Free Dance with the Devil by Cherry Adair Page B

sweetly. “Afraid I’m going to smack you with my little ol’ purse?” But she obediently moved a few feet away from Jack and kept her hands up. “My mother always said some day the Sex Police would come. I guess she was right.”
    Jack noticed with approval that she’d managed to unsnap the little pearl clip on the small purse for easy access to her weapon. Hell, she could reach inside and fire right through her purse. The hell with pulling it out.
    â€œThat’s up to these two guys, darling. Well, fellas, what do you say? Now that you’ve caught us in flagrante delicto, may we go?”
    Both men kept a wary eye on Jack, clearly believing Mia to be no trouble. Jack resisted smiling. Mia in a temper was a sight to behold. They had absolutely no idea that she was the really dangerous part of this team. He kept his expression bland, and mildly respectful. These guys were obviously low on the food chain. He didn’t want to do anything to set them off.
    â€œGimme the disk.”
    â€œDisk?” Mia asked, feigning puzzlement.
    Unibrow waved his H&K at Jack. “The disk you took outta the safe in the wardrobe.” He waved his weapon wildly in the direction of the closet behind them.
    How the hell did they know that anything had been removed from the safe? Jack wondered. While he and Mia had been voyeurs had someone been watching them? Not that that little detail mattered right now.
    Jack shrugged and said, “Didn’t see a safe in there, pal. We just dashed in there to avoid being caught in an embarrassing position. Hey, man, can we put our hands down now? This is—”
    He saw the punch coming and moved his head in time to avoid it, at the same time he brought his raised hands down in a neat chop to the guy’s gun hand.
    The gun stayed clenched in the meaty fist, and the guy swayed but didn’t fall. Jack sharply jerked up his knee, knocking out a few of UniBrow’s teeth in the process. Damn. The dry cleaner was going to bitch about the blood on his fine wool pants come Monday morning.
    In one continuous motion, Jack grabbed the guy by the hair, pulling him upright. Unibrow came surging up like a monolithic tidal wave, grabbed Jack’s throat with both hands and shook him like a rat. Blood poured from the guy’s mouth and the missing teeth made him look like a demented seven-year-old on steroids.
    Jack bit his tongue a couple of times before he managed to seize his opponent’s right elbow from underneath and turn rapidly to release the guy’s hold. He followed that with a chop to the man’s bull-like neck.
    Uni rocked back on his heels like a drunk trying to look sober, and it was only quick thinking on Jack’s part that he stepped away before Uni grabbed a leg and turned him over like a frigging turtle.
    Mia used her long legs to kick Mullet-head in the jaw with full force while he was watching the stuffing being beaten out of Uni. He crashed onto the edge of the bed with a very surprised expression on his face.
    â€œSee what I mean, Jack?” she said, only slightly out of breath. “You’re a crappy liar.” She removed the .22 from her purse and got a solid two-handed grip on it. “And everyone knows it—” Weapon raised, she spun on Mullet-head who’d immediately staggered to his feet, his weapon aimed at her heart. “Would you quit pointing that thing at me? It’s damn rude.”
    They stood there like cartoon characters. Four pissed off people, four weapons. Eight steady hands.
    Who was going to yell chicken first?
    â€œTell you what, guys,” Jack said, knowing the odds, and knowing he wouldn’t risk Mia. Not even for his country. “Let’s all just put our toys down and call it a draw, huh? Whaddya say?” His prime directive was to get this disk to HQ. More important was getting Mia out of the mix.
    â€œGive us the computer disk,” Mullet-head snarled,