Liam hadn’t made them wait. He’d found Chen quickly enough, and let the man know in no uncertain terms that the problem was Liam’s to rectify. Together they’d found Mei Ling easily enough. The tongs had wanted her to be found.
But the tongs hadn’t counted on the ferocity of her rescuers. Six hatchetmen hadn’t been adequate to stop Chen and Liam, and now two of the enforcers lay wounded in the shadowed alley beside the house where they’d held Mei Ling.
The other four had fallen for a ruse that had sent them in the wrong direction—but only temporarily. Just long enough for Chen to get Mei Ling out of Chinatown, where the hatchetmen would not dare follow in the growing daylight.
Liam could hear the hoodlums coming now. He took careful aim. At least one of them would go down before they took him, and the rest would have one hell of a fight. It was too damned bad Perry hadn’t turned up, so he could have put a bullet in him as well—
A heavy object smashed into the side of Liam’s head. He staggered, struggling to keep his hold on the pistol. It was knocked from his hand. He didn’t even have a chance to see where it had fallen before the next blow caught his temple, and then he couldn’t see anything at all.
The next thing he was aware of was a voice, a jumble of meaningless sounds. His head throbbed as if someone were twisting a knife into his brain, but he concentrated in spite of the pain, and at length he began to understand.
And to recognize the voice.
“I told you to wait for me,” Perry said. “It was all arranged. I have the carriage here. Your precipitous action could have ruined everything, and you would have had the police to deal with. They’re probably coming now, thanks to your incompetence.”
Someone answered—a gruff, angry voice heavily accented. “You were late. Why should we trust—”
“Because you haven’t any choice. Your boss agreed to the plan. There’s little enough time as it is. O’Shea walked into the trap as expected. I promised to deal with him, and I will. Your operations won’t suffer from his interference beyond today. Now—” Liam heard a shuffling and someone took firm hold of his arms. “Kindly help me get him into the carriage, and then I suggest you hide yourselves before the police arrive.”
Liam played senseless, keeping his body limp while they dragged him to his feet. He smelled the unmistakable odor of horses, heard their harness jingling as he was propped against the side of the carriage, supported by the one man he had so badly wanted to find.
The man he’d stop once and for all…
“If you can hear me, Liam, don’t show it,” Perry hissed into his ear. “If we’re to get out of this alive, they have to believe I intend to kill you.”
Liam almost gave himself away at the shock of Perry’s words. His first instinct was to grab Perry around the neck and force him to explain himself then and there. He didn’t have a chance to so much as debate the possibilities, for Perry gave a low curse and grasped his arm.
“I may have misjudged the situation,” he whispered.
“From the look of things it seems they’re planning to eliminate both of us here and now—”
“Boss doesn’t trust you,” the accented voice said, uncomfortably close. “He said get rid of you now. Police won’t come for us if you kill each other.”
“Eminently logical,” Perry murmured. “If you can hear me, Liam, I suggest—”
Liam didn’t wait for his suggestion. He surged up, ignoring the fiery pain in his skull, and heaved himself toward the accented voice. His body connected, and the man grunted under his weight as they hit the ground. A flash of movement from the corner of his eye showed Perry struggling with another hoodlum.
Then someone found a gun and fired.
* * *
THE GUNSHOT echoed through the streets like an explosion. Mac skidded to a stop, panic clutching at her gut, and searched desperately for the source of the noise.