by Paige Tyler
The man behind the food prep table either didn’t know how volatile Saldino could be, or didn’t care, because he came out from his hiding place. At first, Derek thought the man was still kneeling behind the table, but then realized he was standing at his full height. He was barely a foot taller than the counter.
The man’s height must have shocked Saldino as well because the mobster’s eyes went wide.
“Who the fuck are you?” Saldino asked.
“I’m a cleaner of sorts, you could say. A man in your line of work would appreciate what I do. I get called in to clean up messes and right now that girl you’re holding is the mess I’ve been sent to clean up. The man I work for wants her back, so she’s coming back.”
Derek frowned. His gaze darted to Sosie. She looked more ashen than she had a minute ago. She knew the short guy, that was obvious. But who did they both work for? A rival crime family? More importantly, what the hell could she have done to warrant this much effort and killing to get her back?
Saldino looked down at Sosie, his eyes narrowing as if he was trying to figure out what made her so valuable.
“What the fuck did she do?” the mob boss asked the short man.
“She left without permission and the boss can’t have that, or else everyone will want to leave.”
Saldino pulled Sosie more tightly against him. “It looks as if I have something of value to you then. I think it’s time we made a deal.”
The other man smirked. “Fine. You give me the girl and we walk out of here. You don’t, and my boys start shooting again. I’d rather have her alive, but dead works for me, too.”
Sosie whimpered.
Derek clenched his jaw. Oh, shit. This whole thing was about five seconds from going really fucking bad. The short guy had embarrassed Saldino in front of his soldiers. There was no way the mob boss was going to stand for that.
Derek tried to catch Sosie’s eye so he could let her know he was there and she was safe, that he’d do whatever he had to do to protect her, but she was so caught up in the drama going on between Saldino and the other man that she didn’t see him.
Saldino’s lips curled. “Fucking jackass. That’s not the kind of deal I’m talking about and you know it. You can’t walk out of here after what you did.” He slanted his men a pointed look. “Finish ’em!”
Derek was through the door and running across the kitchen before Saldino’s men could fire the first round. The mob boss never saw Derek coming as he slammed into him and Sosie.
All three of them tumbled to the floor as a hail of bullets erupted over Derek’s head. Although he’d tried to avoid hitting Sosie directly, the force of his impact still sent her flying across the floor with a strangled cry. Saldino handled the tackle a hell of lot better, barely letting out more than a grunt as Derek rode him all the way to the floor. Unfortunately, the mobster didn’t lose control of his gun, and he didn’t waste any time trying to twist around so he could take a shot at Derek.
Derek didn’t give him the chance. Grabbing the back of Saldino’s head in both hands, he rammed the damn prick’s face into the tiles a half-dozen times until the man was unconscious. He wanted nothing more than to smash the asshole’s melon to a pulp, but he had to get to Sosie before she tried to do something foolish. Like stand up. Slamming Saldino’s face into the floor one more time, Derek left the man where he was and scrambled to Sosie’s side.
She rolled onto her back only to immediately shy away from him. She must have thought he was Saldino or that mean-ass bastard who had come to bring her back to whoever the hell she worked for. When she realized it was him, her eyes went wide.
She pushed herself up on her elbow. “Derek! How…?”
He grabbed her shoulder and pushed her back down to the floor as gently as he could. “I don’t have time to explain right now. We have to get out of here.”
Derek ducked as someone sailed over the table toward him and Sosie. He wasn’t sure which group of dirtbags the man was part of, and he didn’t care. Rolling over on his shoulder, he raised his gun and fired, nailing the guy in midair.
Sosie screamed as the man landed on the floor beside them. He twitched once, then lay unmoving.
Derek didn’t bother to look for a pulse. Instead, he grabbed Sosie and urged her along the floor behind the long, stainless-steel table. He’d intended to head for the back door, but unfortunately, the bastard who’d come for Sosie was blocking the way, along with his men. Derek swore under his breath, immediately jerking Sosie back. Luckily, the men were more interested in ducking and diving in between shooting at Saldino’s crew to notice him and Sosie. Even so, there was no way he and Sosie were going to get past them.
