Lover Beware 03 - After Midnight

it down. The detonation of the gun firing split the air with a flat crack, and a voice sounded in her ear, distant and disorientingly normal, so that it was long seconds before she registered that emergency services had picked up her call. Sweeping the panic from her mind, she answered the voice, holding a hand over her free ear to block the sound of the two men locked in combat.

    After Midnight
    227
    The fighting surged toward the bed as she gave her details to the operator. She shuffled back, crouching in the corner, keeping a wary eye on the struggle as the intruder fell back against her dressing table. Glass shattered, and he reeled to his feet and lunged at Rider. The edge of the bed caught Rider in the back of the knees, and he tumbled back, off balance, and rolled to the side, evading the charge by inches, and almost landing on Jane as she scrambled to the other side of the room.
    Rider gained his feet and the attacker came at him again, frighteningly fast, but instead of stepping in close, Rider took a step back and jerked the shadowy figure with him. This time the attacker landed on her dressing table chair and the dainty antique snapped like kindling as the two men went down on the floor.
    She heard the soggy thud of a fist connecting, a heavy grunt, then Jane darted forward and retrieved the gun, which had been dropped on the floor.
    Backing into the hallway, she slid the cell phone, which was still connected to emergency services, into her shorts pocket, and ran her hands over the weapon. She was almost certain it was a twenty-two, the same as her gun, which was under the bed. She didn't want to use the weapon. She didn't want to touch it, but the alternative was trying to get across the bedroom to retrieve hers without getting caught up in the fighting.
    Suppressing a shudder, she felt beneath the gun for the magazine. From the short length, she discerned that it probably held three shots, which meant, if it was fully loaded, that there were two left. She pulled the bolt into the firing position and heard a round slick into the chamber, then fitted the stock to her shoulder and aimed, but her target was a blurred whirl of muscle and shadows and the sheer savagery of the fight rendered the threat of the gun close to useless. The two men were so absorbed in the battle that they hadn't noticed she had a gun trained on them, and the odds were that even if she did pull the trigger, she would hit Rider.
    Lowering the gun, Jane searched the room, which was gradually lightening, and spotted the battery lantern, which was now lying on its side by the wall, miraculously still intact.
    Setting the gun on the floor, she retrieved the lantern, turned the knob, and light spread through the room.

    228
    FIONA BRAND
    The assailant was almost as tall as Rider, and brawny across the shoulders. Something about the small shape of his head compared to the width of his shoulders, his hair cut close around his skull, was familiar. Jane was sure she knew who he was, although she'd only seen him a handful of times. Earl Sooner, one of a small number of beneficiaries who were resident in and around Tayler's Creek. He owned a small acreage on the other side of town, although most of his block was covered in gorse and bush. According to local gossip, the only productive use Earl had ever put his piece of land to was reputed to be an illegal one, although he had never actually been busted for growing cannabis.
    The fighting surged toward her again, and she scrambled back until the wall stopped her. Locked together, the two men hit the doorframe, making the whole house shudder, then reeled back into the bedroom. With a quick twist, Rider flipped Sooner onto his stomach on the floor, then went down on top of him, his knee wedged in the small of Sooner1 s back, fore-arm pressed up tight under Sooner's neck, arching his head back at an acute angle. Sooner's face went red, then purple, his eyes bulging. Spittle frothed from his mouth as he fought the hold, then abruptly his eyelids drooped and he went slack in Rider's grip.
    Rider's gaze found hers. Blood was trickling from a cut on his cheekbone, and he had a swelling over one eye, but otherwise he appeared to be unharmed. "Have you got rope?"
    "I've got plenty, but it's in the barn."
    "Get it. I'll make sure he doesn't wake up anytime soon."
    Jane didn't hang around to ask just what Rider had done to knock Sooner out, or what measures he'd take if Sooner came back around. Jess was