Page 66 of Lay It Bare

“Fucking weird,” the second man said. “Still think we should tie them up.”

“Just grab the computers and the rest of the shit.” The first man slid a large backpack off his shoulder. “There’s probably cash. Finders keepers.”

Lisa moved. It wasn’t any particular motion. It just was. One moment he was kneeling, the next he was beside the man leaning over, the smaller kitchen knife buried in the man’s neck.

The second man shrieked, reaching towards Lisa with one hand, the other going to his pocket. Rei flung himself forward, latching onto the man’s wrist.

“Mayday,” the man shrieked. “Mayday.” He brought his knee up, slamming it into Rei’s ribs. Rei twisted, taking the man’s wrist with him. Tendons snapped. The man roared, and torqued his body, slamming Rei into the edge of the couch. Rei’s head bounced against the hard structure of the corner, fracturing his sight. But he clung, still holding the broken wrist against him. He couldn’t let the man touch his gun.

The man grunted and pulled back. Rei blinked. The man was on the ground, holding his side. Lisa brought the baton down again, the narrow end first, straight into the base of the man’s throat.

Rei crawled to his hands and knees, pulling the sheathed knife from his pants. A voice came through a microphone on the dying man’s headset, the one Rei hadn’t been able to see earlier when he was keeping his eyes averted.

The first man was down but still alive, blood pooling out onto the rug. His hand was reaching for his side. Rei flung himself across the space between them. He wrestled with the man, holding the man’s arm away and finding the gun in the man’s pocket. He flung it under the coffee table, but lost his grip on the knife.

“The fuck!”

Rei looked up. A third man was just coming in. Rei scrambled to get off the floor but not fast enough. The man was on him from above, grabbing him by the back of his shirt and throwing him across the room towards Sevastyan’s sit-stand desk. Rei crashed into the rolling chair in front of it. It toppled over him. His body skidded under the desk. All the breath was smashed out of his lungs. He couldn’t breathe. He shook his head, blinking to bring back his vision. The new man had Lisa by the throat and was punching him against the floor.

Rei used the legs of the desk to roll over, his fingers catching on the keyboard, a wired one for Sevastyan’s secure communications. Rei jerked at it, getting the cord loose from the computer tower. Lisa was twisting back and forth, fending off blows, but his movements were getting weaker. Rei stretched the cord between his hands and rose to his feet. His ankle wasn’t right. It didn’t matter. He flung himself on the man from behind, getting the cord around the man’s neck and wrapping it tight. The man reared up, pulling Rei off his feet. He clawed at the cord, but Rei’s hanging weight brought him to his knees, seeking slack to breathe through.

Rei cracked the keyboard over the top of the man’s head. The man threw himself backwards. His hands were large and heavy. Rei kept his hands tangled in the cord, even as the man slammed both of them into the ground. His vision darkened and he tightened every part of his body. He couldn’t let go. He wouldn’t let go.

The man curled away from Rei and rolled to the side. Rei blinked the black spots away from his eyes in time to see Lisa plunge Sevastyan’s hunting knife back into the man’s throat.

There was so much blood. The man thrashed, kicking at Lisa. Lisa plunged the knife in again.

And then, at last, the man stilled.

Rei rolled away, his stomach heaving from being slammed and beaten. There was blood everywhere. Lisa’s lip and scalp were bleeding freely.

There were footsteps from the front door. Lisa and Rei exchanged looks. Lisa rewrapped his fingers around the knife, getting a better grip.

Ellisandre

Dana clapped her hands as Alice demonstrated how the new curtains would open and close. “It works.”

Ellisandre smiled. “You did well.”

Alice held out her arms and Dana flung herself against Alice for a hug.

The phone in Ellisandre’s pants pocket vibrated. Not their regular phone, the phone that only Sevastyan had access to.

They steppe away from Alice and Dana and thumbed it on. “Vast.”

A voice that was not Sevastyan answered, speaking fast. “Four men in the service stairwell approaching the flat where you are. Two more on floor eight, about to enter unit 2. There might be more.”

“Who is speaking?” Ellisandre snapped. They made a hand motion to Alice, pointing them towards the hallway and out of the room in which they were in. The back entrance led right into this space. Alice pulled Dana into her arms at once and moved away.

“No one. I’m no one. Don’t let them have Jun.” The voice sounded tight and frightened. And not native. The accent was pronounced. But they knew Jun.

Ellisandre let themselves out the back door of the condo and into the staircase. The security was tight. There was a camera right outside the door, but security at this entry point relied on surveillance and technology. Ellisandre eased to the railing and looked down.

There were men approaching. They just hadn’t triggered Richard’s surveillance yet.

They moved to the outer wall where the approaching people wouldn’t see them and eased their way down. The footsteps coming up were loud. They weren’t even trying to hide. All Ellisandre’s instincts were awake, sensing incoming threat. These men weren’t moving casually and their faces were covered.

One floor down, Ellisandre paused, calling Sevastyan’s number.