Derek dropped his magazine to see how many rounds he had left. Shit. Three in the clip and one in the chamber. Not exactly enough ammo to shoot his way through a pack of killers mean enough to go up against a New York City mob boss without batting an eye. But what choice did he have?
He slammed his clip back in and prepared to launch himself at the men when Sosie grabbed his shoulder. He turned to find her gazing at him with tear-filled eyes.
“You came after me,” she whispered. “Why?”
The words wrenched at his heart and he reached out with his free hand to cup her face. “Of course I came after you. Just because I was stupid and yelled at you didn’t mean I wanted you to leave. It means I’m a moron.”
“B-but you said you thought I set you up and betrayed you.”
Derek clenched his jaw. This wasn’t the time or the place to have this conversation. He glanced over at the men by the door. They still hadn’t noticed him and Sosie, but sooner or later, they would. It already seemed as if they were getting the better of Saldino’s men. Any second this would be over and whoever was left standing would focus their attention on him and Sosie.
He turned back to her. “Honey, we don’t have time to go into this in depth right now, but I was wrong to accuse you. I didn’t mean it. I was mad at the situation with Saldino. I love you and I’ll apologize a hundred times over as soon as we get out of here, I promise. But right now, we have to go.”
He started to turn away, but Sosie grabbed his arm again. “You love me?”
Why did women have to be so difficult about stuff like this? “Yes, I love you. Now, let’s go.”
Derek didn’t wait for an answer, but turned back to the men blocking the door. He was about to charge when whatever was left of Saldino’s crew decided to retreat back into the restaurant’s dining room. The men who’d come for Sosie immediately headed after them and away from the back door.
This was their chance and Derek sure as hell wasn’t going to hesitate. As soon as the men were out of sight, he grabbed Sosie’s hand and dragged her toward the door. To his relief, they made it out of the kitchen and into the darkened hallway beyond without anyone trying to stop them.
Damn, this might work.
As they stepped outside, the silhouette of a man appeared in front of them. Derek raised his gun to pop off a quick shot when he recognized the man’s lined face and graying hair. He lowered his weapon, a new surge of relief flooding through him at the sight of his captain. It looked as if the cavalry had finally arrived—and not a moment too soon.
He grinned. “Damn, am I glad to see you. Where’s everyone else?”
The other man didn’t return Derek’s grin. In fact, he didn’t reply at all. Instead, he raised his own pistol and fired two slugs into Derek’s chest at point blank range.
Chapter Twelve
“Nooooo!” Sosie screamed.
She dropped to her knees beside Derek. Her heart stopped at the pain in his bewildered eyes as blood spread over the front of his shirt. She grabbed his hand, gripping it tightly, tears running down her cheeks. With everything that was holy and pure and good in the world, she couldn’t lose Derek now. Not after he’d told her he loved her. It wouldn’t be fair. He couldn’t die.
She pressed her other hand to the wound on his chest, desperately tryin
g to stop the bleeding. She had to get him to a medical facility.
Gravel crunched underfoot nearby and she looked up. The captain was standing over them, his gun pointed at Derek. But after one look at him, he turned his full attention—and his weapon—on her.
“Why?” she sobbed. “Why would you do this?”
His mouth twisted in a smirk. “A man has to plan for his retirement and I’ve always had bigger plans than a captain’s pension could cover. Working for Saldino made perfect sense.”
It didn’t make sense to Sosie. “Derek is going to die all because you wanted more money?”
“That’s unfortunate, I admit. But I knew you’d tell him about me and Saldino. I couldn’t have the two of you screwing up my retirement party.”
The gray-haired man leveled his gun at her with an almost apologetic look. Sosie squeezed Derek’s hand harder and closed her eyes, bracing herself for the inevitable.
While the sound of the gun going off made her jump, she didn’t feel any of the pain she expected. She opened her eyes, wondering if the man had somehow missed, only to find him standing there with a stunned expression on his face. Sosie jumped again as another gunshot rang out. This time, the captain stumbled back, red staining his shirt right in the center of his chest as he fell to the ground.
