Page 42

42

KATIE

The Steinbrenner house's air-conditioning hit Katie’s face in a cool wave as she entered the front door. A thump and a muffled cry from upstairs sent ice through her veins. Moving on the balls of her feet, Katie hurried up the curved staircase, keeping close to the wall where the steps were less likely to creak.

Near the top landing, her boot caught a decorative vase. Time slowed as the vase, filled with bamboo, toppled with a crash and a clatter, scattering the decorative rods over the hardwood floor.

“Crap!” Katie hissed, crouching against the wall around the corner from the hall, her weapon at the ready. The element of surprise was blown. “Maui Police Department!” She bellowed. “Drop your weapon and come out with your hands up!”

A door down the hall slammed open. Heavy footsteps thundered toward her.

Her warning wasn’t deterring this monster.

Wilkinson emerged at the top of the stairs, the leiomano's shark teeth in his hand catching the light, his face savage and black. His appearance was so different from the long-haired figure in the photos or the tech guy in his driver’s license that Katie’s finger froze on the trigger as he hurtled toward her. He lunged, swinging the terrifying club—and she fired, but missed as he knocked the gun out of her hand. The leiomano swept past her face and she ducked, the shark teeth grazing her cheek.

Katie rallied, slamming her shoulder into the large man’s midsection, using his momentum and weight against him to throw him over her shoulder toward the stairs—but he grabbed her around the waist and took her with him as he went.

They crashed down the stairs together, a blur of noise and pain and grunts and lost breath. Katie managed to roll free and stop herself midway, but Mū tumbled all the way to the bottom. He staggered up quickly as the leiomano clattered across the floor.

This man was big, fast, and stronger than she’d anticipated. The fearsome black scowl that had so startled her turned out to be a mask, which had been knocked off in the struggle.

Katie didn't give Wilkinson the chance to regroup. She launched herself off the stairs in a flying tackle and knocked him down, driving her knee into his back. Even with her full weight, it was like trying to wrestle a bear as she pulled his arms back. But she'd trained for this, practiced these moves until they were muscle memory. "Police! Don't move!"

She dug in her back pocket for her cuffs with her free hand as she pressed down, keeping her knee in his spine. Mū bucked, but she got the cuffs clicked shut around his wrists. Only then did Katie allow herself to feel the trembling in her arms, the many bruises from the stairs, the burning scratch on her cheek, and the hammering of her heart.

"Bill Wilkinson," she said, breathing hard, "you're under arrest." She recited his Miranda rights, spitting each word at the back of the man’s sweating bald head.

From upstairs, Helen's muffled cries increased; she didn’t want to be forgotten. “I’m coming, Helen!” Wilkinson was down; she had him under control. Katie reached for her belt radio to call for backup, lifting her knee off the man’s back.

But when Katie eased up to reach for her radio, Mū bucked hard, rising onto his knees, and knocked Katie off-balance. He stood with a leap, and a sweep of his powerful legs sent her crashing down; the radio skittered across the floor. In one fluid and unexpected motion, he slipped his bound hands under his legs, and brought them in front.

The impact with the floor had winded Katie—and then Mū was on her, knocking her onto her back. His cuffed hands seized her throat.

She clawed at his wrists, but his grip was like iron. Dark spots swam in her vision. Her lungs heaved vainly as he sat on her chest with his full weight.

"So many months playing with me," he whispered, voice eerily calm. “This is a better end than I ever pictured. The Dark Wizard has you now.”

The Dark Wizard? Katie brought her hands up between his wrists and tried to break the chokehold, but he was squashing her lungs and they burned. The cuffs, once meant to help her, prevented breaking his hold on her throat. The last thing she registered were Mū’s glittering brown eyes and his cold smile as blackness closed around her.

* * *

Katie came to with a gasp. She kept her eyes shut, trying to assess her situation.

She was bent forward but propped against a wall. Her own handcuffs, positioned high and tight behind her, now bound her. She would be unable to do the kind of move Wilkinson had completed to get her hands out in front.

Her body complained from a myriad of pulse points. She was hurt, but not seriously.

She could tell by the sound quality that she was in a different room. He hadn’t gagged her.

Her mind scrambled for what to do next. She had to stall so Lei or the backup she’d called for could reach them.

“I know you’re awake,” Wilkinson said. “I’ll leave you that way for now. You’ve earned it, Violet Steed.”

