Stoned (Unlikely Heroes Book 4) (31 page)

Viper chuckled. “Pretty cocky for a guy who has two guns pointed in his face.”

Craig shrugged. “I’m not afraid of dying. The question is, are you?”

Viper stalked toward him, forgetting about Karen, which had been Craig’s intention. For a moment there, he’d feared Viper was about to shove her off the table.

Scorpion and Cougar stepped back as Viper paused in front of Craig. Viper’s gaze locked on Craig’s in a fierce stare. Craig didn’t waver. Not once. He stared the other man down.

Viper chuckled. “I always liked you, Stoner. You’re the kind of man I respect. You would have made a good Cobra. But now it’s time for one of us to die.”

“Let me shoot him,” Scorpion said, raising his gun.

“No, let me kick his ass,” Cougar spoke up. “I’ve wanted a go at this son-of-a-bitch for a long time.”

Viper glanced from Scorpion to Cougar, then back at Craig. “As much as I’d enjoy watching you beat him to a bloody fucking pulp, Cougar, and as enjoyable as it might be to see you put a bullet in his head, Scorpion, Stoner’s mine. Back off, you two. Now!”

Scorpion backed up a step. After a slight hesitation, Cougar did likewise.

“It’s time, Stoner.” Viper stared coldly into his eyes. “May the better man win.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

Karen held her breath as the two men stared each other down. This would be a fight to the death. There would be no tapping out. No pretending. This time it was a matter of kill or be killed.

Her heart thundered loudly in her ears as Scorpion and Cougar stepped aside.

She’d been pulling at her bonds since they’d strapped her to the chair with zip ties. She was beginning to hate zip ties. But she’d escaped them once. If she was lucky, she might manage to work her hands free without anyone noticing. So she kept pulling and twisting, pressing her thumbs tightly to her palms, and tried to wriggle free. She would not give up.

Craig yanked his blue Polo from the waistband of his dress slacks, unbuttoned it, and pulled it off his shoulders. She’d never seen him dressed in anything except T-shirts and jeans before. She had to admit the dressier attire made him look completely different, totally unlike the badass he’d portrayed over the few weeks she’d spent with him at the compound. In her eyes, he was breathtakingly handsome. The cuts and bruises on his torso were mostly gone now. She wanted to run to him and fling her arms around him, tell him how much she’d missed him. And how sorry she was for pushing him away.

Craig hung the shirt over a hook on the wall and turned to face Viper.

Viper smirked.

“I hope your ribs have healed, Stoner. I don’t want to fight a weakling.”

While she continued to work at the bonds, Karen watched as Viper removed his Cobras jacket and handed it to Scorpion. He yanked his T-shirt over his head, tossing it at Cougar. She stared, her eyes going wide, at the numerous tattoos crawling over his entire torso. To say the man liked snakes would be an understatement. His pale skin came alive with serpents of all colors, a dance of scaly skin and intertwining tails, forked tongues, life-like rattles, hissing cobras, beady eyes and constricting boas. Snakes of numerous species covered his skin. Though the artwork was incredible and extremely realistic, the sight of all those snakes on the man’s body was a little overwhelming. It was just too much.

Viper’s body was just as hard and muscular as Craig’s, but all those tattoos...if she hadn’t been creeped out before, now she totally was.

Craig and Viper circled each other warily.

“Too bad we’re not at the compound,” Viper said. “I would love to fight you in the octagon.”

“I don’t need an octagon to kill you,” Stoner retorted.

Viper lunged.

Karen let out a soft scream in warning, but it wasn’t necessary. Craig dodged to the side, out of Viper’s reach. He was so focused on Viper that not once did he look at her.

Which was good. He would need to stay focused if he wanted to survive. She would try to keep quiet from here on out so she didn’t distract him. If Craig died, she would be next.

Viper rolled to his feet. They continued to dance around each other for several more minutes until Viper lunged again. This time he slammed into Craig’s legs. Craig fell back into a table, knocking it, and all the plants on it, to the floor. A loud crash reverberated through the greenhouse as upended plants and pots exploded everywhere. The men grappled across the floor, rolling in the spilled potting soil and broken leaves. Karen would have been outraged by the destruction to her plants if the situation wasn’t so serious.

