Chapter 14 #2
“Ephraim!” Sophie said and Wood and Elaine turned. Ephraim trained his pistol on them.
“Cut her loose,” he said.
“You came,” Elaine cooed, her eyes hard as the steel the building was made of.
“I’m here, let Sophie go.” He returned.
“Can’t do that,” Wood drawled, his hands at his side.
“Of course you can. You cut the tie, she walks out, I stay.”
“And she gives testimony.” Wood finally let his mood show through with his snarl. “You’re not an idiot, you know neither one of you are leaving this place.”
“Oh, they’ll leave it. Go for a nice dip,” Elaine murmured and took a step toward Ephraim. “You know this didn’t have to end this way, E. You could have stayed with me and everything would have been perfect.”
He laughed caustically. “For how long? Until you got tired of me? Until I started seeing you as you really are? Did you have your brother killed, Elaine? Want Daddy’s business?”
“He was running it into the ground,” she sneered. “Letting people take twice as long to pay their debts as they should have. He even talked about investing more and doing less loans.”
“And you decided you could do a better job,” he said with a wry grin. “Seems like you grew into the position. Became the man your brother couldn’t be.”
She glared at him. “You know I only slept with you out of curiosity.”
“Curiosity runs both ways,” he shrugged then motioned toward Wood, who’d taken a step forward. “Uh uh, Wood. She come on to you? Nah, you’re not her type. She doesn’t like smokers.”
Wood made a face. “Don’t defecate in your bed, man. You made that mistake.”
Ephraim laughed again, this time with more enjoyment. Elaine’s face reddened at the remark and she glared at Wood. “Why are you standing there? Get rid of him so I can go home.”
Wood suddenly lunged at Ephraim. Ephraim fired, his shot going wide and pinging off the table. As the stockier man wrestled him to the ground Ephraim’s only thought was of Sophie.
Sophie, crouched against the steel table supports, caught her breath at the sight before her.
Wood had Ephraim down and held a knife above him, ready to thrust it into him if he could break Ephraim’s hold.
She tugged at the zip tie surrounding her wrists and continued rubbing it against the roughened concrete surrounding the seated leg.
Finally, she felt the break in the tie and scrambled to her knees.
She rushed the two men and pushed Wood away, the element of surprise her biggest weapon. As he shifted off Ephraim, Sophie saw his knife fly across the floor. Ephraim charged Wood and landed on top of him, his fist coming into contact with Wood’s chin.
Sophie felt something at her temple and she froze.
“You move and I’ll kill you.” Elaine said. “Ephraim,” she yelled and Ephraim stilled, his gaze on Sophie. “You really need to pick your battles more carefully,” Elaine said. “Stand up.”
Ephraim stood and took a couple steps toward Elaine, who put Sophie in front of her and held the gun to Sophie’s neck. “Wood, get up.”
“He broke my arm,” Wood didn’t sound as confident as he’d done before.
“I don’t care. Stand up!” Elaine held the gun steady on Sophie. “You didn’t think to search me, did you, Ephraim? That’s your problem. You’ve always underestimated women.”
Wood stood and cradled his arm, glaring at Ephraim. “What are you waiting for? Shoot him.”
“No. You’re going to have to knife him,” Elaine said and Sophie sucked in a breath.
“I can’t. I told you, he broke my arm.” Wood whined.
“Well, I’m not going to shoot and have every person around calling in,” Elaine snarled and started side stepping around Ephraim with Sophie tight in her grasp. “We’ll go someplace away from the city and do it.”
Sophie, her eyes on Ephraim suddenly knew what to do. She met his gaze, dropped hers for an instant and then looked him in the eye. He blinked slowly and she knew, somehow, he’d understood her.
She took a step along with Elaine and then, crying out, dropped to the floor. Elaine, slimmer and lighter than Sophie, couldn’t hold her weight and she released her. As Sophie dropped, Ephraim dove and tackled Elaine. A shot went off and Sophie cried out again, this time legitimately and twisted.
Elaine writhed in Ephraim’s hold and Sophie took a breath in relief before looking for Wood.
He was heading toward the door and escape, only to face Reed and his gun.
“Not so fast.” Reed pushed the older man inside and shut the door then took in the battle going on between Ephraim and Elaine.
“They got any weapons?” he asked Sophie and she gasped, “Not sure.” She stood and ran to retrieve first Wood’s knife and then the one she’d seen Ephraim drop when Wood rushed him.
She glanced around the room for the guns.