How did he know her gamer name?

Katie sat up straighter despite the pain in her arms and opened her eyes. “Do I know you?”

“Only as the Dark Wizard. But I’ve known who you were since we started playing the game.” Wilkinson crouched in front of her, far enough to be out of reach of Katie’s unbound legs, damn it. “I like tracking my opponents IRL. Giving them what they deserve from time to time.” He dangled the key, teasing her. “Bet you wish you hadn’t brought those cuffs.”

Beside her, also propped against the wall, Helen stared at Katie with terrified eyes. A gag muffled the woman’s sounds of distress. Her arms and torso were bound with plant fiber cords. Tears and snot streaked her face.

Katie directed her attention at Wilkinson. She batted her lashes and infused her voice with faux admiration. “Wow. You surprised me, Dark Wizard Mū. It takes a lot to surprise me, let alone beat me—at Worlds of Magic, or anything else. What was all that Hawaiiana stuff about? A smokescreen?”

“I was making a statement on behalf of the Hawaiian people. They’ve been ill-used by developers.” Wilkinson pocketed the handcuff key; Katie spotted her Glock tucked in the waistband of his black jeans. He turned and opened a large plastic gun case. Inside, neat coils of the fiber rope were tucked beside a cavity in the foam which held the leiomano . He took out a capped syringe. “And yes, the sacrifices have been a bit of theater as I take what I’ve always wanted and deserved.” He uncapped the syringe and pressed the trigger, expelling a drop of liquid and any bubbles. “You showing up right now is a wrinkle, though. I only planned for my time with Helen, and you probably called for backup, so we need to get on the road.” He addressed Helen. “I would rather not have to carry you out to the van. I’ll offer you the dignity of a choice in the matter. Come with me willingly, or get the drugs now.”

Katie’s presence seemed to have given Helen courage because she kicked her legs, her face going red with rage. Her muffled cries were cursing this time.

“I take that as a ‘no.’ Let’s get rid of some of that attitude—but just enough that you’ll still be able to walk to the van.” Wilkinson approached Helen from the opposite side than Katie, out of reach once again.

With sudden viciousness, he stabbed the syringe into Helen’s hip, depressing it partway. Helen screamed and writhed; the sounds were muffled but painful to hear.

“You’re disgusting,” Katie snarled. “ Moo .” She drew out the word to imitate a cow lowing. “Can’t even get with a woman unless she’s tied up and unconscious. What a tool.”

Wilkinson glared at her, moving away to cap the syringe and put it back. “You’re going to regret talking to me like that.”

“What I regret is that I ever thought you might be a worthy adversary. Moooooo. ”

“You know what, Violet Steed?” Wilkinson took out the leiomano. “You’re ruining the mood. I’ve paid a high price and waited a long time to be with Helen. You’re a cockblock I don’t need.” He stood up to his full height and threw his shoulders back as if tossing off a garment; he was huge from Katie’s angle.

He loomed over her, sneering. “I don’t have time for more sport.” He drew the Glock with one hand and swung the Hawaiian club with the other. “I’ll give you a choice, like I gave Helen. A bullet or throat-cutting. Which will it be?”

“None of the above.” Wilkinson had slipped up at last and come too close. Katie tightened her abs and lashed out with both legs in a sudden double kick; her combat boots struck the man hard in the kneecap. His leg buckled backward with a satisfying crack.

Wilkinson howled in anguish. The gun discharged, and if Katie hadn’t rolled to the side, she’d have been toast because a bullet plowed into the wall where her head had been.

Katie scissor-kicked next and caught Wilkinson’s legs between hers. Weakened by injury and off-balance, he went down with a crash hard enough to rattle the windows—but he was still armed and flailing at Katie with both gun and leiomano when a shout came from the door.

“MPD! Drop your weapons!”

Wilkinson froze for a long moment—then dropped the Glock and the shark-toothed club. The weapons clattered to the floor.

Katie looked up to meet the eyes of her mentor, Lei, standing in the doorway with a gun trained on Wilkinson. She rolled and sat up from where she’d thrown herself protectively over Helen’s semi-conscious body. “Dang it, Lei, I almost had him.”

“ Almost being the operative word,” Lei said, keeping the gun on Wilkinson as Pono came forward, rolling the man roughly onto his belly and cuffing him. “Though my money’s always going to be on you to come out a winner in the end.”