A Chip and a Chair (Seven of Spades, #5)(37)

Levi lashed out one leg so his foot was driven into the door instead of his body, then shoved himself off with a mighty kick, pushing his head and shoulders against his attacker’s as they reeled backward. He dropped his keys to give the belt one hard yank, just enough for him to twist around inside its grip and knee the guy in the balls. The guy’s yelp was followed by a loud grunt as he crashed into the hallway railing.

Two more men closed in on either side. Levi ripped the belt out of the first one’s hand and snapped it at the one on the right, cracking the leather against the man’s face. As the man crumpled with a shriek, Levi nailed the third with a side kick to keep him at bay, then turned and finished the job with a much more powerful front kick.

Unfortunately for the man, he was standing too close to the stairs. The force of Levi’s kick sent him tumbling down the entire flight.

Levi turned back to the remaining men in time to see one drawing a gun. He wrapped the belt around the guy’s hand, twisted the gun out of his grip to send it flying, and wrenched the guy’s arm up behind his back. Grabbing the guy’s hair with his free hand, Levi smashed his face into the metal railing. The man slumped to his knees, groaning and clutching the bars.

The last man was rising to his feet, one hand clutching his welted cheek and swollen eye while the other fumbled for the gun stuffed into his waistband. Levi kicked him in the stomach, nipping that attempt in the bud, and slipped behind the man to loop the belt around his neck. He crossed the belt at the man’s nape and pulled tight before kicking the back of the man’s legs to put him on his knees again.

The man thrashed, clawing uselessly at the belt, unable to make a sound. Levi bent down.

“This is how you strangle somebody,” he hissed.

Levi let go before the man passed out, letting him collapse next to his buddy. He traded the belt for his handcuffs, threading the chain through the slats of the railing and cuffing one of each man’s wrists. After he yanked the gun out of the idiot’s waistband, a quick pat-down turned up no other weapons on either of the men.

As he straightened, breathing hard and flushed with a triumphant adrenaline high, he realized that Rebel was barking and scrabbling frantically on the other side of the door behind him. Other doors were standing open along the hallway, with frightened neighbors peeking out.

He flashed his badge, although he was sure everyone on this floor knew who he was. “Go inside and call 911, tell them what happened and that we need officers out here.” As an afterthought, he softened the command with a, “Please.”

The doors closed one by one. Though Rebel continued barking, she was safest where she was.

Levi glanced at the bottom of the stairs, but the third attacker was nowhere to be seen. He’d probably fled the second he’d recovered, the coward.

Levi retrieved the first gun from where it’d fallen, emptied both guns of their magazines and chambered bullets, and shoved the ammunition into his pockets before setting the empty guns against the wall for the responding uniforms to deal with. Returning his attention to the two men at his feet, he took in their conditions-one broken-nosed and likely concussed, the other still gulping in air.

“Who sent you?” he asked, although the fact that they were both skinheads glaring at him with unambiguous loathing left little room for doubt.

The men remained silent. Levi crouched down to eye-level.

“Let me guess. White, angry, full of hatred?”

“You think you’re so smart,” one of the men burst out. “But you’ll get what’s coming to you. We know everything about you.”

Levi raised an eyebrow. “If that were true, you would have brought more than three guys.”

The other man’s mouth pursed, but Levi was familiar with this trick thanks to Lonnie Hale. He jerked aside to avoid the man’s spit, then grabbed the guy by the jaw, his fingers digging in cruelly on either side while he struggled against the impulse to do something unforgivable.

He wasn’t sure he would have won that struggle if the man’s cell phone hadn’t chimed at that exact moment. Levi dug through the man’s pockets, ignoring the attempts to evade his searching hands, until he pulled the phone free.

An alert of an incoming text was on the screen, but the content of the message wasn’t. Levi grabbed the guy’s hand and pressed his thumb against the fingerprint reader to unlock the phone.

“Hey! You can’t-”

Levi stood up and paced a few steps away. A chill ran down his spine as he read the message, which had come from a contact labeled by a series of numbers rather than a name.

Confirm LA in custody

As he was reading it, another text came in.

??? Need confirmation you have him before 7!

Levi whirled on the two men. “What’s happening at seven?”

They shut their mouths, glancing shiftily at each other.

“Let me clarify.” Levi took a menacing stride toward them. “What’s happening at seven that Utopia was so concerned I’d interfere in that they needed you to kidnap me first?”

“It doesn’t matter,” said the man he’d belted, an ugly sneer crossing his face. “It’s too late now. You wouldn’t even be able to get to the Strip on time, let alone stop it.”

“Shut up, moron!” the other man growled, kicking his friend’s leg.

Levi’s chills multiplied exponentially into a cold shock that reverberated through his entire body. They couldn’t be serious. The Strip was a tempting target, sure, but it was crawling with private security from every single hotel and casino, not to mention the heightened police presence of the past couple of days. There was no way Utopia could pull off a successful attack there.