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Over the rim of the drum, I could see pockets of people fighting. Some of the crew were still behind cover, shooting at Rodney and his men, but it was hard to tell who was winning. The plasma cannons were aimed at the men closest to the exterior wall and had already blasted two holes in the wall. I could see one of Emerson’s crew climbing up the side of the ship, bent on destroying those cannons.
A noise caught my attention towards the right, and I saw Ethan fighting with a man. As I turned, Ethan took a hard punch to his jaw and reeled back into an interior door, which must have been rotted because it busted like it was made of butter. I watched his legs disappear down the hall and his opponent took off after him.
Focusing on Ethan had distracted me, and I didn’t notice someone approaching. I caught movement from the corner of my eye and turned just in time to see the leader of the kidnappers himself moving into position to shoot me. His beady eyes were full of anger, and his lips were pulled back in a snarl, making his scar stand out even more vividly. I reacted quickly, lifted my laser, and fired at him. He ducked and rolled to the side, but still managed to fire back at me. His bullet missed, but barely. I flattened myself on the floor and took aim again. This time, I hit his gun, causing it to fly from his hand. I had aimed for his body, but I would take the disarming as well.
He cursed and rolled again, grabbed a piece of metal, and flung it at me. It struck me on the shoulder, and I jerked to the side, crying out in pain. It was enough of a distraction for him to make it to his feet and rush at me. I tried to lift my gun, but my shoulder spasmed and I couldn’t lift it high enough. He kicked the gun from my hand, and I clenched my teeth. I twisted my body, swiped my leg out, and knocked his feet out from under him.
We reached for each other at the same time and grappled on the floor. He was strong and burly, and he was trying everything he could to use his size to his advantage. I tried to use my agility and speed to do some damage, but I barely managed to kick him a few times in the gut. He grunted and winced but didn’t release his grip.
Finally, I let my injured arm go limp, catching him off balance, and he dropped towards me. I rotated and wedged my feet against his stomach and shoved with all my might. It was enough to push him off me, and he went skidding across the floor.
I got to my feet, still trying to crouch below the oil drums, and he got to his feet as well, pulling out a knife. I debated about taking out my own knife, but I waited, thinking through my options. I doubted I could win in a straight up fight with him. Not where it was too dangerous to even stand upright. My eyes flickered to the open doorway that now stood to my left, and I made the decision to try for it.
He noticed as soon as I looked at the door and moved just as I took off in a dead run. I weaved between the oil drums, keeping my head low. I could still hear gunfire and knew some of the bullets and lasers were hitting awfully close to me. I kept one eye on my enemy as he tried to cut me off, but he would need to run out in the open to reach me before I made it to the doorway, and he was too smart for that.
I reached the doorway and didn’t stop running. He charged in not far behind me as I made a hard left. The floors here were concrete, and other than some debris here and there they were empty. Multiple doorways led into what appeared to be offices, though there was little light, and what furniture I could see was broken. I tried to think of a plan, or a place to hide, but my mind was coming up blank.
Before I could decide what to do, a hand clamped on my shoulder and I turned immediately, broke the hold, and barely dodged a knife coming towards my face. He swung at me again, and I ducked below the swing and pulled out my own knife. I rammed it up towards his midsection, but his hand clamped around my wrist, and between that and gravity I couldn’t muster enough strength to finish the move. His other hand came down towards me with his knife, so I abandoned my attack, kicked the inside of his leg, and jerked backward. I fell over a body and into a doorway. I scrambled backward, and it barely registered that I had tripped over the body of the guy who had gone after Ethan.
The room was completely bare, though it was large enough to be a meeting room or maybe a lunchroom. I darted back some more, trying to put some distance between us as he came in after me. When he saw the dead man, he paused, reached down, and pulled a gun from the body.
“Snails!” I changed course, pushed myself back to my feet, and lunged at him. He took aim, and I shoved the gun. It fired, the noise hurting my ears. I felt an impact in my right arm, and it went limp.
My momentum knocked us both to the ground. His hand smacked the corner of the doorway and the gun slid across the smooth concrete floor and fell into a grated drain.
Before I could react, he flipped me onto my back and started punching me. I wasn’t sure where his knife had gone in all the commotion, but I was grateful it was gone, or else I’d already be dead. Blood spurted from my nose, and I was pretty sure he broke it. I tried to use my right arm, but it didn’t want to work right. I still had my knife in that hand, somehow, and I transferred it to my left and stabbed at him. I didn’t think I’d make contact, but I caught him across the forearm, and he jerked, which gave me the space to scrape it across his stomach. The wound wasn’t deep, but it was enough for him to jerk back. I took the opportunity to slash at him again, trying to drive him away from me.
Someone slammed into him from the side, knocking him back into the room. Ethan grappled with him on the floor a few feet away. I rolled to my side and pushed myself to a sitting position. I looked at my right arm and hissed when I saw blood pouring from it. It started to ache, but the pain wasn’t terrible. I could worry about that later.
Get up, Julia. Fight.
We hadn’t won yet, and Ethan was outmatched. I forced myself to get to my feet. I was a little shaky, but I could still fight. I stepped towards them, clutching my knife in my good hand, and yelled something unintelligible. Both men glanced at me. Ethan saw I had the knife and rotated, putting the man between us. I slashed downward with the knife and caught him in the outer arm. The knife lodged deep, and I let go of it. He jerked, cursed, swung his other hand back at me, and slammed my bad arm, knocking me off my feet. I hit my back hard, and the air rushed out of my lungs, making me wheeze.
Ethan punched the man in the face and tried to knee him in the gut. He countered the move and shoved Ethan, who tripped and fell back into the wall. His head hit the stone with a sickening thud, and he slid to the floor. He didn’t move. Blood started pooling around his head and my heart dropped to my stomach.
“No! Ethan!” I tried to get back to my feet, but before I could move, my attacker was in front of me. He slammed his foot down on my left ankle, and I heard bone crunch. I screamed.
He was breathing hard, but he was also smiling now. He reached up and yanked the knife from his arm. He growled and swore before looking back down at me. That was the moment I realized I was going to die. My right arm was useless, and my ankle was shattered. Blood was pouring from my nose, and I could feel my face puffing up from where he’d hit me. My body hurt, and I was without a weapon.
“You’ve been a real problem, you know that?” He leaned over me, and it looked like he was trying to catch his breath.
Time was the only thing that might save me if I could somehow think of a plan. “You deserve it.”
He chuckled, though there wasn’t much humor in it. “Self-righteous cop.”
“How did you know Emerson wouldn’t take your deal?”
“The offer was so good I thought he would. And it’s not like he has any love for a cop. But then we followed you and realized we had an opportunity. We decided to capitalize on it.” He wiped some blood from his forehead. “Killing you has turned out to be far harder than I could have ever anticipated.”
I sniffed. “I don’t know anything. Obviously. Why still kill me? I don’t know who your boss is. I don’t even know whoyouare. I’m not a threat.”
“On the contrary.” He eased upright and started toying with the knife. “You’ve seen my face. Eventually, you’ll figure out who I am. That’s not acceptable. Whether you know who my boss is or not, you’re too much of a liability to let live. And you’re too good at your job. I have to kill you. And right now, I’m looking forward to watching the life leave your eyes.”
He was trying to psych me out, and it was working. “Tell me who your boss is.”
“No,” he sneered.
I cocked my head to the side. It hurt, but I didn’t let myself flinch. “Come on. You’re already going to kill me. Just tell me what’s on the drive.”
