He hit his ratty old jacket with his hand and dust flew up, and flakes of mud fell away. “Sorry ’bout that but I was thrown to the ground by some overzealous wannabe cops. Seems that someone told the guards I was a known drug dealer.” His eyes glittered in anger.

Mike took another step back and looked at Hayes. “I think we should go.”

Neither of the men moved. They were facing each other like in an Old West gunfight.

The man held out his hand toward the bow. “I promise I won’t shoot you, if that’s what you’re afraid of.”

Hayes’s upper lip made a sneer. “I’m not afraid of anything about you.”

Mike knew she was watching male egos sparring and she didn’t like it. “Don’t give him your bow.” She looked at the two young men standing to the side. “Could you please get Security?”

The dirty man smiled. “Now we see who the boss is.” He turned away.

“Here!” Hayes held out his bow.

The second the man touched it Mike could see he was quite familiar with one.

“Please,” she said to Hayes. “Let’s go.”

The man put his arm through the quiver and took out an arrow. As he slipped it into place, he gave Mike such a look of triumph, of winning, that she wanted to hit him.

As she knew he would, he shot three arrows smack into the middle of the target. It was much better than Hayes had done. When the odious man finished, he turned to Mike and held out the bow. “Want to try?”

Behind him, Hayes look defeated. He’d planned this all so carefully, as a gift for her. But this jerk had ruined it.

So much anger filled Mike that she could only see red. A great, ugly cloud of red. The man’s stance was a display of triumph. She grabbed the bow, then four arrows out of the quiver.

She and Papi used to have speed drills. She was fourteen before she could beat him, but by sixteen he wasn’t even a challenge.

As fast as a human could load, shoot and reload, she put four arrows into the target. They went in a close circle around the three that the man had put into the center.

Anyone who knew about archery knew that what she’d done was more difficult than his shots. In a way, she’d imprisoned his arrows. Caged them in.

She gave the man a look that let him know his arrogance was undeserved, and then she handed the bow to Hayes.

All four men were staring at her, eyes wide.