In the Still of the Night:Sexy Romantic Suspense (Book 2 The Blonde Barracuda's Sizzling Suspense Series) (30 page)

“Let me tell you what I have I mind for your woman. We have a word for it in Korean, Jake. You call it a circle jerk. I call it
Angibu!
”

Jake never thought that one coded word could change his life. But
Angibu
did. Only the deepest of shadow warriors would understand the reference. Peter was too young to have been part of the infamously ruthless former Korean CIA, but the word defined him.

That Peter used the term said as nothing else could: No one who crossed him would survive the night. And their death would be brutal.

Chapter 29

Jake jerked his head in confirmation. A massive blast of adrenalin surged through his shackled body. In the scant seconds it took for Lexie and Peter to free his bonds, time stood still. His muscles coiled in readiness. At Peter’s screamed “
Kihap!
” the Hapkido battle cry, the three of them leapt to their feet and turned as one, to take on no fewer than twelve baffled but quickly recovering Hapkido fighters.

The fury roiling in Jake’s gut roared to the surface. With a mighty cry he echoed Peter’s command. A ferocious fighter, Jake’s point of difference was his ability to fight from a space of silence. It was a level of skill that he’d cultivated over a lifetime of battle. But for the first time in many years, the eerie calm eluded him. The memory of Lexie hanging helplessly in front of these hideous men spurred him on. As did her piercing warrior cry. Seeing Lexie leap five feet in the air and drive a fierce kick to An-kor’s jaw galvanized him. He laughed out loud at the sight of the vicious man sprawled on the floor screaming in pain.

Peter grabbed Hong by the wrist at the same time he stomped on his foot. The hapless warrior’s scream echoed the satisfying sound of breaking bones as Peter tossed him to the floor. Seeing the oncoming barrage of nine skilled fighters, the three of them formed a tight back-to-back circle.

“Any chance you have arranged for reinforcements, Jake?” Peter asked with an ironic grin as he drove a ruthless kick to Chul’s ear, dropping the man helplessly to the floor.

Before Jake could answer, the door burst open and five men led by Brady poured into the room, their deafening battle cries filling the air.

Twisting Chang’s arm behind his back then giving it a quick snap, Jake threw the shrieking man against the wall. Following him as he slid to the floor, he drove a flurry of kicks at the bleeding man’s gut. Over his shoulder, he answered Peter’s ironic question.

“Ask and ye shall
receive
…”

Peter laughed. “Good thing. Five more minutes and I would have had to make good on my threat to take Lexie…”

Jake roared as he spun in a fierce circle, knocking the knife from Wong Fu’s hand bringing the scowling man to the floor with an elbow to his nose. Swiping at the blood that shot from Wong Fu’s crumpled face, Jake replied, “If I’d known just whose sonofabitch you were, I almost would have let you. Right before I killed you.”

Peter laughed then moved close to Jake. His voice was low, his words chilling.

“
Angibu
code. Take no prisoners.”

Jake exchanged a knowing glance with Brady, who was systematically kicking the shit out of a warrior who had his arms up across his face and chest, begging for mercy.

Jake’s confirming grin was devoid of mirth.

“It’s a universal code, Peter, when dealing with men too evil to live.”

Brady nodded in agreement, looking over his shoulder at Peter, not hiding his admiration.

“Just so you know, we were at the door for the last five minutes of that fucking charade, but let you play it out. We wanted you to get the big man free before we brought in the cavalry.”

Peter wrapped his arm around Ji-hun’s throat in a choke hold, then heaved the man against the wall. With a shrill cry followed by a bubbling sound, the man slid to the floor, clutching at the blood pouring from the gash across his neck.

Peter wiped his bloody knife on his pants and murmured to Brady, “Next time a whistle, a bird call perhaps, might be useful.”

Brady squinted in appreciation, as Peter kicked the dead man to the growing pile of bodies.

“Hell, what’s the fun in that? Wanted to see if even a customer as cool as you are sweats.”

Driving a sharp elbow into the side of Gun-woo’s face, Peter asked, “And, do I?”

Brady shrugged. “Not so as I noticed.”

Reaching for the man he’d just thrown to the floor Jake grabbed him by the scruff of his neck. Like a discus thrower, in a mighty show of strength, Jake swung the man in a circle crashing his screaming victim against the wall. Ye-jun slid to the floor, his eyes staring vacantly in front of him.

