26. Helen #2
Drake didn’t move aside from the heavy rise and fall of chest and the steady circling.
As Douglas’ laughter faded, Drake came to a stop, eyes frighteningly devoid of light.
It was a side of him I’d seen with Tony Fat Stacks, like he was shoving down everything that made him who he was and building, brick by brick, the man the world knew as The Dragon. A ruthless, trained killing machine.
“Are you better than me for kidnapping a helpless woman?” Drake took a calculated risk in provoking Douglas. “You could never beat me in a fight, so this is how low you had to stoop to feel as if you finally got the upper hand? You’re weak, and you always will be.”
Douglas roared. Air rushed into my lungs and flowed through my bruised windpipes when he roughly shoved me to the ground. My knees and palms scraped the loose gravel and a cry burst from my lips. Drake twitched in my direction, so briefly I almost missed it.
“You want to dance, pretty boy? All high and mighty. Let’s see how tough you are when I kick your fucking ass!” Douglas tucked his gun into the back of his belt and walked at a brisk pace toward Drake. The gap between them closed as they surged into a sprint.
Scrambling upright against the heavy weight of my aching limbs, I gasped when Douglas threw the first punch. Drake blocked it with his forearm before lashing out with his opposite fist and rearing out of the way of another hit. Drake kicked out and knocked Douglas back several steps.
Drake pulled his arms close and blocked three rapid swings from Douglas. Catching a moment of vulnerability, he swung upright and caught Douglas in the chin, who groaned and stumbled. He swiped a hand over his mouth and spit a glob of blood on the ground.
Douglas lunged forward, and Drake caught him by the shoulder, pushing him. Douglas skidded away before rebalancing himself and pivoting around on his heel. He huffed out a breath and swiped this thumb against his nose before dropping back into an offensive stance.
Wrathful, cold, bristling with fury, Drake watched him. Entirely poised, not even breathing hard, he shook out his fists as if reloading them for another round. Neither man paid any attention to me, entirely zeroed in on their opponent in a dance of life and death.
The rush of oxygen to my brain bullied the fuzzy haze at the edge of my vision. My body fought against me, trembling violently as I tried pulling myself upright. I reached deep down for the remaining dregs of my strength and willed it to the surface.
Douglas took a running jump, swinging to punch Drake in the head.
Drake leaned back and avoided the blow, then shot forward and drove his knuckles into Douglas’ throat.
He pitched back, one hand grasping at his neck as he choked on an inhale.
Seeming to shake it off, Douglas dropped his hand to his back and whipped the gun back out.
He brandished the weapon, but Drake sliced through the air, dodging and blocking in tandem.
His hand curved around the barrel, and he used his momentum to twist it from Douglas’ hand.
Disengaged, the gun spiraled through the air and clattered away.
My eyes followed its path before snapping back to the grappling men.
A bone-snapping crack and a scream breached Douglas as Drake broke his hand. “That feel good, does it?” Drake mocked.
Bent over and heaving, Douglas snipped back.
“I’ll get used to it. After all, I’ve had worse.
” He wrestled himself out of Drake’s grasp, half bent over as he struggled for breath.
“This almost feels like old times. All those missions we went on together to further bolster your family’s wealth and status. ”
“Missions you also profited from.”
“Blood money,” Douglas snarled, frothing at the mouth as deranged as a feral dog. He straightened up with one hand on his likely bruised ribs. “If that explosion had gone off in time, you would have been dead years ago. As you should have been.”
Drake faltered, stunned by a dawning realization and another layer of betrayal. “The explosion that left me injured for months with permanent burn scars,” he deadpanned. “You said the comms had messed up so you couldn’t alert the team in time. But it was a trap. That was you.”
“And it should have worked, too. Instead, everyone hailed you as some fucked up criminal martyr and named you The Dragon. I couldn’t fucking stand it.”
Yanked back into one another’s orbit, Douglas swung.
Drake retaliated, hitting the bastard with a sharp elbow to the side of the head.
It gave Douglas an opening to punch Drake in the side, then grab him.
Douglas used his position to swing Drake around, then swept low to belt his arms around Drake’s leg and haul him upward.
A startled gasp flew free from my chest as he slammed Drake down on the ground. Douglas followed up with a swift punch to the face and a punishing kick to the ribs. Covering my mouth to stifle my distress, I watched as Drake rolled away from the flurry of blows battering him into the ground.
Oh god, even when he evaded those crushing kicks, he’d fallen into a prone position. A flood of energy possessed me, rising to the surface of my being like an avenging wave. As Drake crawled in the opposite direction and Douglas stalked after him, I moved into action.
Drake pushed himself upright, but Douglas followed, kicking him in the side of the head. I bit down a scream when Drake yelled and collapsed back to the ground. My legs shuffled forward on auto pilot, fighting against my desperate urge to go to Drake.
“You always thought you were better than me, but no longer. You’ll fucking die here and then I’ll tear down the others.
” Douglas cuffed his arm around Drake’s neck, mirroring how he’d wrangled me earlier.
However, this time, he intended to cut off Drake’s air entirely and snuff the light from his eyes.