Page 48 of Hurt

Elijah nodded and opened one of the emails. There was nothing in the body of the message, but there was an attachment. The picture attached to the email was of a building.

“Wow. That was anticlimactic,” Jamie bemoaned.

It was a concrete building that didn’t look like any type of local architecture. Elijah studied the picture for a while before he zoomed in.

“Look at the address.”

Jamie did before looking back down at the pictures of the envelope on his phone. “It matches.”

“Whatever he’s shipping in and out is happening at these buildings.”

From the reception area, they heard a soft click. It sounded like a door closing.

Jamie looked up and withdrew his gun. “You hear that?”

Elijah nodded. He stepped back from the computer and around the desk. “Stay with the USB. We can’t afford to lose this info.”

With a knife in hand, he slid across the carpet silently and waited on the side of the open door. Heart hammering in his chest, he inhaled deeply and let his lungs expand. The oxygen sent thousands of endorphins flooding his system.

He heard them before he saw them. The hushed noises of boots scraping across cheap carpet. Closing his eyes, he listened intently. He could count four feet. Two assailants. Had they followed them? No way. He was certain he didn’t have anyone on their tail.

Which meant this was either a coincidence, or the Vegas had the office bugged.

Elijah forced himself to be still. The first thing they would see was Jamie with his gun, lit up by the light of the computer monitor. With any luck, their eyes would be drawn to him, and he could get a few hits in.

He waited until the first leg passed his vision before striking. A palm to the knee hyperextended it backward. A grunt of pain was silenced by Elijah’s hand around his mouth. Wrapping his arms around his head, he tried to twist until his neck snapped, but his partner came at him. A fist to his sternum sent him reeling backward.

They didn’t have guns. Faces covered in masks. It was impossible to judge their identity. Not that it mattered.

The one with the newly ruined knee was limping. He couldn’t bear any weight on his left leg, and Elijah filed that information away.

“We need three more minutes, Szechuan Sauce.”

Jamie wouldn’t be able to fire his gun in this space. Cops would be crawling all over the office in seconds.

This was Elijah’s game.

The assailant with the good knees came at him then. They either didn’t have a gun or didn’t want to use it for the same reason. But it didn’t matter. Elijah dodged two swift hits coming for his face, stepping back twice to gauge his opponen’'s arm length. Taller than him by about six inches, he also had more power in his hits.

Elijah had to get closer, ducking inside his reach. Sacrificing himself, he took a hit to his right cheek and ducked low. While his attacker was off balance, he stepped into his wingspan, the heel of his palm jamming up into his chin. He could hear his teeth clack together as his mouth slammed closed. Dazed, the man stumbled back and gave Elijah the opening he had been looking for.

Being small had its advantages. Elijah was fast. He dove forward and knocked him back, grabbing his thigh at the same time and knocking him flat onto his back. Straddling him, he ducked his head against the blows raining down on the back of his head.

A tiny blade snicked out of his wrist sheath, and he drove it deep into the man’s eye. Jelly-like substance exploded out around the blade just before he stopped moving.

Leaving the knife, he rolled off and clocked the second assailant. This guy was at a disadvantage, and judging by the whites of his eyes, he didn’t want to fight Elijah after seeing him in action.

He turned and fled.

Elijah wiped his mouth and strode after him. In the doorway, he gauged the distance and flipped a knife in his hand so its blade rested in his palm. With an arc of his arm, he sent it flying.

Two inches of metal drove itself between the fleeing assailant’s shoulder blades. He cried out and fell forward onto his face.

Lazily, Elijah strolled to where he was lying. One foot on the back of his head, he pushed his face into the carpet.

“That blade has severed your C7 vertebrae. You are completely paralyzed. I’ll end it quickly if you tell me why you’re here.”

A soft sob came from the face buried in the carpet.