Spotting a fighter who was scuttling across the room like a crab pursued by a giant shark, Jake strode after him, huffing over his shoulder, “When you know him better, Peter, you’ll learn that Brady is a drama queen. Addicted to spectacle.”

The seconds it took for Lexie to understand that Peter was their savior were eons too long. The heft of the blade he pressed into her hand, and his low command to free Jake, was too bizarre to comprehend. But within seconds, she rose with the two men, screaming a battle cry that echoed theirs. Accustomed to fighting for medals, Lexie marveled at how easily her goal became blood.

Her fury leapt as she drove one fierce kick after another into the men who had planned to rape her. She fought for every woman she knew who had been brutalized by violent men. Every blow she landed, every scream she elicited, was payback, balm for her raging soul.

Her heart leapt with relief when Brady and their men tore through the door. She’d never doubted that she and Jake and Peter could take down the mobsters. Their rage was that powerful. But at Brady’s ecstatic yell, “Back atcha, hotshot!” tears of joy spilled from her eyes.

She shouted over her shoulder to one of the men coming fast behind Brady, “Get Ming. She’s in the bedroom. Be careful! There’s a fucking Abrams tank disguised as a human being guarding her.”

At that moment, Lexie saw Dalila streak to the open door. Brady turned and sprinted after her.

Lexie was at his side in seconds, and shoved him aside. Her voice was low, fierce.

“Oh, no you don’t, Brady. She’s mine. All mine.”

Brady’s shout of laughter followed her out into the cool night air.

Dalila reached the town car parked in the driveway, her hand grasping the door handle just as Lexie caught up with her. Lexie’s shrieking cry split the night. Grabbing Dalila by her hair, she jerked her backwards, flinging her to the ground. Dalila rolled to the side, then sprang to her feet. When she whirled to face her, Lexie saw the flash of a blade in Dalila’s hand. Lexie’s heart leapt in anticipation. The rage in the woman’s eyes matched her own. Lexie knew she was in for the fight of her life and she reveled in it.

Dalila managed to duck the fierce kick Lexie drove at her ribs. Lexie hit her chest instead. At Dalila’s pained howl, Lexie grinned, remembering her promise to Jake that if it was the last thing she did she’d take out her rival’s big breasts and heart-shaped ass. The memory sharpened her focus. Seeing Dalila aiming a round house kick at her head, Lexie dove for the ground. But Dalila’s steel tipped boot grazed her shoulder. Backing up momentarily to allow the pain ricocheting through her arm to subside, Lexie next went for the knife in Dalila’s hand.

In one of her signature moves that never failed to disarm her opponent, Lexie arched into the air forward and then back, in a dizzying series of handsprings. Shock marring her grim face, Dalila backed up in a stupefied crouch, her knife at the ready.

Lexie exploded from below, catching Dalila’s wrist with a shattering blow, her heel drove up against Dalila’s chest, knocking her to the ground. Screaming as much in fury as pain, Dalila rolled to her side, her knife skittering uselessly across the grass.

Lexie chased her. When she was inches away, Dalila swung toward her. The growl that came from the wretched woman’s throat was inhuman, an enraged animal in for the kill. It was then that Lexie saw the custom Rugar that Dalila was aiming at her face.

A shot rang out. For a split second, Lexie expected the bullet to blast through her skull. Instead, a pinpoint hole sullied Dalia’s smooth brow. Lexie watched stunned as blood seeped from the professionally aimed kill shot.

She whirled to see Jake, Brady and Peter standing calmly behind her. She almost missed Peter tucking an extended 9mm Glock in his boot holster.

In the seconds that followed, her disbelief turned to rage. All the emotions of the last five hours boiled up inside of her. With a roar she hurled herself at Peter, screaming incoherently.

“How dare you? Damn you! How dare you kill her? She was mine! Mine to kill. You fucking asshole!”

She beat against his chest with her fists, a bundle of enraged fury. As she swung for another blow, a strong hand caught her arm spinning her in a circle landing her against a solid wall of armor. Jake’s voice was a low silky command.

“Stop, Lexie.”

She froze in an icy column, caught in the iron hard band of his arms. She fought against him, but her fierce efforts were useless against a force far stronger than her own.

“Now. Darlin’. It’s over. Stop. Now.”

