I planted my feet and let everything else slow down — breath, sound, the small tremor in my hands. My body relaxed into the shape it knew best: ready.
Jofferey barked the command like a drill sergeant. “What the hell are you waiting for? Take him down!”
They moved as one, a wave of intent, and that was what I wanted. Numbers only matter if you let them.
The first man came in with a metal baton arcing for my ribs. I didn’t think — I felt. I twisted my hips, the baton whooshing past inches from my skin. My hand snatched his wrist mid-air; the joint protested with a wet, hateful pop as I wrenched. He howled and let go. Before he could gather himself, my knee drove up into his stomach, the breath expelled from his lungs like a stolen coin. He folded, the baton clattering away.
The second l
