Izzie screamed and clawed, but it wasn’t enough. The bigger man had ahold of her by the neck. Squeezing, yelling at her to shut up. That her uncle should have kept his nose out of other people’s businesses.
He had her off the ground. Izzie kicked her legs and clawed at his arm. He cursed.
She saw the fist coming at her face far too late to stop it.
It slammed into the side of her head, and she went sprawling.
Concrete rose to meet her. She threw her hands out in front of her to stop the inevitable. It was too late.
She slammed into the concrete. Her head bounced off the parking lot.
That’s all she remembered, other than the darkness she couldn’t stop.
And the sounds of Allen trying to protect her once again.
Allen was bigger. He was yelling loudly. There had to be people around somewhere. People who could damned well help.
He wasn’t about to let anyone hurt Izzie again. Not if he could stop it. There were three men now. Two came at him.
A third went for her.
Divide and conquer. He was the bigger threat.
He kicked out, catching one guy in the stomach.
Allen bellowed and slammed his fist into the closest attacker’s nose. Blood coated his knuckles. His, the attackers’. It didn’t matter.
He had to get to Izzie.
He heard someone yelling. Female. It wasn’t Izzie.
Nikkie Jean. It was always Nikkie Jean. Someone else yelled out behind her. He recognized the voice and figured it was either Caine or Rafe. Either one of them would be enough to help. He grabbed the smallest man by the back of the shirt and flung him to the concrete as far from Izzie’s legs as he could get him.
She wasn’t moving.
The attackers cursed. The leader yelled for them to get back in the truck.
Allen took another hit straight to his gut from one guy while trying to grab for the third. Then they were gone, squealing off into the storm.
He dropped to his knees next to Izzie.
She wasn’t moving.
Her eyes were closed. He pushed wet hair out of her eyes with a hand still shaking from adrenaline. “Izzie, open your eyes. Right now.”
Hands were there pulling him back. It took him a moment to realize it was Rafe and not Caine with Nikkie Jean. “What the hell happened, Allen?”
“They pulled up next to her and went straight for her. In less than a minute, they were right on her. I didn’t think. I reacted.” He swore again. He was sore, but he’d given better than he’d gotten. They couldn’t leave her in the damned half-flooded parking lot long enough to get an ambulance over here to her. “We need to get her across the street.”
Thunder echoed overhead.
“Careful!” Nikkie Jean was starting to panic, right in front of him. Allen grabbed his keys and handed them to Nikkie Jean. “Get my rear door open.”
Rafe went to Izzie’s head, obviously following Allen’s reasoning. “We’ll lift on three.”
Allen nodded and counted off. Together, they were able to get Izzie into his SUV without jarring her too much, moments before the worst of the storm hit.
Dark eyes opened. She looked straight at him. Again.
He was getting damned tired of seeing Izzie like this.
Allen climbed in next to her. Nikkie Jean hopped into the passenger side.
Rafe took the wheel.
“Let’s get her across the road.”
“Who were they?” Nikkie Jean asked. “What was this about?”
Allen thought for a moment. “I don’t know. I thought I heard them yell something about her uncle. They were dragging her toward the truck. They were going to take her.”
“We need to get ahold of the TSP. I’ll call Elliot,” Rafe said, referring to his cousin, the chief of the TSP. “You did a damned good job of keeping that from happening.”
“We need to keep this quiet. I don’t want them coming for her again.” Allen said, checking her pupils. She flinched back and moaned. Big dark eyes opened and met his. “They will be even more determined the next time.”
Rafe nodded. Instead of going toward the front of the hospital he turned the SUV into the construction site behind it.
The rear entrance that had been blocked off for weeks beckoned.
The entrance where Jess had been murdered.
No one ever entered there any longer.
Allen hadn’t been on that side of the building since it had happened. He just hadn’t been able to.
They got Izzie inside and right into a private exam bay in the annex that had been blocked off for repairs still. Rafe was getting things done, but it was taking time as the hospital competed for construction workers with every other major building in the city. Tonight, it was perfect for their purposes.
Rafe took charge seamlessly, getting Izzie exactly what she needed.
Allen could finally breathe again. She was safe.