“Get up, Craig,” she whispered, her heart in her throat, forgetting her vow to keep quiet. “Please, get up.”

Viper straddled Craig and tried to get him in a choke hold, but Craig managed to slip out of his grasp. He lunged to his feet. Viper followed, his gaze hard as they danced around each other once again. The snakes all over his torso seemed to slither and hiss with each movement of his muscles. Karen jerked her gaze away from Viper’s creepy tattoos and focused on Craig.

“Come on, Craig,” she prayed softly. “Don’t leave me. I need you.”

Craig’s gaze flicked to hers, then away.

Had he heard her?

Please don’t leave me.

Viper lunged at Craig again. They knocked another table down, sending pots and plants flying in every which direction.

They rolled across the floor, grappling and wrestling, each trying to get the upper hand. Karen got dizzy trying to see what was going on from her position on top of the table. While she stared, she discovered one of her hands was free. Trying to stay calm, she pushed and pulled at the other hand, trying to free it from the chair.

The men rose to their feet and began circling once again. There were no rounds in this fight, no breaks for water or to catch their breaths. This fight would go on until one of them was dead.

The finality of “death” made her heart twist.

Don’t die, Craig. Please don’t die.

Both men were breathing heavily, their torsos slick with sweat in the humid greenhouse. It would be a matter of who had the most stamina. Both men appeared to be in excellent physical shape. She had no idea who would win.

But she refused to stay tied to this chair and watch Viper beat Craig to death. She would escape. She would help. Even if Craig managed to kill Viper, he still had Scorpion and Cougar to deal with. He would be tired. He would need her help.

“Why don’t you just give up?” Viper hissed. He danced to the side as Craig bounced toward him.

“Why don’t you?” Craig snapped back. “You know I’m going to kill you. I won’t give up until you’ve stopped breathing.”

Viper bared his teeth. “Then it’s going to be a long night.”

He lunged at Craig again. Viper slammed into him, knocking him to the floor. Craig grunted. They grappled across the concrete, rolling this way and that through the fallen plants and spilled potting soil.

Karen finally managed to free her other hand. But her feet were still bound to the chair legs. It would be impossible to work them free.

Unless she somehow managed to break the chair legs off the chair.

The only way she could do that was if she knocked the chair off the table and onto the floor. It would be a risky move, because she could be injured in the fall. But her hands were now free, so she would be able to catch herself when she went over the side.

Karen glanced back at the fighters. Craig was on top now, his arm around Viper’s throat. She hesitated. If Craig won, she might not need to jump off the table. But if he lost, she would lose her chance.

It was now or never.

Karen bounced the chair forward.

It tilted sideways off the table.

She teetered in the air, then careened off the side.

Karen hit the concrete. The front left leg of the chair took the brunt of the fall. It cracked, then splintered. Pain zinged up her ankle. She stood up and kick her leg free of the broken chair leg. Dragging the chair behind her, as it was still attached to her right leg, she hobbled down the row, heading for the gardening tools she kept at the end of the table. She needed a weapon. Any weapon. She would not let them kill Craig.

Snatching up a hand fork in one hand and a set of long-handled shears in the other, she came around the table.

Cougar shook his head and pointed a gun in her face. “I don’t think so, lady.”

Karen swallowed hard. She glanced back at the fighters. Viper was now on top of Craig and had him in what appeared to be some type of an arm bar. A pop rendered the air as his bone snapped. Karen let out a horrified gasp.

Hang on, Craig!

She jerked her gaze back to Cougar and the gun.

Their gazes locked.

She couldn’t let them win. She
wouldn’t
.

Do it, Karen! Now!

Karen swung her arm forward and raked the hand fork across Cougar’s face.

Cougar squealed and stumbled backward. He tripped, falling into a stack of rakes and shovels that leaned against the wall.

The gun went off, the sound deafening in the small greenhouse.

Karen hobbled around the table, dragging the chair with her, and headed toward the fighters. Apparently her distraction had been enough that Viper let Craig go. Cradling his broken arm against his chest, his face a grimace of pain, Craig eyed his opponent.

Scorpion came flying at Karen, but she was ready. She threw the shears at him, trying to aim for his heart. The blades slammed into his stomach. He let out a surprised grunt and crumpled to the floor, clutching his bleeding stomach.

“She stabbed me,” he whispered in shock. “The bitch stabbed me.”

