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My move made Pete hesitate for just a second, but that was all the ti it at him Of course, the bowl and peanuts didn’t do any real daer back, which bought h tiiant, as already reaching forht knee Trent grunted and hunched over, his leg twisting at an aard angle, but he didn’t go down So I stepped forward and sla a concrete block, and I felt the jarring ied to put enough force into the blow to make Trent list even farther to one side, like a sailboat about to tip over Even as his head turned in rabbed a wooden chair, hoisted it up, and brought it down on his back The giant finally lost his balance His te onto the floor, and he let out his first real groan of pain

Bria grabbed Callie and pulled her back against the wall and out of my hile Pete stood in front of the bar, his mouth open in surprise

The chair had splintered on is fro hi underneath his thick neck Then I leaned back as far as I could, grinding the wood into his throat and cutting off his air The giant flailed around on his hands and knees, trying to buck, and hung on Thirty seconds later, he slu away, got to my feet, and turned to his friend

Pete’s mouth fell open a little ht already, but he wasted no tiainst the bar The liquor that had been inside splashed everywhere, adding even more harsh fumes to the es glinted like razor-sharp diahtail it out the door once his buddy was down, so that I could at least try to keep the violence to ain his eyes that he just wasn’t that srowled "Don’t you knoe work for? Not that itto cut you to pieces forwith Trent"

I shook my sleeve, and a silverstone knife slid into my left hand The weapon was one of five that I normally carried on ainst the s sneakers, I’d left the two in my boots in my suitcase at the hotel But the other three knives were locked and loaded in their appropriate slots, so to speak, even though I kneould take only one to deal with the likes of Pete Procter

"Did you say cut you? Why, I’d be happy to oblige," I drawled again

It was one thing to try to keep the violence to a minimum, but I wasn’t about to let soht back Especially not when he could easily turn his attention to Bria if I didn’t take hihtened on the knife, and I could feel the sainst the larger,scar on my palm Owen had made this set of knives for me as a Christmas present, and he’d put my rune, my mark, on all the weapons They were the best blades I’d ever had, and I had no qual one to whittle Pete down to size

Pete’s eyes widened, but he didn’t back down, even though he’d just watched iant friend Du at ain and again and again I could have kept this dance up all night long

"Stand still," he growled

"Why, whatever you say, sugar"

The next ti, turning, turning I put rabbed the arm with the broken bottle, and used his own momentum to neatly flip him overout of his fingers and tinkling across the floor He blinked and started to get up, so I punched hi around, his right hand reaching, reaching, reaching for his broken bottle, so I droveit to the floorboard underneath

For a moment, silence filled the restaurant - co, and he didn’t stop I let him blubber on for about thirty seconds before I yanked the knife out of his palm and used the hilt to clip hih blood continued to pour out of his wounded hand The steady strealossy coat of criot to ain Just like they had for weeks now at the Pork Pit Eyes wide, nostrils flared, fear tightening their faces This tih that escaped my lips

So much for my vacation

Once I made sure that Pete and Trent were out cold, I headed over to the bar where Callie was now slumped on a stool and took a seat beside her The other diners had paid up and left as soon as the fight was over, and the taitresses had scurried out the door as well That leftwith the still-unconscious goons

"Do you want me to call him before I leave?" the bartender asked

Callie stared at the two lass, and liquor behind the bar She bit her lip, then nodded "He’ll hear about it one way or another Besides, this is his beat now, re about?" Bria asked

"My fiance," she said "He’s a cop just like you, Bria I told you about him, remember? Don’t worry He’ll take care of those two They won’t bother ht"

She murmured the last feords in a sad, defeated voice, but Bria and I still heard them The bartender moved to the other end of the counter, picked up a phone there, and made his call As soon as he was out of earshot, Bria turned to ht you left your knives at home!" she hissed

I just looked at her

Bria threw her hands up in the air "I can’t take you anywhere, can I?" sheback and forth in front of the bar

"What knives? What’s Bria talking about? Who the hell are you?" Callie asked "And where did you learn how to fight like that?"

"Let’s just say that I’m in thesecurity business," I said

Callie’s brows drew together in confusion "But I thought you ran a barbecue restaurant What would you know about security?"

"Oh, you’d be surprised the things I know about," I said "I like to read andstudy up on various topics in my spare tie up in Ashland"

Bria groaned and started iven her the reat about things one froht Not exactly hoanted to start my vacation, especially when I’d promised Bria that there wouldn’t be any blood this weekend

Even worse was the fact that it wasn’t just any fight with any goons Fro them, someone rich and powerful, which meant there would most likely be repercussions from our brawl How bad those repercussions would be remained to be seen, but I wanted to know exactly who with so I could take the appropriate steps to protect all of us

So I ignored racious response towhale of a tale and focused on Callie "Nohy don’t you tell us who these guys work for and what they really wanted, other than to mess up your restaurant and scare the shit out of you Because from what Pete said, it’s not the first time that they’ve come in here and threatened you, is it?"