Page 66 of V-Day

Fresh sea air, with a taint of seaweed, flooded the room. She leaned out and looked along the side of the house. Four feet stretched between the window and the railing where the deck at the top of the stairs began. She could jump it.

Behind her, the women told each other Téra was right—they should be doing something, damn it!

The door to the dining room slammed open. “What the fuck is going on here?” the guard demanded. “You, there! Get away from the window.”

Téra stayed where she was, feeling her hair lift in the sea breeze.

“You! I said, get away from the window!” He was stalking toward her, while the women made frightened sounds.

Téra listened to the sound of his boots on the ancient floorboards. As soon as he was close enough, she gripped the blind at one end with both hands and spun on the balls of her feet, bring the blind spinning around like a baseball bat, angling up as it whizzed through the air.

It took him under the chin and lifted him off his feet. He landed with a heavy thud. The rifle slid off his shoulder and clattered on the floor.

Everyone looked down at the unconscious man, their eyes wide, including Téra.

“Oh, shit…” Minnie breathed. She pushed herself up the wall and hurried over to grip Téra’s wrist. “Everyone, very quietly. Out into the corridor, past the back stairs, to the deck, then down the stairs. We can hide in the caves or walk to Acapulco. Let’s just get out of here. Shh!”

Téra handed Minnie the blind-club.

“You use it,” Minnie said, trying to hand it back. “You’re a natural with it.”

“I have something better,” Téra said, bending and picking up the Insurrecto’s rifle. She knew how to load them and check them for ammunition. She had grown up with Duardo mansplaining everything.

Minnie’s eyes widened. She hurried after the other women, who stampeded out the door. They were not speaking, although it was impossible for twenty-three women to move quietly across ancient floorboards.

Téra followed, the rifle resting on her hip, her finger on the trigger guard.