I studied the fallen man. His face was a mess of blood. The chair, one of its legs busted, lay by his head. For a second, I thought I had killed him. Then I saw his large belly rising and falling. Max was out, but alive.

Where was my knife?

The answer came a second later when I heard Yuri yell, "Max! Max!" and turned toward him.

His right hand was gripping my knife. His left was curled around Rachel, holding her tight to him. The knife's tip was at her throat.

He must have picked up the knife after it had dropped from my hand. Why had he not used it on me? He could have sliced me half a dozen times while I was fighting Max. The pallid face that peered over Rachel's shoulder and his frantic calls to his unconscious accomplice were all the answer I needed. At his core, Yuri was a coward. He might steel himself enough to attack a lonely woman, but he had an inherent fear of fighting other men. Not even when he had a knife and the man standing in his way was unarmed and had all his attention set on another adversary.

"He can't hear you, Yuri," I said, taking a step closer to him and Rachel.

His panicked eyes shifted to me, and he tightened his grip on Rachel. She was utterly colorless, her eyes pleading. Her lower lip trembled. Not that Yuri looked much better. In fact, I would have been hard put to determine who was more terrified—Yuri or Rachel.

"Stay away from me, or she gets it. Right in the neck."

"You all right, Rachel?"

She gave the tiniest of nods. I took another step forward.

"Stay away, I tell you." Yuri's eyes went from my face to Max. He was praying for a rescue. I very much doubted God was listening.

"Max can't help you, Yuri. If he stirs, I'll kick him in the head and knock him out again."

"You son of a bitch. Back off."

There were four feet between us now. I moved right so my body blocked Yuri's view of Max. I wanted his undivided attention. I wanted him to feel he had no way out but what I was willing to offer him. "You got two options," I said, feigning a calmness I did not feel. What I had in mind depended on my having read him correctly. If I hadn't, things might end badly. "Neither of them is good, but one is much worse than the other. Listen closely. Option one is you hurt Rachel in any way. If you do that, I'll kill you. Option two is you let her go unharmed. Then you'll be alive come dawn. Which do you choose?"