A long burn seared Gabe’s upper back. The other knifeman had cut him.

With a dive and roll, Gabe broke free of the ring of men. Regaining his feet, he swiped away the blood impairing his vision.

Three left.

Gabe’s head and shoulder hurt. The bleeding from the knife wound was more urgent. He needed to finish this up.

As baseball bat guy charged, the other two attacked from the flanks. Ah, hell, they were coordinating their movements.

Gabe kicked one in the gut, but the bat caught him a blow on the head. Skull exploding with pain, he fell to his knees.

At a glint of metal, he threw up an arm barely in time to block the descending knife. Viciously, he punched the man’s vulnerable inner thigh.

With a shout of pain, the guy staggered back.

Growling, Baseball bat guy lunged forward—and suddenly yelled and spun to face the other way.

Gabe blinked. A knife stuck out of the man’s upper back.

With a shout of pain, the guy ripped the knife out and whipped around. The man took a step back, the blade dropped to the ground, and he sprinted away.

All of the assholes were running, one helping the man with a fractured knee. A vehicle revved its engine farther down the alley. They had an escape car waiting.

Head still spinning, Gabe sucked in air. He’d move in a minute. Yeah, a minute.

Caz sauntered over.

Fuck, that’d been close. “Thanks, bro.”

“No hay problema.” Caz gave him a gleaming white grin. “You’d have managed the last two. The cabrón with the knife didn’t know which end was the pointy one.”

After accepting a hand up, Gabe looked over his shoulder. Blood covered his back. “I’d say he found the pointy end, thanks.”

Chuckling, Caz scooped up his knife. “Come, viejo. I happen to run a clinic with all sorts of nice bandaging materials.”

“There’s a plan.” After picking his Glock out of the gravel, Gabe scowled. “Dammit, I’m going to be late for supper.”

Audrey sang along with Green Day’s “21 Guns” as she measured out brown rice. The asparagus was cut and ready to steam. A salad was in the fridge. The salmon was prepared to go in the toaster oven to be broiled.

Everything waited for Gabe’s arrival.

Lillian had talked about being with a cop because the Brit had once dated a sheriff. Audrey grinned. Of course, she had. The woman embraced and sampled life with an enviable vigor. In an ice cream shop, Lillian was the type to ask for a taste of every flavor.

But from painful experience, Lillian had advised Audrey a law enforcement officer’s life wasn’t his own. He wouldn’t always be home on time or even be able to call and say he’d be late.