Yes!

Cougar was rising from where he’d fallen into the rakes and shovels. Karen needed a new weapon. The hose reel was to her left, only a few feet away. Dragging the chair with her, she hobbled toward the reel and yanked on the hose, pulling the end free.

Too busy trying to protect herself, Karen had no idea how Craig was managing in his fight with Viper. Right now she had to save herself.

Cougar lifted the gun. Karen swung the nozzle that was attached to the end of the hose at Cougar’s hand. The nozzle slammed into his arm, knocking the gun aside. The gun clattered to the floor. More of the hose pulled loose from the reel, unraveling onto the concrete.

Cougar leapt back, clutching his injured hand.

He reached down for the fallen gun.

Karen snatched up a bottle of pesticide sitting on the edge on the table. Aiming it at Cougar, she pressed the nozzle, squirting it at him just as he raised the gun and pointed it at her.

Cougar reared back, waving his arms, as the pesticide shot into his face. With a curse, he dropped the gun for the third time. He squeezed his eyes shut and rubbed at the pesticide dripping down his face.

“You bitch!”

Karen lunged for the gun.

So did Cougar.

A hand latched onto the back of her neck. Hard fingers squeezed painfully into her flesh. She gasped.

Viper yanked her to her feet.

Her head spun. What had happened? Where was Craig?

Then she spied him. He was on the floor a few feet away, laying on his side, his chest heaving in and out. Blood pooled beneath him. Her breath caught. Had Viper stabbed him?

Craig’s hand moved. He struggled into a sitting position. His broken arm hung uselessly against his side.

“Let her go, Viper. It’s me you want.”

Viper’s lip curled back into a sneer. He flung Karen aside and came at Craig with a growl. Karen stared, her heart in her throat, as Craig snatched up the hose she’d unraveled. He rose just as Viper launched himself at him. With a quick twist, then a pull, he wrapped the hose around Viper’s throat and yanked it tight. Viper let out a startled grunt, then fell forward on top of Craig.

Craig held onto the hose one-handed, using his shoulder as leverage to keep the hose tight, while Viper thrashed and fought to breathe.

The seconds ticked by.

Viper’s face went whiter, his lips slackening. Karen turned away as he finally gasped out his last breath and went still.

Scorpion moaned from the floor where he lay in a pool of his own blood, still clutching the shears she’d stabbed into him.

Cougar’s eyes went wide as he glanced from Scorpion to Viper’s lifeless body. He swore a bloody streak. Then he raced for the door, nearly tripping several times in his haste to get away.

Karen choked out a sob. She stumbled forward, dragging the broken chair with her, until she reached Craig’s side.

Craig shoved Viper’s body aside.

He reached for her with his good arm. She collapsed onto the floor and threw her arms around his neck, sobbing against him. His arm tightened around her, squeezing her tight. She never wanted him to let go.

Finally he drew back and gazed down at her.

“Are you all right? Damn woman, I can’t believe you just did that. You have more courage than most men. You’re amazing, you know that?”

She choked out a laugh. “So are you. You’re bleeding. Where are you hurt?”

“It’s just a scratch. When Viper slammed into me, one of the plastic pots broke and sliced open my side. Nothing serious.”

He dragged her back against him, burying his face in her hair. “I have a lot of things I want to say to you, Karen.”

“I have a lot of things I want to say to you too,” she whispered. “But not here.” She drew back. “Let’s get your arm fixed first, okay?”

He cupped her chin in his palm and planted a kiss firmly on her lips. “You’re not going to sneak away while I’m in surgery, are you? I believe I promised you a dinner. You can’t say no.”

Karen chuckled. She looked into his eyes. “I’m not going anywhere. Dinner sounds wonderful.”

He kissed her again, then he moaned and leaned back. “God, you’re giving me a hard on and I’ve got a broken arm. Only you can do that to me, Karen. Only you.”

She snorted out a laugh. Their gazed locked. He chuckled.

“I’d better call Nick now. He’s going to be worried.”

Karen helped him to his feet. Together they hobbled toward the entrance. Craig snatched his shirt from the wall and draped it over Karen’s shoulders, covering her nakedness.

He pulled a pair of pruners off the wall and bent to cut the zip tie off her leg. She shoved the chair aside and smiled up at him.