Stormy Vows - Iris Johansen [109]
“I thought she was with you,” Benjamin said, surprised.
Jake had a chill of foreboding as he remembered the brilliant lights that surrounded the casino. The lights in the parking lot were self-explanatory, but what about the lighting in the rear?
He reached across the table and grasped the dealer's arm as she reached out to take in the house's winnings. “That door by the bar,” he asked urgently. “Where does it lead?”
The woman shrugged her bare shoulders. “Pelea de gallos,” she answered indifferently.
“Pelea de gallos!” He started for the door at a dead run. “Cock-fight!” he shouted over his shoulder to Benjamin, and heard a violent exclamation. The captain caught up with him as Jake went through the door.
The scene that greeted their eyes was a wild melee of shouting, angry Mexicans who had left their wooden spectator benches and gathered around the pit arena in the center of the clearing. The object of their rage seemed to be the small figure lying on the hard-packed dirt in the center of the arena who was virtually covered by the bodies of several furious men, their fists swinging as they competed with one another in their attempts to do the worst possible damage to the red-haired gringo beneath them.
“My God! It's Jane!” Jake breathed, and without thinking he dashed forward, pushing and shoving through the crowd till he reached the pile of bodies. Lifting and pulling the men off her with frantic strength, he finally uncovered the dust- and blood-covered body of Jane Smith clutching a huge glossy black cock in her arms in a deathlike grip.
“Are you all right?” he shouted as he warded off a punch to his midsection from a burly man who didn't appreciate having his revenge thwarted.
Jane nodded as she got shakily to her knees and then to her feet, while Jake and Marc Benjamin, on either side of her, kept the crowd back by the primitive but effective method of punching whatever vulnerable spot on their antagonists' bodies presented itself.
“Let's get out of here!” Jake shouted, as he saw the bartender with the baseball bat edging closer.
They each grabbed one of Jane's arms and rushed forward, knocking heads and punching faces indiscriminately as they progressed slowly across the clearing to the side of the building. When they broke clear of the crowd, they ran desperately for the waiting taxi, with a stream of shouting men hard on their heels.
They reached the taxi and piled hurriedly into the back seat. Jake shouted, “Vamanos!” in such a commanding voice that the startled taxi driver immediately reversed the car with a screech of tires, almost running over the first vanguard of their pursuers.
This resulted in another burst of threatening curses and fist shaking, as the driver sped out of the parking lot with his foot jammed down on the accelerator and his frightened eyes on the angry mob in his rearview mirror. He continued to drive with breakneck speed down the hill, half muttering prayers for himself and half curses against the crazy gringos who had gotten him into this.
Jake turned to Jane, his expression grim. “My God, you've still got that damn cock,” he said disgustedly, looking with disfavor at the beady-eyed bird in Jane's arms. “I gather that revolting creature is the reason for all this?”
Jane nodded, her breathing gradually steadying. “It was terrible.” She shuddered, her golden eyes darkening to topaz at the memory. “Those horrible men were making them fight with those hideous spurs on their feet. They were bleeding and hurt and nobody cared. I tried to make them stop, but they wouldn't listen.”
“So you grabbed one of the birds in the ring to assure that they would,” Benjamin surmised, shaking his head incredulously.
“It was the only thing I could do,” she explained simply. “But it made them awfully angry.”
“I can imagine,” Jake said dryly. “A good bit of money rides on those birds.”
“Well, I'm glad I did it,” Jane said defiantly. “They were wrong to be so cruel.”
“There are thousands of people doing cruel things in this world.” Jake