“Fuck you.” The man squared off with his fists up. “The bitch is my property. She belongs to me.”
“No.” Rojas didn’t bother with more words. He slipped under the sloppy punch the man threw and with a small twist of his knees, foot, torso, and legs buried his own right into the man’s gut with a precise uppercut. He followed up with a left body hook to the man’s kidney as he had so obligingly bent down and forward. When the man arched backward and straightened in pain, Rojas finished his striking combination with a right hook to the jaw.
Joseph Corbin Junior fell backward, back into the canal…and didn’t come up for air.
“Ah, shit.” Rojas waded in and felt around in the water until he had the man’s suit jacket. Yanking the other man up to the surface, he dragged Junior onto the bank where he wouldn’t drown and patted him down for weapons. Clear. He put Junior’s suit jacket back on him. As makeshift cuffs.
Satisfied, Rojas ran down the trail. As he reached Elisa, he asked, “Are you okay? Can you hang on another few seconds?”
Elisa’s gaze met his in one lightning second and relief washed through him. She was alive and all right. And she was going to be safe.
Breathing hard, she waved him on. “I’m okay. Souze. Don’t let him hurt Souze.”
All this insanity and she was still more concerned about his dog. God, he wanted to wrap her in his arms and hold her, but he did as she asked and ran on down the trail.
Souze still had hold of the other man’s arm. The man screamed and beat at Souze’s head and shoulders with his free fist, but the GSD shook him and didn’t let go. The entire struggle was silent on the part of the big dog. No growling. There was only the relentless determination to hold on. Blood was running freely from the man’s shredded forearm, and every time he tried to yank free, Souze shifted his grip for a better hold. The man’s flailing only damaged him more as it forced Souze’s teeth deeper.
“Freeze!” Rojas shouted at the man. “Police are on their way, and you are not going anywhere. Freeze and the dog will let go.”
The man glared at him but stopped struggling.
Rojas issued the quiet, firm command. “Aus.”
Souze let go, stepping around the man to stand with Rojas, never dropping the other man’s gaze.
“Pass auf.” Souze sat and watched his target, comfortably between Rojas and the potential threat. Meanwhile, Rojas warned the man. “Move and he will be on you. Stay where you are and he’ll let you alone.”
Sirens were approaching. It’d only be another few minutes and Elisa would be safe. Rojas turned and jogged back to her, gathering her in his arms. “Are you hurt?”
She shook her head, burrowing into his shoulder as she held on to him.
“Are you sure?” The fear sliced through him now. He’d been ignoring it as long as there’d been a purpose, action he’d needed to take, but now he was shaking because he’d almost lost her. “Not anywhere?”
Elisa raised her head. “I’m okay. I just…”
She trailed off and drew in a slow breath, then another.
“Yeah?” Concerned, he searched her face for any signs of pain.
She closed her eyes slowly then opened them to meet his worried gaze. “I need better cardio.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Elisa woke up from a doze. It took her a few seconds to recognize the private room in the ER.
“Hey. Have a good nap?” Alex’s voice was gentle, gruff and low.
There was a stirring beyond the edge of the bed, and Souze’s face popped up as he rose to an upright sitting position from where he must’ve been lying on the floor.
She smiled at them both. “Maybe. How long was I out?”
Alex shook his head. “Not long, maybe twenty minutes tops. The doctor hasn’t come back yet.”
They’d been brought by the police to the same emergency room where Elisa had first met Alex and Boom. There’d been a storm of questions until her voice had started to crack from the strain and Alex’s police friend, Officer Graves, had exchanged a few words with the investigating officers. Then, only one officer at a time had sat down to talk with her, with Souze in the room to help reassure her. Alex had remained outside the room but within earshot if she needed to call him.
A doctor had come in to examine her and mentioned an IV bag of fluids to treat dehydration but otherwise gave her a clean bill of health. The ER had received an influx of patients, though, and out-processing was going to take a while, so Alex had told her to get some rest while she was still getting fluids via IV.
It seemed crazy to fall asleep in such a public place, despite the private room. She’d been exposed and frightened and worried that the man who’d been helping her ex would be brought to the same ER. Officer Graves assured her he wouldn’t be.
“How much longer on this bag of saline?” She craned her neck trying to get a look at the bag hanging behind the hospital bed.