Last Man Standing

CHAPTER THIRTY SIX

Drake met Coyote in battle, sending his first strikes against her vital areas. Unlike the previous struggle there would be no holding back in this one. They had all known the score from the moment they stepped into the hotel. Dahl had bruised a rib when he might have splintered it. Alicia had marked his neck when she could have broken it. Now, Drake had the chance to make Coyote pay for her mistake.

Drake ducked as Coyote came back at him; the two foes face to face. Shelly Cohen’s face was unrecognizable, transformed into the wild animal she truly was at her core. The killer shone through for all to see, and Drake was still disturbed by it.

Coyote kneed him, pushed him away. A little distance opened up. Beyond her frame, her mercs fell to Beauregard, the French assassin a living scythe in their midst. The hotel continue to billow out smoke and emit sounds of destruction. Chopper blades whirred and clattered through the air. Explosions and gunfire made powerful rents in the dawn chorus.

Drake sensed an errant bullet whiz between them as he closed in on Coyote. It didn’t matter. This was all about vengeance. Coyote knew what she’d done to Alyson; thus she knew it was always going to come down to this.

A blow landed on his temple, his bicep. He ignored the pain, stepping in and pummeling Coyote’s midriff. He reached out to grab her throat, but she was wily and twisted away. She threw a succession of punches that Drake caught on his arms, deflecting the worst of the blows. She drove a knee into his stomach, taking the wind right out of him.

Drake fell to one knee, still deadly, by no means at a disadvantage with all the moves in his arsenal. His eyes never left those of his assailant and then he saw the shadow looming behind her.

Drake rolled away. Coyote, at the last instant, must have seen the shock or the figure reflected in his eyes, for she too threw herself aside. Beauregard, black-clad, reared up behind her but missed his deadly strike.

Drake scrambled away, creating space. Beauregard slipped between them. Coyote whirled and crouched in a ready position.

Three lethal adversaries, all poised to kill.

Explosions boomed out from the edge of town. Men screamed in earnest. Gunfire rattled. Drake saw the big wheel shudder.

Coyote didn’t hesitate. “Damn, it’s time!”

A moment later she was running, sprinting hard, not away from the battle at the edge of town, but right toward the heart of it.