A groan ripped from her throat, and then Lexie collapsed against his muscle hard chest. She would have fallen to the ground except for his tight hold. Shivering uncontrollably, through the rush of blood in her ears, she heard his soft murmurs, whispering comforting words. She didn’t know how long he held her buried against his strength. She heard the men behind them discussing next steps. At some level she knew that they dragged Dalila’s body back into the killing fields of the house. She heard but didn’t understand why Peter told one of the men to put his Glock in An-kor’s hand.

The conversation between Jake and Peter cut through her shock.

“We can’t leave tracks. The gunshots will bring the cops any minute. Your call, Colonel.”

Lexie heard Jake’s quiet command. “Blow it.”

From somewhere a car squealed up beside them. Scooping her up in his arms, Jake leapt through the rear door, Brady at his back. Peter’s soft directions to the driver confirmed he’d joined them. As the car screeched in a fearsome circle and sped through the dark night, Lexie heard a horrendous explosion.

Chapter 30

The four of them sat in the comfortable parlor at their Center. After he settled Ming in the guest bedroom with one of Jake’s men standing guard, Master Wan joined them. His face was a blank mask. At the soft knock on the door, he rose and directed Jung Kee to place the tray on the low table in front of the sofa. When he motioned to the small woman, she nodded and moved to the door. Looking at Lexie burrowed under a quilt in Jake’s lap, concern strained her face.

Jake spoke for the group. “She’s okay, Jung Kee. Please don’t wake Madam Juen. There will be enough time in the morning to tell her what happened.”

The young servant didn’t try to hide the tears streaming down her face as she closed the door behind herself.

Master Wan sat in the armchair across from Jake. He handed Jake a cup of hot chocolate.

“I assumed you didn’t want her to have coffee.” He added with a slight smile, “However, this is liberally laced with whisky.”

Jake thanked him with his eyes as he drew the quilt tighter around Lexie. “Both should help to warm her up. I think she’s finally stopped shivering.” He frowned, not hiding his disgust. “Although when you’re dressed in as few clothes as Lexie is, it’s not surprising that she is cold.”

Lexie shoved at his arms trying to free herself. She snapped, “
She
is right here and capable of deciding when I’m warm, and when I’m not. Please let me go, Jake.”

Jake’s voice was ominously soft as he pressed a large hand on her chest settling her into the circle of his strong arm.

“Uh uh, Lexie. You aren’t going anywhere.” He added, his voice dropping further, “For the next five hundred years or so. However, if you behave yourself, I may let you participate in this conversation.”

At her outraged sputter, he tightened his grip on the back of her neck. Leaning down, he whispered in her ear. She froze, her protest seemingly stuck in her throat.

At her silence, Jake nodded and affirmed in his low commanding tone, “That’s better. Just like that, Darlin’.”

Grinning inwardly at the surprise on all three men’s faces, he held the cup of cocoa next to her lips. “Now, Darlin’. Drink this.”

When she took an obedient sip, he murmured again in her ear and sat her up straighter then handed her the cup. With a quick glance at the group, Jake waved a hand at the tray.

“Please. Help yourselves. And Brady, forget the niceties. Fill that glass to the brim and give it to me. If the rest of you feel anything like I do, we’re likely gonna need another bottle or two of your good stuff, Master Wan.”

After they all had generous drinks in their hands, Jake raised his in a salute to Peter. The others followed suit.

“Gotta say, Councilman. I’m glad to see that you wear not one but several masks. Thanks for taking all of them off tonight. Given where you are on the grid—or off of it, you took a big risk. You have my thanks.”

“I’ll fuckin’ second that!” Brady spoke for the group.

Peter smiled. “I’d say it was my pleasure, but that’s overstating it a bit.”

Silence fell over the room. Jake shook his head, knowing the others were likely seeing the hideous scenes that were replaying in his mind. Taking a deep breath, he held Lexie closer to him, knowing how unlikely it was that any of them would get over the horror of the night any time soon.

Peter broke the silence.

“It’s not as though I didn’t have help. Can’t remember when I’ve ever been in a skirmish with warriors more formidable than the
Kkangpae.
I don’t have to tell you, all of are the equal of any fighters across the globe. I salute you.”

After they’d all raised their glasses, Lexie nudged Jake and whispered to him, “I’m not going anywhere, Jake. Please.”

He wrapped the blanket securely around her and murmured, “As long as you understand that, Darlin’.”