“Ephraim had a pistol and I think Elaine had one too, but I don’t see them. ”
“Let’s get this guy taken care of.” Reed pulled out zip cuffs and cuffed Wood to the table Sophie had been attached to then turned to watch Ephraim battle Elaine. Sophie glared at him. “Aren’t you going to help him?”
He shrugged. “Don’t look like I need to.”
Ephraim had Elaine’s hands behind her back and her face in the dirt. “Got another pair of cuffs?”
“No, but I do have an eighty-pound tie.” Reed tugged a zip tie from his pocket and went over to secure Elaine. He helped Ephraim pull her to her feet and then gestured toward Wood. “Gun?”
Ephraim glanced around and spied the small pistol he’d had and retrieved it. “She must have picked it up when Wood jumped me.”
Reed nodded and the men searched the two, with Reed taking Elaine, to Sophie’s relief. They found another knife on Wood, who was moaning about his arm, and got nothing other than curses from Elaine.
“Want me to call the cops or do you want to?”
“I’ll let you do it.” Ephraim walked over to Sophie and cupped her cheek with his hand. “You okay?”
She held up her wrists, which had scrapes where she’d rubbed against the rough concrete. “I’ll be fine.”
He took her in his arms and held her for a minute then kissed her. “I am so sorry I drug you into this.”
She smiled and touched his jaw. “You didn’t pull me into anything. I made a choice when I saw you on the beach.”
“I was a lucky man that day,” he murmured and kissed her again.
The police arrived in record time and when they found out who they had, the commissioner himself had to get involved.
Elaine Hughes’ organization had skirted the law for years, decades when her father had run it.
Now, they had a clear-cut case against her.
Attempted murder and assault charges would go a long way in at least slowing down the loan shark business.
Ephraim, Reed, and Sophie gave statements and Ephraim and Sophie had to sit through a lecture about not bringing the police in sooner, though he was sure they’d have blown them off if he had mentioned anything. Then, they were free to go.
Sophie offered Reed the use of the air mattress, but he declined, saying he wanted to decompress. When she started to argue with him, Ephraim interrupted and held out his hand for the other man to shake. “Understood. Keep in touch, okay? I owe you big.”
“You’d do the same.” Reed packed up his duffle and headed out, to where Sophie wasn’t sure. When she’d mentioned some hotels and motels along the coast he just smiled.
“Why didn’t he want to stay?” She asked and Ephraim took her hand and headed toward the bathroom and bandages.
“Sometimes, it’s best to be alone after a mission.”
She looked at him and then nodded. “Okay.”
She let him minister to her weeping wrists and after they’d been cleaned and disinfected, he looked at them. “They’re not bleeding bad. Let’s just leave them for now. If you don’t need bandages, they’ll heal better without.”
She nodded then walked into the living room and sank down on to the sofa. “Will you be leaving soon? Or will you need to stay here for a while, because of Elaine?”
He sat beside her and leaned forward, his eyes on his linked hands, his elbows resting on his knees. “I guess that depends on you.”
“On me?”
He glanced at her and nodded. “I need to tell you about Elaine—”
She shook her head. “I got the impression whatever you two had together wasn’t healthy, maybe not even lasting.” When he barked a laugh and told her any intimacy they’d had lasted a whole weekend, she nodded. “She wanted power and supremacy over you.”
“And I know some secrets about her. I’ll probably be getting a call from the FBI.”
She screwed her mouth up in worry. “Will that put you in danger again?”
He shrugged, “I doubt it. Elaine wasn’t known for being a good employer. After her brother was killed the organization became known for its heavy-handed use of employees. Anybody that got caught was on their own. I doubt many, if any of her associates, will risk themselves for her.”
Sophie nodded and took a breath. “So, you’ll be busy for a while.”
“Maybe. But, again, that’s up to you.”
Sophie felt tired and suddenly very close to tears. “Ephraim, what are you talking about?”
“I want to stay in Florida, around here, but only if you think we have something to build on.”
She stared at him. “You can do that?”
He nodded. “Hank has guys all over the country, all over the world, I think. I can take cases closer to home. And he always lets us decide what cases we’ll take.”
She tried to take it in. He could be here, in Appalachicola, with her. He took her hand. “Look, I don’t make a bundle, but I make enough to do okay. And I’ll take cases that are so boring, you’ll beg me not to tell you about them. You’ll never be at risk again. What are you laughing at?”
She giggled and threw her arms around his neck, tucking her head into the curve of his shoulder. “I’m just trying to imagine you, boring.”
He hugged her tight and leaned back into the sofa. “I’ll do my best.”