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“Don’t just hang there,” Luther said to me. “We haven’t got all day. Move!”
I was almost to the bottom. I missed a rung and crashed to the ground.
Luther swung down after me. “Get up.”
“I’m getting,” I said.
I was on all fours, trying to stand. He grabbed hold of my arm and pulled me to my feet. I took a step and went down to one knee.
He pointed the gun at me. He had his finger on the trigger. His teeth were clenched. “Get up.”
My peripheral vision caught a flash of white and the sun glinting off silver. I turned in time to see Sir Lancelot do a twirl maneuver and slash out at Luther with his sword. There was a clang of metal, Luther’s gun sailed off into the air, and three fingers dropped onto the ground.
It was as if we were all frozen in time for several beats.
“Fuck,” Luther said, grabbing the hand that was short fingers.
There was a lot of blood and for a second, we all stared at the fingers that were lying in the dirt and gravel. Sir Lancelot’s eyes rolled back in his head, and he fainted. Luther stumbled back and sat down hard on the ground. I scrambled across the yard and grabbed the gun. My hands were shaking, but I managed to fire several shots into the air.
Marcus ran out of the alley on the other side of the yard. I saw him coming at us, gun in hand, and I fired off a shot at him. He aimed and attempted to shoot back but the gun misfired. He dropped the gun, turned, and ran for the street. After what he’d done to Connie, Vinnie, and me, not to mention all the women and kids he’d sold into slavery, no way was he going to get away. I crossed the yard and chased him into the alley. I was struggling to run with my hands cuffed in front of me, but he was no athlete. Too many hours sitting in the cab of a truck, popping gummies to stay awake.
I caught up to him as he was getting into his car. I hit him in the back of the head with the butt of the gun. He turned and I hit him square in the face. He went down to the ground, and I kicked him. I was still kicking him, calling him really vile names, when someone wrapped their arms around me and wrestled me away.
It was Ranger. He was holding me tight against him, and I could swear he was laughing. This is sobering because Ranger doesn’t laugh a lot.
“Babe,” he said. “I hope you never get that mad at me. I’m not sure I’d come out the winner.”
“He wasnotgoing to get away,” I said.
“And he won’t,” Ranger said. “We’ll take it from here. I’m pretty sure he’s got a couple broken ribs and his nose is no longer in existence, but I think he’ll live.” He looked down at me. “And you did all this damage while you were handcuffed. That’s impressive.” He took a universal key from his pocket and released the handcuffs. “We have the building secured, and I brought the police in. This is a major drug operation.”
“And human trafficking,” I said. “There are women locked in rooms on the fifth floor.”
A fire truck and an EMT screamed down the street, lights flashing, and stopped in front of us. Two cop cars followed.
Two Rangemen brought Luther out to the street. He was partly walking and mostly getting dragged. One of the Rangemen was holding Luther’s arm up to slow the bleeding.
Ranger and I returned to the yard behind the factory. Sir Lancelot was still on his back. Hal was with him, talking him back to consciousness.
“Luther was going to shoot me,” I said to Ranger. “Sir Lancelot came out of nowhere and knocked the gun out of Luther’s hand with his sword and lopped off three fingers.”
A med tech came out of the alley and walked over with a small Igloo cooler. “I’m told there are fingers back here.”
I pointed to the bloody patch on the ground. The med techpicked the fingers up and dropped them into the cooler. “Thanks,” he said. “Anybody need help?”
“Nope,” I said. “We’re okay.”
Sir Lancelot was on his feet, walking around. I waved and smiled at him, and he came over to us.
“I fainted,” he said.
“Anybody would,” I told him. “You’re my hero. You saved my life.”
“Gee whiz,” he said.
“How did you know I was here?”
“We went looking for you. Connie came back to the store and wanted to know where you were. Carpenter said you were looking at the storage units, but you and Lula didn’t come back, so we all went to the storage units and saw your drink cups on the ground. And we found your messenger bag and Lula’s purse in some bushes. So, we told the Rangemen in the SUV. And they made a phone call right away, and then they took off. We thought they might need help, so we followed them. And eventually they came here. We were out front trying to stay out of everyone’s way, and I wanted to see what was in the back of the factory. And that’s when I saw you in trouble.”
