No one touches my girl that way.
The first henchy goes down without a sound. He’s a straggler, clearly new on the job or undertrained because he’d been hovering as far away from the action as possible at a side door, as if he could leave at any moment. My arm around his throat makes quick work in putting him out, but I don’t kill him. He seems like he may have stumbled into the wrong industry. Maybe this will change his life trajectory.
The others, I’m not as kind to.
Every person here is complicit in the crime of stealing Elsie. Each of them signed up to support Ric and his plans. None of the others are green. They’re trained, clearly having done this job for a while, which means ain’t a one of ‘em innocent.
The next two henchies go down while Ric continues his monologue. I catch snippets of him talking in between my movements.
“You’ve always been a slut, haven’t you, Ava?”
“I know exactly what I’m going to do with you when we get out of here.”
“Maybe I’ll even let them watch.”
Sick bastard. He says all this with Elsie sitting there on that cold, hard chair. Which right pisses me off. She doesn’t deserve all this trauma, and I’m going to make sure Ric pays for giving it to her. I sneak through the darkness, taking out the last four henchies hiding around the doors. There are only five more and they’re in the light with the others, standing around, their arms crossed or holding onto Dagen and Otto as they watch the scene unfold. Elsie sits in the middle of the room, her arms tied behind her back, cloth wrapped around her mouth. Her eyes are wet with tears as she watches her father grab her mother too tightly, as she watches him hurt her. She looks around, searching for help, and in the darkness, I move, drawing her attention.
Her eyes widen briefly before she schools her features so Ric doesn’t notice, as clever as her mother. Pride flickers through my chest at her understanding. Carefully, I raise my fingers to my eyes and cover them, before looking at her again.
Against the tears in her eyes, she closes them, understanding what I’m telling her.
Don’t look. Don’t witness this part.
I pull the pistol from my hip and take aim. The gunshot rings out so loud in the building, Elsie screams. Ava ducks and tries to rush toward Elsie, but Ric holds onto her tightly, using her as a shield as I fire another round. Another henchy hits the ground with a grunt. Elsie screams again, whimpering, so I do what any sane person would.
“It’s okay, Els,” I tell her, and though it marks my position in the darkness as I move, it doesn’t matter. She’s more important. “Remember that movie we watched about the very brave princess?” She nods with her eyes closed, her sobs pressing against the gag. “I need you to be that brave right now while I take care of business, yeah?” Another nod, but it doesn’t stop the tears.
One of the remaining three henchies fires into the dark, narrowly missing me. If he’d have been a good shot, I’d be dead right now. I move quickly, sliding into the light to shoot henchy number three in the face, blowing his brains out across the wall. The other two empty their clips as they try and shoot me in return, but I’m the phantom for a reason. I’m gone before they even fire off a clip. I make damn sure I’m away from the direction of Ava and Elsie. I trust their shot about as much as I trust Old Ricky to do the right thing.
Dagen finally seems to straighten into coherence from where he’d been bashed across the head, his eyes no longer dazed. He kicks at the henchy holding him, throwing him off balance. I squeeze off a shot quickly, taking him down, leaving only the one moving closer to Ric rather than bothering to hold Otto. He’s figured out that he never should have taken this job.
“What the hell is this?” the henchy screams. “Who is he?”
I sprint through the semi-darkness on light feet, moving without a sound, and when I appear right behind him, he doesn’t even know I’m there until I speak.
“I’m the phantom,” I whisper, right before I touch the hot barrel of my gun to the base of his skull and pull the trigger.
Brains splatter everywhere. Blood speckles Ava’s face where she stands, Ric’s body, and my own shirt as the man falls to the ground with a thud. I face Ric just as he pulls a 9mm and points it at Ava’s head. He drags her closer to Elsie, jerking the gun between Ava’s head and Elsie’s, but he’s alone now. Clearly, he thinks he still has a chance. He doesn’t, but the fucker has audacity, I’ll give him that.
“You’re gonna let me leave,” Ric demands, but there’s a shake in his voice that wasn’t there before. Despite that, he points his gun between Ava and Elsie, as if he can’t choose which one to threaten to cause the most turmoil. White hot fury fills me the moment the gun points at my two best girls.
“Keep them closed, Els,” I tell her, my voice pitched sweet and gentle despite the situation.
Behind me, Dagen and Otto stand, both at the ready. The two of them are pretty useless as fighters, but I don’t blame them. There’s a reason they hired me. This moment is that reason. Otto’s strengths lie in the digital world. Dagen’s in his pocketbook. Mine just so happens to be all thanks to being unloved as a child. What a prize.
“See, now we have a problem,” I say, meticulously reloading my gun. I cock it to put a bullet in the chamber and tap my skull with the barrel.
“What problem is that?” Ric sneers as he points the gun at Elsie.
I meet his eyes. “I made a mental map of every bone you ever broke, every scar you left on my girl. I traced them with my tongue, memorized them until they’re burned into my bloody skull.” I grin. “At the beginning of this, Ava was just a woman.” I look at her, meet her gaze. “Now, she’s my woman.” I straighten and roll my shoulders. “And you’re threatening her and my princess.”
Dagen and Felix appear at my shoulders, their eyes as hard as mine as they point weapons they must have taken from the dead guys. Old Ricky audibly swallows.
Good. He should be bloody scared. He should be pissing his trousers.
Forty-Six
Ava
