Deadly Testimony (Safeguard #2)(2)
She wasn’t entirely heartless though. She kept a hold on his arm to prevent it from breaking or dislocating as he fell. It’d been known to happen when a person was caught by surprise. And judging by his yelp midair, he was definitely surprised.
The man didn’t get thrown by a person almost half his size all that frequently, maybe. He should experience it more often though. It’d make him a better fighter.
He crashed down on the very hard, cold marble floor of the elevator lobby and she turned to address his companions. They were just beginning to respond, their postures open with their surprise as they started to reach for their weapons.
Not the wisest decision for either of them. Her position was easily within most people’s reactionary gaps—the distance needed between a person and an attacker to have the time to react to an aggressive attack. She’d allowed the first man to make a move against her because she needed a reason to cite self-defense but she preferred to take her fight to her opponents.
He’d started it. She’d finish it.
She covered the ground between her and the nearest man standing with a slide step, landing in a Bai Jong or ready stance and immediately lashed out with her rear leg in a powerful front kick directly to the man’s chest, then instantly drew her leg back to return to her stance. The air left his chest in a whoosh and he stumbled backward into the wall behind him.
Pivoting to face the third man, she struck with a hooking kick as she came around, catching his gun hand and sending his weapon clattering to the floor. He didn’t have time to react as her other leg swept up in a high roundhouse and caught him on the side of the head. The man remained standing for a second, clutching the side of his head, then toppled over.
Three opponents, all downed and barely groaning.
The entire altercation took less than ten seconds. She leveled a stare at the only man left standing. He prudently kicked the fallen handgun to one side, well out of reach of the downed men, and pressed the elevator call button for her.
“Thank you.” The elevator opened immediately and she stepped inside without turning her back to him.
There was a faint smile playing on his lips and one eyebrow was raised as if he had found something incredibly interesting. She scowled at him. His smile widened.
“Believe me.” His voice had a rich, sensual quality to it. It hinted at intimacy he had no right to and a lot of naughty things. “The pleasure was mine.”
As the elevator doors began to close, police jogged up to him, huffing with effort. “Mr. Yeun. We can’t guarantee your safety if you don’t cooperate with us and stay where we can protect you.”
Isabelle was curious. Especially as she caught snippets of them arresting the downed men just as the very slow doors finally closed all the way shut. But the call of a hot bath was stronger than curiosity.
She was done for the night.
*
Her phone rang and she reached out with unerring accuracy, snagging it from the nightstand. “Scott.”
Damned thing was sturdy enough not to break under a pounding or from being thrown so she’d learned to grab it as quickly as possible to shut it the hell up. Even if she wasn’t quite awake yet.
“Morning, Lizzy. You were involved in an incident with the police.” Gabe’s voice came through, crisp and businesslike, maybe mildly amused.
She breathed in through her nose and out in a sigh.
Gabriel Diaz was her superior in the Safeguard Division, newly formed within the Centurion Corporation. He—and two other people who had made up their fire team—was one of the few people she allowed to use her childhood nickname. They’d spent time in the field, survived enough combat situations to not bother counting anymore and, in general, trusted each other with their lives.
Currently, she wanted to end his.
“What time is it?” She refused to look at a clock. The hotel’s heavy curtains were doing a fantastic job of blocking out daylight and she had planned to sleep in this morning.
“Oh-eight-hundred.” There was definitely amusement in Gabe’s voice. The bastard. “Are you with company?”
The face of the very attractive stranger by the elevator last night flashed into her mind.
She grunted and sat up. “Negative.”
There’d been police, as Gabe so cheerfully reminded her. The hot guy would’ve had complications in joining her for the evening. And while she had no issues with law enforcement in general, she did not want them parked outside her hotel room door advertising to the world she had company. Multiple deployments in the military gave her a preference for discretion. She’d rather forego fun times than have her choices in off-duty entertainment subject to misogynistic judgment.
“Then you can tell me about it.” He obviously didn’t have a snooze button.
As commanding officers went, Gabe was a good one. But aside from admitting whether their conversation could be overheard or not, she wasn’t prone to give him insight into her love life either.
Fortunately, he wasn’t asking about it. Police. He was asking about police.
“Technically, I was involved in an incident and finished before police arrived on the scene.” She could’ve stuck around to answer police questions but she really hadn’t overheard anything before she’d decided to clear her path to the elevator. “Looked like a shakedown or similar disagreement. One of the men attacked me and I defended myself. When he was neutralized, the other two engaged. I eliminated the threats with nonlethal force. Then I entered the elevator and came up to my room.”