Heather Woodhaven - Texas Takedown

She fidgeted with her silverware. “It’s not necessary. It’s not like those things you said were lies.”

“Izzy, I didn’t mean—”

“No, really, Matt. I get the Bro Code and all that. You were looking out for Randy. Besides, the whole thing was stupid. At the time, I wasn’t even interested in Randy.”

His mouth dropped. “You weren’t?”

“Nope.” What was she doing? She needed to stop her mouth, but the adrenaline from the evening and the combined exhaustion made her mouth run on and on. “I actually liked you. And then my girlfriends convinced me to try that stunt to make you jealous. But you know what’s the craziest of all? I ended up with Randy anyway. He said he never would’ve known who I was if it wasn’t for you. Isn’t that funny?”

Matt stared at her, his expression unreadable. “You what?”

“Randy and I ended up at the same college. He had a football scholarship.”

Matt pursed his lips. “Huh.” He coughed and rearranged the food on his plate.

“And he assured me the stuff you said about me didn’t bother him. So, see? We can move on.”

“Well, uh, that’s, uh...a relief. Are you still—”

“No. Don’t worry. My crush on you is gone.” She put a hand on her chest. “No threat here.”

He cleared his throat. “I was going to ask if you were still with Randy.”

“Oh.” Her face heated. “No. He got offered a job as a pharmaceutical rep. I just couldn’t do that kind of life.”

Matt’s eyes softened. “The traveling?”

His question caught her off guard. She managed to nod. “A long-distance relationship and moving are off the table. I want to stay somewhere for the long haul.”

Isabelle stared at her empty plate. She’d talked and eaten so fast, it didn’t register what the food had tasted like. The reminder that Matt knew enough to understand her desire without clarification rankled her for some reason. So much so, she wasn’t fast enough to pay for the check before he’d already taken care of it.

He escorted her to the door. A breeze wove through the River Walk. She shivered. The temperature must’ve dropped twenty-some degrees since the afternoon. In a heartbeat, Matt took off his suit jacket and handed it to her.

“For the walk back.”

She accepted. The jacket did more than provide warmth. It somehow made her feel safer, as if wearing armor. She looked like someone’s girlfriend. She hadn’t been one of those for over a year now.

Her ankle hurt less as she joined the throng of tourists. The ice and rest had done the job. Matt had to step behind her, single file, as there wasn’t enough room to walk alongside each other and still allow the traffic to flow from the opposite direction. The jumble of tourists merging onto the sidewalk separated them by a couple of people.

A hand snaked around her wrist and yanked her off the walkway and into the darkness. A glint of metal appeared at her waist. “Scream and you die.” The man pulled her up an incline and pushed her into a shadowed area behind a tree.

* * *

Matt nearly fell into the water when someone shoved past him. A woman grabbed his shirt and helped him upright. His focus had been elsewhere...specifically, on the fact that Isabelle had ended up with Randy after all. The incident in high school had been an immature ploy to get his attention? How ironic that he had responded with his own ploy by trying to drum up bad things to say about her.

So she’d come clean, but why couldn’t he? Why hadn’t he interrupted Isabelle and admitted he had liked her? Why hadn’t he told her he never meant those hurtful things? His lips had refused to cooperate. Pride had paralyzed him. Again.

He scanned the tourists ahead of him. He’d completely lost sight of her. He strained his neck in an effort to spot Isabelle. No sign. He called her name, but the music and talking and laughter from all the restaurants swallowed up his voice.

Something reflected a light. On Marriage Island—a tiny, unlit inlet that jutted into the San Antonio River—a couple stood in the shadows against the tree. He almost looked away, but the profile looked remarkably like Isabelle’s. He saw the outline of the man wrench a bag from her torso.

Matt vaulted through the crowd. As he rounded the tree, the man pointed a gun at Isabelle. “Hey!” As the man turned to aim the gun at him, Matt grabbed the assailant’s arm and twisted it until the weapon dropped from his hand. The man punched Matt in the gut with his other arm.

Pain vibrated down his legs from the impact.

The man pulled a knife from his pocket and stabbed it into Isabelle’s torso. She cried out and crumpled. Matt pulled his fist back and slammed it into the assailant’s jaw.

The man stumbled backward until he took off into a run, the messenger bag bouncing off his hip. He ran around the tree, pushed tourists aside and dashed up a flight of stairs to the upper level of stores.

“Stop him,” Matt shouted, but over the noise, he doubted anyone heard him. The creep didn’t even glance back before he slipped between two buildings and disappeared.

Isabelle’s hands held her stomach. Matt dropped to his knees. He looked past the tree and yelled for help at a group passing by. He reached for Isabelle. How badly had she been stabbed?

She coughed. “He’s getting away.”

He couldn’t call for an ambulance without his phone, which still resided in the inner pocket of his suit jacket. He reached for her and prepared himself for the worst as his eyes focused on the rip in his suit, where she’d been stabbed. He pulled back the jacket slowly, inwardly cringing at what he might find.

Instead of blood he saw only fabric. His eyes lifted to her face.

She pressed her hand on her stomach. “It didn’t pierce me. The force of it just hurt. Your jacket... Was there something in the pocket?” Her frown cleared as she pulled out his phone and wallet. Cracks radiated across the screen. In the center of the phone he could see the point of impact. If the blade had hit flesh... He gulped.

Her right hand reached for his wrist.

“Isabelle, you could’ve been—”

“But I wasn’t. You saved my life,” she whispered. Her eyes filled. “He got away with everything. My phone, my wallet, my tablet... It’s all gone.”

He squeezed her hand. “All replaceable.” Unlike her.

Two policemen ran up to the tree. One took a knee. “Ma’am, do you need an ambulance?”

Twenty minutes passed before the officers were finished with their questions. Matt half listened to their reassurances to Isabelle that if she came to the police station for the report, she would likely still be able to fly home without an ID.

One officer stepped away while he listened to his radio. He approached again. “Ma’am, you said you were pursued earlier today by two men? Was this attack made by one of the same men?”

“No.” She frowned. “I’m positive.”

“Were there any witnesses to the earlier event?”

She narrowed her eyes. “Just Matt.”

The officer gave him a long glance. “And you were the only witness to this altercation, as well?”

Matt leaned back on his heels. Was the officer implying they were making the incidents up? “We were surrounded by witnesses. Surely someone saw something.” He waved behind him to the sidewalk.

“If they did, they didn’t stick around to tell their story.” The other officer narrowed his eyes.

Matt threw his hands up in the air. “This can’t be a coincidence.”

The officer ignored him and addressed Isabelle. “I assure you it’s very unusual for one of our tourists to be a victim of so much crime in one day, ma’am. Were you carrying anything valuable that would draw attention?”