Still wondering who’d shot the captain, but too worried about Derek to care, Sosie looked down at the man she loved and realized he’d been the one who had saved her life. She thought that meant he might not be hurt as badly as he looked, but even as she watched, the strength left him and his hand dropped, the weapon falling onto the ground.
“I’m s-sorry,” he whispered weakly.
Sosie shook her head, tears clogging her throat. She wanted to tell him he had nothing to be sorry for, that even if he did, she would forgive him. But his eyes had already drifted closed. Dear Santa, no.
She threw herself on his chest, sobs wracking her body. “Please don’t leave me, Derek. I love you.”
Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew she should go for help, but she was afraid of what would happen to Derek if she left him alone for even a minute. Instead, she stayed where she was, begging him not to leave her and praying help would come.
“Well, isn’t this touching? It’s almost enough to make me cry. Or gag. I finally put a bullet in that dumbass Saldino in there, then I have to come out and listen to this? What a night. ”
Sosie was so lost in her tearful litany, she almost didn’t hear Mendike’s voice. She wanted to shout at the other elf to leave her alone so she could grieve in peace, but he might be her only hope of saving Derek’s life.
She lifted her head to look up at the other elf through tear-filled eyes. “He needs to get to a medical facility. You have to go for help.”
Mendike laughed. “Go for help? Now why would I do that when I was planning to kill him myself anyway?”
She stared at him incredulously. She knew Mendike was mean and nasty, but she hadn’t thought even a loathsome toad like him would resort to murder. Elves were peace-loving and nonviolent. That, more than anything else, had been what separated them from the big people. Until now.
“Mendike, please. I’m begging you.”
The elf let out a snort of disdain. “You’re just like your mother. You’d rather stay here with a BP than live with us. Why the fig any self-respecting elf girl would want to tie herself to a nasty place like this and live here with something as ugly as him is beyond me. Santa’s hairy balls, he’s not even our kind.”
Sosie’s eyes narrowed, her hackles rising at the vile things he’d said about Derek. “Shut up, you self-righteous jerk! You wouldn’t know anything about why I do what I do. I want to stay here with him because I love him. But I guess you’ve been doing Santa’s dirty work for so long you don’t remember what it’s like to be a real elf, to care about someone more than you care about yourself, to love that person so much it hurts when you’re not in the same room with them.”
His mouth tightened. “I haven’t forgotten. Nor have I forgotten what it feels like when that person doesn’t love you in return.”
Sosie wasn’t sure when the conversation had become about Mendike, but right now she didn’t have time to listen to his problems. Derek was going to die if she didn’t get him medical attention. “Mendike, please. I promise I’ll go back to the North Pole with you willingly if you get him help.”
“I’m not taking you back to the North Pole. As much as I’d like to drag you back there and put you in the icehouse for a few decades, killing you after I finish off your lover so you can die here with him is a much more satisfying revenge.”
Sosie’s blood froze in her veins. She didn’t know why the other elf hated her so much, but there was no way she was going to let him shoot Derek again. No matter how badly Derek was wounded, she wasn’t going to sit there and do nothing when there was still a chance he might live.
Taking a deep breath, she lunged for Derek’s gun.
She’d never seen anyone shoot a weapon until tonight, so she had no idea if she was doing it right, but she wrapped her small hands around the huge handle like she’d seen Derek do, then slipped her finger over the trigger and pulled hard. The gun went off, but she was so intent on trying to make the thing work she missed Mendike by a dozen feet and the bullet bounced off the brick wall behind him.
The elf jumped as if startled she’d actually fired at him. Eyes narrowing, he leveled his own weapon at her.
Sosie squeezed the trigger again, praying fate would guide the bullet to its target this time. She wasn’t sure who was more amazed when it did—her or Mendike. The elf spun around from the impact, but didn’t go down, much to her dismay.
