One Grave Less

Diane realized that she never stood a chance—not that that was a big revelation, but the realization that he had been trying not to kill her, toying with her so he could draw it out, frightened her.
    She watched them fight, neither getting the upper hand, and it dawned on her that Liam was just waiting. He didn’t have to win, but her kidnapper did. A noise by the door brought her attention around.
    It was the police and her security. They had guns trained on the kidnapper. But he kept fighting. Liam backed off and started for his gun. Kidnapper guy followed him with his gaze. Liam stopped.
    “On the ground,” said a police officer.
    Diane recognized Pendleton and his partner, Gracey. Diane had had a run-in with them before. She wasn’t their favorite person, but they would do their job.
    Kidnapper guy stood still for a fraction of a second.
    “Watch him.”
    Liam’s warning came too late.
    Diane barely tracked the kidnapper’s movement. He had a knife out and threw it at Pendleton and charged Gracey, taking Gracey’s gun and shooting Pendleton in the leg. The knife had bounced off Pendleton’s vest, but the leg wound looked serious.
    Liam had his gun now and before the kidnapper could turn, Liam fired twice, hitting him once in each leg. It had to break bone, thought Diane. The man started to put weight on one of his legs and he fell to his knees. Liam was aiming his gun at Superguy’s head.
    “Live to fight another day,” said Liam.
    The man put his hands on his head. Her security guards were also aiming their guns at the kidnapper. Gracey started to retrieve his gun.
    “Leave it,” said Liam. “Don’t get close to him. It won’t have a good end, and I don’t want to have to shoot him.”
    Gracey looked at Liam with resentment in his eyes. Liam never took his eyes off Megaguy.
    Blood was starting to cake around the kidnapper’s eyes, making it look like he had on a mask, and the wounds in his arm and legs didn’t seem to bother him much. Stoic guy. Diane would be on the floor in a fetal position. Not much different from where she was now, in fact. She slowly moved out from under the table.
    Her security people looked over at her.
    “Don’t take your eyes off him,” warned Liam. “You guys need to take this seriously. Diane’s all right. Right now, we need to defuse this. The ambulance should be here in a moment.”
    “Come on,” said Gracey, “the guy’s not Superman.”
    “He doesn’t have to be Superman,” said Liam. “He just has to be what he is. And that’s someone who just kicked your ass and took your weapon while you and your partner had your guns on him. Now pay attention, people.”
    Gracey glared at Liam a moment, then focused on Pendleton, putting pressure on Pendleton’s leg wound.
    “He looks like he’s asleep,” said Chanell, Diane’s head of security, pointing her gun at the kidnapper.
    “He’s meditating,” said Liam.
    “He’s what?” said Chanell, frowning at the kidnapper; her expression suggested she might be looking at an alien.
    “Meditating. He’s keeping his heart rate down to staunch the flow of blood from his body.”
    “Well, I’ll be damned. Is he some kind of ninja?” said the other security guard.
    “No, he’s just a very well trained and very expensive problem solver,” said Liam. “Diane apparently pissed off someone with a ton of money to spend.”
    “She’s like that,” muttered Pendleton, mostly under his breath.
    “You know him?” asked Chanell.
    “I know his type, recognize his moves,” said Liam. “Now, less chatter and more watching. He’s still armed to the teeth. The only thing stopping him is knowing that at least one of us will take a kill shot.”
    Gracey stood up with Pendleton’s gun.
    “Look, you son of a bitch, slide all your weapons . . .”
    “No,” said Liam. “We don’t want him putting his hands on his weapons. Wait for the ambulance guys.”
    “What the hell are they going to do? They aren’t secret ninja busters,” said Gracey.
    Diane was losing patience. Oddly, Liam didn’t seem like he was. At this point she would be tempted to shoot Gracey. She thought she knew what Liam was waiting for—a sedative. He was treating kidnapper guy like a rogue tiger. Which, she supposed, he was.
    The paramedics came through the door with a stretcher and stopped at the scene before them.
    “Officer Pendleton,” said Liam, without taking his eyes off superlative guy, “normally, I would say they take