He smelled the unmistakable odor of horses, heard their harness jingling as he was propped against the side of the carriage, supported by the one man he had so badly wanted to find.

The man he'd stop once and for alla ”If you can hear me, Liam, don't show it,” Perry hissed into his ear. ”If we're to get out of this alive, they have to believe I intend to kill you.”

Liam almost gave himself away at the shock of Perry's words. His first instinct was to grab Perry around the neck and force him to explain himself then and there. He didn't have a chance to so much as debate the possibilities, for Perry gave a low curse and grasped his arm.

”I may have misjudged the situation,” he whispered.

”From the look of things it seems they're planning to eliminate both of us here and nowa””

”Boss doesn't trust you,” the accented voice said, uncomfortably close. ”He said get rid of you now. Police won't come for us if you kill each other.”

”Eminently logical,” Perry murmured. ”If you can hear me, Liam, I suggesta””

Liam didn't wait for his suggestion. He surged up, ignoring the fiery pain in his skull, and heaved himself toward the accented voice. His body connected, and the man grunted under his weight as they hit the ground. A flash of movement from the corner of his eye showed Perry struggling with another hoodlum.

Then someone found a gun and fired.

THE GUNSHOT echoed through the streets like an explosion. Mac skidded to a stop, panic clutching at her gut, and searched desperately for the source of the noise.

”This way!” she yelled, grabbing Caroline. They pelted around a corner and into a side street, stopped, and turned into an even narrower alley.

A dark closed carriage waited at the end of it, the horses lunging against their harness in panic. Men were fighting, one pair on the ground struggling for control of a pistol and another grappling against the side of the carriage.

One of the men on the ground was Liam.

Mac didn't think. She ran for the melee as if her life depended on it, Caroline right behind. They'd just reached the chaotic scene when another pair of men emerged from a maze of close-set buildings, men in dark s.h.i.+rts and loose trousers with distinctly threatening att.i.tudes. One of them brandished a hatchet, the other a gun.

”Watch out!” Mac yelled. The new arrival with the gun stopped and took aim at her. The man with the hatchet shouted something to his partner, distracting him, and the two of them went directly for Liam.

”Perry!” Caroline cried.

Mac had exactly one second to take it all in. Liam was crouched over his erstwhile opponent, swaying, blood on his temple, preparing for the new men's attack. Perry was busy banging his adversary's head against the side of the carriage.

Caroline rushed for Perry. Mac raised her knife, screamed b.l.o.o.d.y murder at the top of her lungs, and charged the guy with the hatchet.

For an instant her gaze met Liam's, and then he was movinga”straight between her and the hatchetman. The man with the gun was taking careful aim for Liam's skull.

With a maneuver that would have made Wonder Woman proud, Mac changed directions, bent double, and used her head for a battering ram, hitting the gunman square in the stomach. He grunted and staggered back. The gun went off. Fighting dizziness, Mac stuck her knife to the hilt in the man's hand. He wailed and dropped the gun.

It wasn't over yet. She was about ready to dive for the gun when she saw Liam squared off with the hatchetman. Unarmed, and still swaying on his feet as if he might keel over with the next stiff breeze.

Instinct warred with sense. She didn't know how to use the guna”but Liam did. She went for it, rolling, and grabbed it around the barrel. By the time she was on her feet again Liam was dodging the swing of the vicious axe and losing his balance.

Mac did the only thing she could think of. She swung the gun and clipped the hatchetman on the back of the skull with the b.u.t.t just as he was ready to connect the blade of his axe with Liam's neck.

The man fell. Liam tried to get up. Mac was going to him when something hit her from behind, and she was lying under the weight of the forgotten gunman, who had a knife to her throat. His wounded hand dripped blood onto her jacket.

Everything slowed down to a snail's pace. Liam gave a cry Mac had never heard from any human being, made an aborted movement toward her and stopped when the tong enforcer pressed the knife blade against her skin.

She met Liam's gaze and forgot the rest of the world. Her own danger meant nothing next to the pain and terror in his eyes.

The hatchetman raised his knife. Liam leaped up with an animal roar. Mac saw the knife descend, felt an explosive rush of air close to her cheek, heard a deafening bang, and then there was a great deal of blood and a man screaming in pain.

Part of her registered the sight of Perry standing by the carriage with a pistol in his handa and a view of the man who'd been holding her, flat on his back, groaning, with a substantially larger hole in his arm than her knife had made.

”Mac!” Liam rasped, very close to her ear. ”Maca””

”I'm all right,” she gasped. ”Perrya”Oh, d.a.m.n it, Carolinea””

She got Liam's attention just in time. Perry's first adversary had apparently recovered from the pounding Perry had given him, for he'd taken advantage of Perry's distraction and grabbed Caroline. Caroline was fighting her captor like a banshee, all feet and little clenched fists; Perry was aiming his gun, as helpless to save her as Liam had been with the hatchetman.

But Liam moved. He dove for the knife Mac's attacker had dropped, positioned himself, and threw it with deadly accuracy at the enforcer's leg. It hit with enough impact that the tong man thought better of further argument. He dropped Caroline, tried to run, and fell with the knife still protruding from his calf.

Four tong enforcers lay on the ground in various degrees of unconsciousness or debilitating pain. Perry had Caroline in his arms, and she was clinging to him for everything she was worth, all but ignoring her guardian.

Mac more than made up for that lapse. She found Liam still on his knees, sucking in air, his hair tangled around his face and glued to a nasty cut near his temple. She hardly had time to move; he was already at her side by the time she forced her muscles to react. His hands clutched at her shoulders and he examined her with a thoroughness bordering on frenzy.

”Mac,” he said hoa.r.s.ely. ”Are you all right?”

”Yes, buta””

”d.a.m.n you,” he snarled. ”Why did you come here? I didn't need your help.”

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