Chinese Special Forces. Isn’t that what Heidi said?
We’re in deep shit here.
Bodie kicked the bastard in the knee. Dirty tactics applied now, and he knew more than a few. When the man hit the ground, clutching his burning joint, Bodie sent a boot into his Adam’s apple, further debilitating him.
Around them, civilians screamed.
It’s all falling apart.
A brave young man ran up to Heidi and tried to inspect her bleeding head. The man Bodie had just felled struck out at him. Bodie waded in again, finally rendering the attacker unconscious, but didn’t have time to check the groaning CIA agent.
Jemma screamed. Bodie whirled, expecting anything, but even then caught his breath. Mayhem ensued. Jemma knelt before a Chinese Special Forces man, blood running down her cheek. He had a hand tangled in her hair and was holding her close while fending off both Lucie and Alessandro. Gunn was on his knees, doubled over, wheezing in pain. Despite the admiration he felt for Lucie and Alessandro, his heart leapt for Jemma and Gunn. Ten steps away, he sprinted as if he was trying to outrun a bullet.
But then Cross ran past him, and the original five Bratva were just a meter away, piling out of the arcade and into the fight. Bodie couldn’t avoid them. One man careened into him, knocking him off his feet and winding him. Bodie landed hard and rolled, shouting into his earpiece.
“Jemma. Fight him! Get up and fight!”
“You’re kidding!” Her voice came across weak and muffled.
Bodie used the brick wall to gain his feet, looked over, and saw Jemma turn her head and sink her teeth into her opponent’s thigh. Bodie cringed, because it wasn’t the thigh at all.
Her opponent pulled away, letting go of Jemma’s hair. It was one of the few times Bodie had seen her without her bun, and the difference was striking. She wiped her face. Bodie flat-armed a Moroccan in the nose and rushed past, leaving Cross to engage them.
Jemma forced Lucie and Alessandro back against the wall, shielding their bodies. Now Bodie saw Gunn, lying flat out and hopefully just unconscious. Cassidy continued to engage both opponents, her ripped pants now matched by a ripped shirt, and all covered in blood.
Heidi was barely moving.
And here they were, pitted against properly trained soldiers. They were no match. They were battered, not superhuman, having met more than their equals. Bodie hoped they could get out of it alive.
The Bratva’s chaotic arrival had helped. In particular, the way they had poured out of the mall in disarray, just plowing into the brawl. The bald man engaged Cross hand-to-hand, while the others set about the two soldiers in combat with Cassidy. The redhead, allowed a moment of respite, collapsed onto her bottom, panting and wasted, arms hanging listlessly. Bodie stumbled under the bald man’s assault, then spun and shrugged him off. The man fell into the street, striking the curb. The crowd watched, some crying out and others filming. A man in a wheelchair tried to ignore the entire fracas and force his way through, but was pulled aside a moment before Yasmine’s stumble would have sent him flying.
An engine roared. Bodie whirled to see a black van flying up the road, knocking some pedestrians aside. With horror he saw it run over a man’s legs and then saw two Chinese soldiers through the windshield.
No way out.
Fight, then.
The van roared past and stopped adjacent to Jemma. Sliding doors were flung open. Four men poured out like black lava, faces and bodies entirely covered. Bodie saw them reach for Jemma and felt a new level of fear.
“No!”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Jemma struck out as the Chinese came for her, but two men dragged her away from Alessandro. Two others grabbed the Italian and Lucie, and pulled them aggressively toward the van. Bodie was running so fast he was practically airborne. Striking Jemma’s adversaries before they knew what was happening, he sent both of them sprawling to the ground.
Bodie landed well, rolled, then came face-to-face with one of the felled Chinese soldiers. The eyes under the mask were unreadable. Bodie made a wild swing, putting all his remaining strength into it.
Cassidy looked up, still wheezing hard, to see the Bratva being ground down by her two previous opponents. One man was already limping badly, another labored with one eye fully closed. The only way she’d stood a chance was to show them her ability to street-fight raw and dirty — a trait they became wary of very quickly. The Bratva might think they were street fighters, but they weren’t even close to her league.
Still hanging her head, she looked to the left. It was the noise of the van’s engine that had roused her. Now she saw Bodie struggling with the soldier he’d just taken a swing at and Jemma on the ground. Jemma looked out of it, exhausted. She saw Alessandro and Lucie being manhandled into the van. She remembered all too well what had happened to Carl Kirke.
Cross fell before her, groaning in agony, but she ignored it. Worse, she used his frame to push herself upright, then gingerly tested her limbs.
All there.
That was enough. She stumbled into the road, came up behind the van, and slipped around it. Sliding open the door, she took stock of what was inside.
A driver and a passenger, screaming at their comrades to hurry. Lucie lying prone, shocked by the sudden opening of the door, hands bound but legs still kicking. Cassidy gritted her teeth, just as shocked at the incongruous sight of Lucie’s ripped signature woolly sweater as much as the blood and scrapes all over her exposed skin.
The Chinese soldier tying Lucie’s feet together glared at Cassidy. She bared her teeth, grabbed Lucie under the arms, and hauled her out, dropping her unceremoniously onto the street. By the time Cassidy came back up, the soldier’s feet were in her face. He was holding on to the roof of the van, swinging his legs, and the underside of his boots filled her vision. They connected solidly, made her see stars, and flung her backward over Lucie and onto the concrete path.
The van door slid shut with a deafening clang.
On the other side, Bodie saw Cassidy kicked away and then the doors slammed shut. Alessandro was still inside. The Chinese then ran for and piled into the front seat, doubling up. Bodie was on his feet, but the van was already moving.
Civilians and tourists jumped out of the way. Bodie saw that the Bratva soldiers had quit fighting and that Yasmine had hauled Cross up by the front of his shirt and was squeezing the man’s throat.
Gotta be hallucinating.
But no. Her words came clearly through the comms as her lips brushed the older man’s.
“I’m in charge now. He put me in charge of this and said if I fail he will throw me naked to the wolves. You caused this. You. It was fine before you came, before you spoiled my life yet again. Get in my way and I will kill you all.”
As if to prove her point, she brought up a sharp knee between Cross’s legs. When she let go, he slithered to the ground like a boneless snake, unable to move. She glared at Bodie once, tight faced, unhappy, and then ordered her men out of there.
What the hell just happened?
Bodie saw the van screaming away. Chasing it was out of the question. With limbs shrieking, joints pounding, and his equilibrium shot to shit, he set about rounding up the rest of the crew.
Barely conscious, they limped away from the scene.