January in Atlantis - Alyssa Day (red white royal blue .txt) 📗

Flynn didn’t know what to say, so he said nothing. They’d gotten dressed in silence, and all the while he was furiously thinking of how to stop this. He’d give anything for an idea—any idea—that would get him inside that copper mine without Eva. But Snake had agreed, almost too eagerly, to bring Flynn into the inner circle in exchange for Eva.

Now all that was left was to drive to the mine.

Eva was so pale that each individual freckle stood out like a scar on the porcelain of her face. She shoved her feet into her shoes and stood, looking around as if trying to memorize every inch of the tiny apartment.

As if she knew she’d never return.

“Eva—”

“No. There’s no other way.” She brushed by him in the doorway and ran down the steps.

Flynn was a broken man. How could he allow her to go into danger?

How could he not?

They had a twenty-minute drive to the mine. Surely, please, gods, he could think of something—anything—in twenty minutes. He swallowed hard and then started down the steps after her.

“Flynn,” she said, but her voice sounded wrong. Terrified.

He realized he’d been a fool. They’d been ambushed.

He leapt over the side of the railing and landed just in front of Eva, between her and the threats ranged around them. Monkey, a big guy Flynn didn’t recognize, and Zach were all there, lined up and ready for a fight. Zach leaned back against Flynn’s bike, and Monkey stayed safely out of range, but the big guy rocked back and forth, rhythmically punching one massive fist into the palm of his other hand.

“Snake?” he asked, but he doubted it. This guy didn’t look bright enough to interest Eva. Flynn studied the low-brow face and bulging eyes and reconsidered.

He didn’t look like he was bright enough to tie his own shoes.

“No, I don’t know who that is,” Eva said, her voice shaking.

“I’m Rock, pretty lady,” the thug said, showing them his blackened teeth.

Flynn flicked a contemptuous look at the moron. “As in ‘dumb as a…’?”

It took Rock a minute, but then he snarled and started forward, exactly as Flynn had hoped. Fights were always easier when you divided and conquered.

“Cut it out, Rock,” Monkey ordered. “Safety in numbers. All right, man. Hand over the woman. You’re outnumbered.”

Flynn smiled. It wasn’t a nice smile. Monkey flinched at the sight of it.

“Not a chance, you bunch of losers. I said I’d give her to Snake, and only Snake. We had a deal. I get patched into the Dark Angels, and he gets the woman.” Flynn didn’t have to try to fake the rage in his voice. It was one of the hardest things he’d ever done in his life, calling Eva “the woman” less than an hour after she’d been coming apart in his arms.

He had to save her. How could he even be doing this to her? What kind of monster was he?

But Kyla’s face, contorted in agony, flashed into his mind. They just had to rescue those girls, take down Snake and Narco, and get out alive. Then they’d have the rest of their lives to learn everything about each other. To spend night after night after night in each other’s arms.

He forced his face into an expressionless mask, grabbing Eva too hard by the arm. He shoved her farther behind him. “If you want her, come and get her.”

“Sure about that?” Monkey taunted him. “The odds aren’t good.”

Flynn shrugged. “Yeah, you’re right. You should’ve brought more men.”

With that, the Dark Angels attacked. Monkey and Rock closed on Flynn, and Zach circled behind him to catch Eva, who’d been trying to make a break for it and run to her car.

Flynn thought—he hoped—that Zach really was on his side. If so, Zach was the best one to capture Eva.

Just as the thought entered his mind, she screamed behind him. When he whipped his head to the left to see what was happening, Rock smashed his massive fist into the side of Flynn’s face. Flynn didn’t go down, not all the way, but he staggered back several steps and bounced off the outside wall of the garage.

Okay, that was gonna leave a mark.

“You can still back down, asshole, but this is your last chance,” Monkey said, dancing around just out of Flynn’s reach and tossing a blade from hand to hand. Who knew if the idiot actually knew how to use one? Better to assume he did.

Eva screamed again, this time from the shadows behind the tiny staircase to her apartment, and the sound galvanized Flynn into action despite the ringing in his skull. Just in time too. Rock pulled a pistol from his side holster and Flynn figured that meant his “last chance” was officially over. He launched himself at Rock, calling to the power of his water magic to propel him forward with superhuman speed. He knocked the gun out of Rock’s hand so hard he heard the man’s wrist bone crack. The gun went flying.

Flynn did a somersault over Rock’s head, hit the ground, and bounced back up into a spinning kick that took the man just under his left ear. That was the end of Rock.

He turned to Monkey, who was aiming a pistol directly at him.

“Enough fun and games,” Monkey snarled. “You’re dead now, and I bet Snake rewards me by letting me have some fun with your woman before he kills her.”

“Yeah, I don’t think so,” said a new voice from behind Flynn. “Down, now.”

It was Jake of course. Somehow he must’ve gotten away from the Dark Angels long enough to follow Monkey to Eva’s place.

Flynn hit the ground, and an ice spear shot through the air exactly where he’d been standing and struck Monkey in the shoulder, causing the pistol shot to go wide. Before he could take aim again, Flynn was