Page 4 of Poison Evidence
“Look,” he said against her mouth, the sound a muted whisper. He turned their bodies ever so slightly. “Use your peripheral vision.”
She did…and saw the men, just as he’d described. They were dressed in traditional Palauan garb, but their faces were covered with latex masks that were decidedlynotPalauan: Captain America, Ironman, and the Hulk.
The Avengers had arrived, and they were armed with razor-sharp adze blades hafted to sticks and long, vicious-looking machetes. Their choice of weapon made sense—guns were illegal in Palau—but the way they carried the tools did not. They weren’t intent on carving wood or hacking vines. No, they looked intent on carving up the VIPs inside the hotel’s grand ballroom.
Jack planted his lips on hers again as he twisted around so he faced the men. She did her part to make the kiss look real but had no doubt the shiver that ran through her was more fear of the Bizarro-World Avengers rather than triggered by the fake kiss from an utter stranger. No matter how hot the man was, he couldn’t compete with unbridled fear.
He ended the fake kiss as he positioned her at the edge of the manicured grounds next to the mangroves. They stood just feet from the brackish water. Ten yards separated them from the open ballroom doors, but they were as far as they could get from the hotel without entering the swamp.
Her belly roiled at the idea of the men attacking the guests inside the ballroom. “I don’t have my cell phone,” she said. “I can’t call the police.”
He frowned. “Mine’s in my car.”
A shout sounded, followed by the crash of breaking glass.
She considered the people in the ballroom, the political officials and dignitaries, and didn’t remember seeing any obvious security detail for the president. “Surely the president has a security team in plainclothes?”
He shook his head. “This is Palau.” His worried gaze fixed on the ballroom. “I have to go back.”
“You aren’t armed.”
“I was in the military. I can fight.” His jaw was firm. “Wait here.”
She nodded. It wasn’t like she had a better plan. She hadn’t served in the military and wasn’t trained to fight. And, contrary to the song, it wasn’t possible to blind someone with science. Well, unless you had a laser. Which, technically, she did, but they were attached to CAM.
He pressed a kiss to her temple. “I’ll come back for you once it’s safe.” The gesture was sweet and surprising, but it made an odd sort of sense. They were strangers who’d crossed an intimate line even if it had been fake, and he was setting off to take on three armed men.
He moved through the shadows with the ease and grace of a panther, then crossed the open garden as though moving in for the kill.
She wove through the trees, the ground soft under her feet as she went deeper into the mangroves. She found an angle from which she could see into the ballroom, but remain hidden behind a sturdy tree trunk. She could just see one of the masked men holding the arms of the president of Palau while Hulk waved a machete in front of his face. She could hear voices—shouts, really—but couldn’t make out the language they spoke or their words. She had no idea what the masked men demanded from the president.
A woman’s shriek rose above the buzz and clicks of insects in the mangrove swamp. Both Hulk and Captain America turned in the direction of the sound.
Jack came into view. In a flash of movement, he pinned Ironman to the floor and snapped his forearm.
Hulk lunged for Jack.
Why isn’t anyone helping him?
But then, a man did. Shiro Kimura took a blow to the face from Captain America but got his own punch in in the process. Jack disarmed Hulk with a spinning kick. He shoved Hulk into Cap, helping Kimura evade the swing of an adze.
Jack wasn’t kidding when he said he could fight. He was like Jason Bourne, with rapid, hard jabs that showed no mercy.
Swift, smooth, and violent. It was a brutal, vicious ballet.
She dug her fingers into the tree trunk, struck by both the horror and beauty of it. Who was Jack Keaton?
Part of her was repulsed, while another part…wasn’t.
There was so much power and strength there.
The rustle of leaves followed by a muffled curse was the first hint she wasn’t alone in the grove. She turned to see Spiderman wielding a machete, coming straight for her.
Chapter Two
He had Captain America pinned prone to the floor with his knee in the man’s back. Shiro was tying up the unconscious Hulk, while Ironman writhed in pain as the Palauan president and the governor of Arai bound him with their silk ties.
“Who are you?” he asked as he peeled the rubber mask from the man’s face.