I don’t know which one of them was the first to move, Ben or Constance. I wasn’t really in a position to see, and the chaotic tableau was made even more disconcerting by the dogs as they growled and yelped in response to the unexpected attack. I’m sure they were just as confused as me, given that they were familiar with Austin as a friendly face but were now witnessing him as an aggressor. They didn’t seem to know whether they should go after him, or run and hide, so they chose the middle ground of positioning themselves between the two of us and assuming a loud and menacing posture.
Even with all that, I did manage to catch quite a bit of blurred movement on either side of me before my brother-in-law’s second punch even began its trajectory. As I was falling, I felt Ben’s hand clamp onto my arm then physically yank me up and to the side, pulling me out of harm’s way.
Had I blinked, I probably would have missed the entire episode, but I somehow remained focused on the flash of motion before me. Constance immediately filled the void from the other side, snatching Austin’s wrist then twisting as she thrust one foot out in his path. In one easy swipe, she took his legs from beneath him, and he crashed face first onto the floor.
While I’m certain his lack of balance from the alcohol made her task somewhat easier, there was no doubt in my mind she would have been able to subdue him had he been cold sober, ten years younger, and a foot taller. In the end, Austin wound up kissing the hardwood, with his shoulder straining in its socket as the petite FBI agent wrenched his arm upward and held him in place with one knee in his back. She had already filled her hand with a pair of handcuffs and was beginning to apply them when my sluggish brain caught up to the action transpiring around me.
The dogs had stopped barking but remained stationed between us, an occasional low growl emitting from one or the other as they nervously danced in place.
“Aye, get the hell off me ya’ goddammed saigh! ” my brother-in-law bellowed, his voice reflecting upward from the hard surface of the floor.
“You need to calm down and cooperate, sir,” Constance instructed, slapping the stainless steel around his wrist and ratcheting it tight. “I think I should also warn you that calling me a bitch isn’t a very good start in that direction.”
Constance had heard Felicity use that very same expression more than once and knew all too well what it meant. In fact, considering the young woman’s seemingly photographic memory, it was very likely she remembered any and all Gaelic she’d ever heard my wife utter then explain.
At this particular moment, I was guessing that Austin was using the foreign language simply out of habit, as did most everyone in his family. I suppose it could have been done in a calculated attempt to get one over on Mandalay, but I doubted that. Whichever was the case, however, I was sure the result he was getting definitely wasn’t the one he was after.
I absently touched my hand to my stinging face, causing myself to flinch. When I pulled it away, there was a healthy swath of blood on my fingers and palm. Judging from that, and the way my mouth felt, I was guessing I had a split lip. Either that or a missing tooth my tongue just hadn’t noticed yet.
As annoyed, and even downright angry as all this made me, I heard myself say, “Please don’t hurt him, Constance.”
“That’s up to him,” she returned without looking up.
“Jay-zuss! Get off me, damn you!”
“Sir,” she instructed again, switching on her official voice. “I’m telling you again to calm down. I am a federal officer and I expect you to cooperate. Now, give me your other hand.”
“Not on your life.”
“I’m not going to ask you again, sir. Let’s not do this the hard way.”
“Fek tu! ”
“Not on your best day, asshole,” she returned sharply, shifting out of official speak for a moment, then she leaned forward hard on her carefully positioned knee.
He groaned heavily as she pressed her weight into his lower back, not that she was endowed with that much, petite as she was; but obviously she knew how to use what she had to make her point. With a practiced motion, she took hold of his other wrist and brought it behind his back then quickly applied the other cuff. Once he was secured, she backed off the pressure on his spine and stood up then stepped over him.
“Are you okay, Rowan?” she asked.
“I’ll live,” I replied with a nod.
The space between us was no longer blocked, as the dogs were preoccupied with sniffing at the prone man on the floor, seeing him now as a curiosity rather than a threat.
“Let me see,” she demanded, moving forward and gently taking my chin in her fingers.
I brushed her hand away and twisted my head, pulling back. “I’m fine.”
“You need to put some ice on that,” she pressed.
“I said, I’ll be fine.”
“Storm,” she said, shooting him a glance then cocking her head toward Austin.
“Yeah, I got ‘im,” he replied with a nod. “You get Row some ice.”
“Isn’t anybody listening to me?” I objected, voice filled with a mix of anger and exasperation, but the words came too late to matter. Constance was already halfway to the kitchen, and she wasn’t slowing down.
Ben stooped over and dragged my brother-in-law onto his knees by his upper arm, “Come on. Get up.”
“Jay-zuss, ya’ bastard!” he yelped. “You’re breakin’ me goddamned arm then!”
“You just don’t know when ta’ shut up, do ya’?” Ben snapped as he finished pulling him up to his feet. “Now, I know I heard Mandalay tell ya’ ta’ calm down. You got some kinda hearin’ problem or somethin’?”
“Aye, it’s best you stay out of this,” my brother-in-law spat. “It’s personal. It’s not your problem, then.”
“Yeah, well, trust me, I know all about personal,” Ben replied, shoving him into the dining room and planting him in a chair. “And, maybe this is, I dunno. But, the thing ya’ gotta be aware of is you made it my problem when ya’ attacked an innocent citizen right in front of me and then resisted arrest.”
“Innocent my arse!”
Ben looked over in my direction but kept himself positioned between the two of us. “Jeezus, Row. I thought you said this is the guy that liked ya’?”
“I guess he changed his mind,” I replied with a shake of my head.
Halfway through the motion I stopped, closed my eyes, and groaned. The rattling in my skull still hadn’t subsided, and now that it joined forces with the fresh ache in my jaw, moving just made it that much worse. When I allowed my eyes to flutter open once again, I saw that Mandalay was already heading back through the dining room with a dishtowel in her hand.
“What’ve you done to my sister, ya’ bastard?!” Austin shouted, lifting up and leaning to the side to look around Ben’s frame.
Before I could answer, Ben snapped, “Can it!” Then, pushing him back down into the seat he added, “Now, I’m not gonna tell ya’ ta’ calm down again, got me?!”
I was determined that someone was going to listen to me, so I shot back with, “I haven’t done anything to her, Austin!”
My own voice rose in volume as I expelled the words, and that didn’t help my head either. However, the sudden rush of anger was enough to at least blunt the pain.
“Liar!”
“Goddammit, Austin, I…”
“You too!” Ben returned, cutting me off while stabbing a finger at me. “Not another word outta either of ya’. Hear me?!”
Constance interjected her voice into the auditory fray as she came to a halt in front of me. “Stand still, this might sting a bit.”
With only that comment as warning, she began dabbing at the lower half of my face and lip with a damp towel. I immediately winced and pulled away, reaching for her wrist out of reflex.
“A bit?” I yelped.
She slapped my hand away and continued undaunted, quickly adding, “I said, stand still.”