The gun trembled in her hand as she wondered if she should shoot him again. Before she could decide, Mendike turned to face her, one hand clenched to his bloody shoulder, the other gripping his pistol.
She squeezed the trigger again, only this time nothing happened. Confused, she looked down at the gun and saw that the top of the weapon was locked back in a funny position as if there was something wrong with it. Or it was empty.
Oh, figgy.
It was over. She knew it and Mendike knew it.
Mendike shook his head. “You stupid girl. I’ve seen this coming for a long time. I told Santa the day you were born that you were going to be trouble, but he didn’t listen. In fact, he didn’t seem to care your mother got knocked up by one of them.” He motioned with his gun at Derek. “But you know the big guy, heart soft as whipped cream. He loved you even though you were some BP’s half-breed bastard. If it’d been me, I would have kicked your mother out of the North Pole on her lying, traitorous, elfin ass, and you along with her. I’m going to clean up the mess she made now—for good this time.”
Sosie didn’t have to ask what the threat meant. Dropping the useless gun, she leaned over Derek and put her arms protectively around him, determined to keep him safe for as long as possible. His face was so cold where it touched hers that it brought a rush of fresh tears to her eyes. He was almost gone. She could feel it. Even if she could get help now, it would probably be too late.
She closed her eyes and waited for Mendike to pull the trigger. Maybe it was better this way. At least she would be with Derek.
For the second time that night, though she heard a gunshot, she didn’t feel any of the pain that came with it. The next thing she knew, hands were on her shoulders, pulling her away from Derek. She held onto him more tightly, determined not to let Mendike take her away from the man she loved. When he refused to give up, she turned to shout at him only to find it was Aaron leaning over her instead of Mendike.
“It’s okay,” the detective said.
She wanted to tell him it wasn’t okay, that Derek was already dead and nothing would be okay ever again, but when she tried, Aaron gently pulled her away from his body. Tony immediately took her place, putting his fingers to Derek’s neck.
“He’s still alive,” Tony said, relief clear in
his voice.
Sosie was sure she hadn’t heard right. Derek was alive? But how could that be possible? There was so much blood on his shirt.
She looked around for Mendike, afraid he might still be a threat despite Aaron and Tony being there. She found him lying on the ground a few feet away, a bullet wound in his chest. That must have been the gunshot she’d heard.
The sound of sirens filled the alley. A moment later people in white shirts were leaning over Derek and putting him on a narrow bed with wheels.
She turned to Aaron. “I want to be with him.”
Aaron looked as if he was about to protest, but then he led her over to the transport sled with the pretty flashing red lights and helped her into the back of it,. He climbed in after her, and they both sat beside Derek as the people in white tried to save him.
As they rode to the medical facility hospital, Aaron asked her a lot of questions about what had happened back at the restaurant, but she didn’t answer any of them. Instead, she sat there with a blanket wrapped around her that she didn’t need and cried as if her heart had been ripped out of her chest.
* * * *
Two hours later, Sosie sat in the waiting room of the medical facility, her eyes dry, all the tears spent. Aaron and Tony sat on either side of her. They didn’t ply her with questions anymore, but only held her hand and told her over and over Derek was going to be okay. Although she appreciated their kindness, she knew they weren’t telling her the truth. She’d been hanging around BPs long enough to recognize when they were lying to her. It didn’t help ease her mind any when the somber men and women in green clothes came out every half hour to pull Aaron or Tony aside. She didn’t know what the men and women said because neither detective would tell her, and she was afraid to ask. But from the way Aaron and Tony frowned and threw worried glances in her direction each time told her everything she needed to know.
While Aaron and Tony didn’t ask her any more questions about what had happened at the restaurant, two other cops showed up who wanted to know everything about it. They introduced themselves as Internal Affairs, but didn’t explain what that meant. She got the impression Aaron and Tony didn’t like them very much, but she didn’t know why. Aaron and Tony did their best to keep the other cops from bothering her, but the men were insistent about talking to her. When she realized they weren’t going to give up, she agreed to answer their questions so they’d go away.
