Page 9 of No More Spies

Years of martial arts training came back, muscle memoryproving an efficient barrier to panic. She couldn’t panic if she was busykicking ass. The guy she’d drawn blood from reached out and grabbed her wrist.

She twisted and got a good hold on his forearm. He washeavy, but she could use his weight against him. She’d flipped her dad before,and he tended to not allow her to win when they sparred. A thrill went throughher when she managed to get that asshole on his back, hitting the ground hardenough the air whooshed out of his lungs.

“Dimitry, are you going to let the little bitch take youdown like that?” a deep voice asked.

“Hey,” another voice said. “We should move this along. Theboss wants us all on the plane in less than an hour.”

She wasn’t getting on a damn plane.

She put her boot on “Dimitry’s” chest. “I would stay down ifI was you, big guy.”

If she could reach into her bag, she could come up with thepepper spray she carried. Or the Taser her mom had no idea she slipped into herbag on nights like this. But it was sitting on the stupid bench.

Everything she needed was just out of reach.

“Ya ubyu tebya, suka,” he hissed as he grabbed herankle and sent her flying back.

She hit the dirt and groaned because he’d thrown her hard.She landed face down, her hips hitting the edge of the sidewalk hard. An achewent through her, but she could handle it. She thought about running. There wasa time and a place to run, and these guys, despite their beefy bodies, probablyweren’t as fast as she was.

But that was the moment she realized she was surrounded.

And at least one of them was Russian since he’d told her hewas going to kill her. And he’d called her a bitch. There was a lot of namecalling going around tonight.

She flipped herself up and went into a defensive stance.

Five. She could handle five.

She could. She had to.

“Come on, kid,” the tallest of the guys said, pulling offhis balaclava, too. Military cut. Fit. His face was all planes and harshangles. “We don’t have a lot of time here. If you’re a good girl, I’ll let youhave a snack on the plane. If you’re not, I’ll let Dimitry here give you asnack you weren’t expecting.”

Maybe darkness wasn’t the right word. Maybe her superpowerwas her rage.

“Fuck you.” She ran at the one she’d injured the first time.He was blocking her way. It was time to get the fuck out. She could make itback to Coop’s house. Or not. No. She couldn’t risk Vivi and Hunter. She wouldrun for the street. She’d made the mistake of wanting to be alone. Theywouldn’t have been able to corner her if she’d stuck to the streets.

She punched with all her might, trying to break the guy’snose. If she did it right, she could force the cartilage up into his brain. Atleast in theory.

The man cursed and pulled back enough he didn’t take thefull force. He slapped out, catching the side of her head and sending herbanging into the bench she’d been sitting on. So close to the dead body.“Dimitry, fucking take her out. You’re the one with the sedative.”

One of the others chuckled. “She’s a hell cat. She’s apretty thing, too.”

A meaty arm went around her waist, hauling her into the air.

A new kind of anger thrummed through her as she brought herhead up and back, ignoring the pain in her skull. She thrashed as the bigRussian held her.

And then she felt a sharp pain in her shoulder.

“Go get the car and bring it around the back. We need totake the PI with us,” a deep voice said as Kala felt her body start to slow.

Sedative. They’d given her a sedative.

Now there was nothing that could stop the panic.

Things were happening around her, but she couldn’t move. Sheslumped to the ground and felt something heavy on her chest.

She looked up and through the haze beginning in her eyes,saw the Russian, putting his boot on her chest. He spat blood on the groundnext to her before kneeling down.

“I know who you are, little bitch,” he said, each wordsnaking through her with malicious intent. “I know your cousin.”