Page 14 of Ruthless

“Since you seem to have a low opinion of my job performance, want to tell me what you know about it?”

“That’s confidential.”

“Since it’s my job,” Gideon said dryly, “I believe I’m in the loop.”

Clement pursed his mouth like a prune and said nothing.

Continuing to dig, Gideon asked, “What, in your opinion, are my duties?”

“That’s not for me to say. However, you have done poorly.”

Standing, he nodded toward Clement. “Good talk.” He turned and headed toward the door.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

Gideon glanced over his shoulder. “I’d say that’s none of your business, but that seems like such an obvious answer, so I’ll just say sod off and leave it at that.”

“Guards!” Clement shouted.

Two guards pushed the door open. Each grabbing one of Gideon’s arms, they held him still.

Partly outraged and partly amused, Gideon turned back to Clement. The man had a smug, self-satisfied smirk on his face that Gideon was dying to wipe off. He’d despised this man from their first meeting and hadn’t believed it could get worse.

“You want to tell me what the hell’s going on?”

“With pleasure,” Clement snarled. “You’re being held until further questioning.”

“On what grounds?”

“Dereliction of duty.”

“Since you have no idea what my duties are, you’re in no position to arrest me. I do not work for you.”

“It was not my order, though I am gladly obeying it.”

“On whose orders?”

“The king’s.”

Other than a brief conversation regarding Eve’s injuries, Gideon had yet to speak with Eve’s father, but there was no way he would have ordered this arrest. Clement was taking it upon himself, and that wasn’t something Gideon would allow. Until he heard the words directly from the king, his job was intact, and his priority was still Eve.

One of the guards tugged him forward. Gideon struck hard, whacking the man across the face. Not pausing, Gideon turned to the other guard and punched his nose. Blood spewed from both men, and they dropped their hands from him, grabbing their faces.

Since he hadn’t anticipated any danger, he was without his gun. However, that didn’t mean he was weaponless. Gideon had learned the hard way to never go anywhere unprepared.

Keeping his eyes on the two bleeding men, he slid his knife from his boot. It might not stop a bullet, but he could throw with deadly accuracy.

“One of you will not be going home to your family tonight,” he said softly. “Which one is it going to be?”

Before either of them could answer, Clement shouted, “Attaquer! Attaquer!”

The door flew open. Four more guards, looking like clones of the first two, rushed in. All hell broke loose. Opting to hang on to the knife for now, Gideon picked up the chair in front of him and slammed it into the first guard who reached him. Whirling, he double-kicked another one who jerked on his arm, causing the man to fly across the room. Two more came at him, and he took hold of them both with the intention of knocking their heads together. A sharp pain slammed into the back of his head, ramping up the fury flooding his veins. Leaping across the desk, Gideon grabbed Clement, who’d been standing there, watching the fight with that obnoxious smirk still in full force.

Taking hold of the inspector, Gideon pressed his knife against his neck and snarled at the guards, “Back off, or you’re going to need a new boss.”

“You’ll never get away with this, Wright,” Clement rasped.

“Maybe not, but you won’t be around to see it.”