Page 50 of Protector Unmatched

21

Pearce ran up to the house. The door that led into the building was ajar. Ryder had made sure of it. Pearce slipped into the dark foyer, where Ryder was waiting, and pulled the door shut behind him. A flight of stairs led to the upper unit, and a door to the right led to the ground-floor unit.

“What are we dealing with?” Pearce asked.

Ryder motioned to the door of the lower unit. “Tim got home a short while ago, and two guys were already waiting for him. I saw them through the window when Tim switched on the light, but one of them closed the curtains.”

“What are you hearing?” A vampire’s hearing was supersensitive, so Ryder would hear more sounds than Pearce could pick up from inside the apartment.

“They’re putting the screws on him. I heard a few sentence fragments, something about stolen goods, where the loot was, and that he’s got a buyer lined up or something, but they’re keeping their voices down.” He motioned to the upstairs unit. “Probably because the neighbors could be home. They don’t want witnesses.”

“Must be the guy who Tim was supposed to do the break-in for.” He knew Ryder would understand, because Pearce had explained why he wanted Tim followed. He’d expected there to be trouble once it was clear that Tim hadn’t succeeded.

“Makes sense. He’s probably a fence for stolen goods.”

“Anything else I should know?”

“They looked pretty mean. Big guys. Humans. So, nothing we can’t handle between the two of us.” Ryder grinned, always ready for a brawl with a bunch of bad guys.

“I’ll go in first and unlock the door for you. Follow me, but stay quiet so they won’t hear us coming.”

“You’re the boss.”

Even though he wasn’t armed tonight, because he’d planned on spending the night with Daphne and didn’t want her accidentally finding a medieval dagger on him when he undressed, Pearce wasn’t worried about entering the apartment to confront two humans. He was stronger than them. Besides, he had Ryder as backup.

Silently, Pearce passed through the door. He found himself in a short hallway with one door to his left and one to his right. Both were closed. Ahead of him was a door with frosted glass. Behind it, there was light. Pearce quickly reached back to the door and opened it for Ryder, so he could enter. Unfortunately, his skill of passing through solid objects like walls and doors couldn’t be transferred to any other creature. It was unique to Stealth Guardians, and only a Stealth Guardian’s body could survive the dematerialization and subsequent rematerialization of his cells.

Pearce nodded to Ryder, and they approached the glass door. Pearce made a motion for Ryder to wait, then made himself invisible and stepped through the door. He stood in the living room. Here, Daphne’s brother sat, bloodied and beaten in an armchair, while one of the guys held a knife to his throat, and the other pointed a gun at him. The TV was on, probably to drown out any sounds of agony.

Having assessed the situation, Pearce stepped back through the glass door and told Ryder, “You’re right, two guys, one with a knife at Tim’s throat, the other with a gun pointed at him. Tim’s barely conscious.”

“Which one do you want to take?” Ryder asked, utterly unconcerned about fighting two armed men.

“I’ll take the one with the knife. But we’re going in invisibly.” It wasn’t a problem for Pearce to make Ryder invisible with his mind, but there was still a risk, since Ryder had to open the door to enter the room. “I’ll go in. Give me three seconds to get in position, then enter and go for the guy with the gun.”

Ryder nodded. “You’ve got it.”

Pearce stepped through the door again and, as quietly as possible, approached the man with the knife, ready to snatch his hand and wrestle him away. Just as he was in position, the door creaked loudly and opened inward.

The two assailants snapped their heads toward it, but they couldn’t see what Pearce saw: Ryder was entering the room, heading for the man with the gun.

“What the fuck?” The man stared into the dark hallway and moved toward it. “Who’s there?”

Ryder came closer, but had to alter his approach so he wouldn’t be running straight into the man. The sound of glass crunching under a boot cut through the silence. Ryder had stepped on some shards.

Shit!

The assailant with the gun pivoted and, shaking in panic now, pulled the trigger. It hit Ryder, wrenching a groan from him. But Pearce couldn’t look at where the bullet had caught Ryder, because he had to take care of the man with the knife. He gripped the man’s wrist and pulled him away from Tim with such force that the thug stumbled. Startled gasps and frightened shrieks came from the heavyset assailant. Pearce wrestled the knife from his hand and tossed it in the farthest corner of the room, then kicked the bastard in the hollow of his knees and forced him to the ground. He landed like a felled tree. Pearce jumped on him and pinned him down, then chanced a look at Ryder.

Bleeding from the shoulder, he was fighting the guy with the gun. He was still invisible, giving him the advantage, even though he was only fighting with half his strength. The human had no chance, even though he was still holding the gun, but he couldn’t aim it at anybody, because Ryder was pinning his hand to the wall. However, knowing that even a bullet fired through the wood ceiling could possibly injure a neighbor, Pearce knew he had to intervene.

He dealt his opponent a knock to the head so he passed out, then jumped up and rushed to Ryder’s aid. Within seconds he’d grabbed the gun from the man’s hand, put the safety back on, and put the weapon in the back of his pants. Then he snatched the assailant and knocked him out too.

“Thanks,” Ryder said.

Only now did Pearce make them both visible again. “What a mess. How’s the shoulder?”

Ryder shrugged. “It’ll heal in no time. All I need is a little human blood.”