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I tore through the city, cutting off other vehicles and racing through red lights until I finally reached the hotel. After slamming to a stop around the corner, I yanked up the parking brake and hurtled inside.
I rushed into the hotel and past the receptionist, who greeted me with a smile, having no idea that an attack was happening in this very building. If it was contained to our suite, it was contained intentionally, either because our enemies were trying to avoid drawing outside attention or because the guys didn’t want to put unnecessary people in danger by making it a spectacle.
It could have been either option, I realized. I had no idea who they were facing or what I’d be walking into. I was nearly unarmed and certainly unprotected with no bulletproof vest or padding to speak of. I was about to rush into a potential bloodbath with only the small blade that I always kept at my hip.
There wasn’t any question that I would, though. The only weapons I really needed were my bare hands.
I didn’t bother waiting for the elevator. Dashing into the stairwell, I stormed up all five flights to the penthouse we’d taken over. The guys had picked this building carefully for discretion, and the soundproofing between the floors was good enough that I didn’t pick up the sound of gunshots until I was bursting out into the short hallway that led to the suite entrance.
At least they were still shooting. That meant someone was alive.
The damn apartment door was locked. Swearing under my breath, I fished out my key card, jabbed it into the slot, and barged inside into what could only be described as chaos.
Several bodies already slumped on the floor in the suite’s living room, but there were still more attackers grappling with the Chaos Crew around the room.
My gaze caught on Talon first. He was whipping back and forth between three opponents, fending off their weapons. If he’d had a gun to begin with, he’d lost it in the fray. Right now he was fighting with… knitting needles.
I’d have laughed if the situation hadn’t looked so dire. His expression was taut with strain. I jumped in, clicking open my small knife as I leapt. I plunged it into the back of the nearest man, jabbing it deep enough to pierce his heart through his ribs. I’d never carry a knife too small to accomplish that.
He crumpled, and the man next to him spun with a gun raised. In the instant before Talon leapt to my defense, the other man… hesitated, staring at my face. He could have taken a shot—and I would have dodged it—but it was almost as if he didn’t think he should.
Then Talon was snapping the guy’s wrist with a crack of shattering bone.
As I whirled, I spotted Blaze holding his own against two men near the sofa. Another man barreled into view and paused at the sight of me, a lot like the gunman had.
What the heck was up with these guys? Had they never fought a woman before?
Well, they were about to find out that I was an equal opponent.
I whipped the knife I’d withdrawn from my first kill through the air, and it hit the man right in the middle of the forehead. As he slumped over, Blaze managed to get in a shot at one of his attackers, who stumbled backward clutching his gut.
I glanced past Blaze and found Julius fighting three men, Garrison at his back fending off another. Four more men were just clambering through the shattered windows that let in a brisk breeze.
I didn’t know who to help first. All of them were getting overwhelmed, and I’d given up my one weapon.
I dropped to the ground and grabbed at the waists of the corpses for anything I could use. My groping hand found a gun. I quickly checked the magazine before pulling back the slide and finding one bullet already in the chamber. Two remained in the magazine. Three bullets total. I’d need to be so careful about how I used them.
A loud groan from across the room caught my attention. I watched as Julius fell to his knees, holding his side as one man circled behind him with a blade and another withdrew a pistol from his hip.
A silent wail of protest filled my head. I didn’t think. I reacted.
I lifted the gun I’d pilfered and fired at the man with the pistol. The bullet lodged itself in the side of the man’s head. I took down the man with the knife a second later.
Then a body slammed into me from the side. But even as I fell, I saw that Julius had heaved back to his feet. He’d be okay.
I rolled as I toppled and yanked my gun hand around with good enough aim to fire a shot into my attacker’s chest before he could do any more damage. He went limp on top of me. I shoved him off, snatching the knife he’d held and swiveling to prepare for another onslaught.
My efforts to thin our enemies’ numbers had helped. No new attackers careened through the window, and the men were making short work of the remaining foes. I slashed one man who was raising his gun toward Blaze across the throat and stabbed the knife deep into the back of another’s head. A few more shots rang out, and then it was just the five of us, a little bleeding and battered, standing over a heap of corpses.
Garrison caught my eye with a quick nod and a grimace that could have either been acknowledgment of the shitty situation or his disgust at all the gore. He crouched to sift through the men’s pockets. “Let’s see if we can find out who these assholes are and why they came after us.”
“Check fast,” Julius demanded. “We’re leaving in five minutes. Get your shit so we can get out before the cops get here.”
His hand was clamped to the wound on his side. Blood seeped across his shirt. His gaze caught mine, and my heart lurched all over again at the thought of how close he’d come to dying.
“You should bandage that,” I said. “No good avoiding arrest if you bleed out.”
“I’ll be fine,” he said with typical unshakeable confidence, but he did march into the bathroom and tear a strip off one of the towels to tie around his waist.
