Joe Alan was a good man.

A good man doing his job.

Sam was a wanted man and was sticking his nose into a situation that Alan and his partner had been investigating for months. If it were any other situation, Sam would walk away.

But he’d made a promise to Alex.

The woman who had saved his life.

And that promise far outweighed the need to do the right thing.

Alan took a few steps towards Sam, cracking his neck. Sam sighed.

‘Look, Alan, we don’t have to do this.’

‘We don’t.’ Alan agreed. ‘But I do.’

‘Why?’ Sam asked, but before the answer came, Alan lunged at Sam, his powerful arms latching around Sam like a straitjacket and locking his own arms in tight. Sam struggled violently, and Alan tried his best to position his foot behind Sam’s legs, trying to sweep him to the floor. Sam kicked out, his foot cracking into Alan’s shin, sending him off balance. As he teetered, Sam pulled his right arm free and drove the palm of his hand into the side of Alan’s head, slamming his skull against the bar. The impact was enough for Alan to relinquish his hold, and Sam pushed him away and held up his hands.

‘Look, I don’t want to fight you.’

‘You don’t have a choice.’

Alan rushed forward again, driving his shoulder into Sam’s gut and then using his momentum to lift Sam off his feet and drive him a few steps back before they collided into the wall. The whole bar shook, and a framed photo of a celebrated sports team fell from the wall, the glass shattering across the floor. With the wind knocked out of him, Sam drove his elbow into Alan’s spine, trying to free himself, but Alan slammed a hard right into Sam’s ribs, reigniting the agony from Sykes’s attack.

Arching over in pain, Sam dropped his guard, and Alan latched onto the cast wrapped around his left wrist and wrenched the arm back. Sam roared in pain and Alan twisted the arm, turning Sam to face the wall before slamming his cheek against it.

‘Sam Pope, you’re under arrest,’ Alan spat venomously, a slight trickle of blood falling from his eyebrow on account of his introduction to the bar.

With the pain reaching an unbearable level, Sam needed to think. An arrest wouldn’t just see him break his promise to Alex, but it would send him back to the United Kingdom in cuffs.

He’d escaped from prison once.

There was no chance they would let that happen again.