Devil's Due: A Thomas Caine Thriller (The Thomas Caine Series Book 0) Read Online Free

tightened, and he was heaved into the air.   He gasped and coughed as his breath was driven from his lungs.   The grip tightened even more, and a red haze fell over his vision.   He kicked his feet backwards, but they dangled uselessly in the air.   He couldn’t make contact with Gregor's knees or shins--and even if he could, he doubted he could strike with enough force to make the beast of a man release his hold.
    Gregor grunted again and ratcheted his arms tighter together.   Caine felt the pressure compress his ribs and knew they would crack if the man heaved him up into the air again.
    He reached out with his arms, struggling to grab something, anything he could use as a weapon against Gregor.   His flailing hand felt cold glass and liquid: Alexi's drink.   The man had refused to touch it before he had slinked away.   Caine grabbed the glass and swung over his shoulder, striking Gregor's wounded face.
    Gregor roared in pain.   The vodka washed across the bloody gash in his forehead, sending a spasm of stinging pain through the huge man's face.  
    He did not release his grip, but his arms involuntarily flexed as the pain ran through his body.   Caine slid down a few inches, and he felt his feet touch the floor.
    He swung his head backwards, and the top of his skull smashed into Gregor's nose.   The man uttered something between a groan and a sneeze, and dropped Caine.   As Caine hit the ground, Gregor stumbled backwards a few steps, cradling his broken nose.   Rivulets of blood streamed between his fingers.  
    Caine sucked a lungful of breath and spun around, wasting no time in pressing the attack.   With Gregor's hands occupied, Caine leapt to his feet and swung his left leg forward in a savage kick to the man's solar plexus.   Gregor bent forward, grunting as the kick knocked the wind out of him.
    Standing over Gregor, Caine grabbed a beer bottle off the bar counter.   He swung it straight down, smashing it onto Gregor's skull.   The glass exploded, lacerating his fingers and burying tiny sparkling fragments into Gregor's head.  
    Gregor collapsed to the ground like a rag doll.  
    A low groan escaped his lips, and then he was silent.   Unmoving.
    Caine stood where he was, panting.   I've gotten sloppy , he thought.   Stupid .   There was no reason for the fight to have gone on as long as it had.   No reason for it to have started in the first place.   He could have handled it a million different ways.   Why had he chosen violence?  
    No , he thought.   Don't lie to yourself.   This is who you are.   This is why you can't go home.
    This is why you had to leave her.   Rebecca...  
    "He dead?" Naiyana asked in a quiet voice, interrupting Caine's thoughts.
    He looked at Gregor's body, and shook his head.
    "I don't know.   But if he's not, he's gonna be pissing blood when he wakes up."
    A stream of Thai profanity erupted from the beautiful girl's mouth.   Caine couldn't understand most of it, but obviously she was upset.
    "Hey, Naiyana, just calm down. It will be...." He held up his hands and noticed the blood streaming from the gashes left by the shattered glass.
    Sirens howled in the distance.   Their mournful wailing grew closer.   Caine knew what that meant.   The Royal Police were on their way.   He had bribed the police in the past--payoffs to look the other way when he smuggled shipments of counterfeit handbags or stolen iPhones.   But a body, a violent altercation, blood ... he couldn't take the chance that they might arrest him, even temporarily, and run his prints.
    "Come, come, follow me," Naiyana said.   "We go out the back!"
    Caine followed her into the bar.   She grabbed a clean towel from the kitchen as she herded him towards the rear service door.   "Here, wrap your hand."
    Caine nodded, and wound the white cloth around the gashes in his hand.   The towel was quickly stained a mottled shade of pink as his blood soaked through the rag.
    "What wrong with you?   You