I shook my head. “Wow. You think Faraday did a job on me? You should talk, sister. The only difference between us is that I know my head is screwed up. What’s your excuse?”
The gun quivered in her hand. “I can’t believe this is you. I can’t believe you were so weak to just accept this clown mask without fighting with every inch of your being. I told everyone you were buying time. Figuring out how to reconfigure your mission. But the reports kept coming in saying you went over. Just another lost soul in a city of lost souls.”
“Guess so. Better than a puppet on Secret Service strings.”
“The god lode. Where is it?” There was something in her expression that gave me pause. Something beyond the rage that consumed her. It was in her eyes. Something shimmered there, barely visible despite her attempt to mask it.
Fear. Not of me, but of someone else.
I lowered my voice. “You don’t have to let them control you, Natalie.”
“Shut up.”
“I’m serious. We all have a choice to be who we are. I chose to be Mick Trubble. You understand? You can choose your life also. It doesn’t have to be—”
“Spare me the empathy speech, Michael. I’m not buying it. You have no idea who you’re up against. I should just kill you now.” Her hand tightened around the pistol grip. “My mission was to bring you in if I couldn’t jolt your memory, but no one fully understood the complete disaster you are. I’m going to tell them the truth.” Her jaw trembled. “I’m going to tell them Michael Trudo is dead.”
“What’s holding you back then?” I gestured with my manacled hands. “You got me right where you want me. You won’t ever get a better chance than right now.”
Her eyes glistened. “You want me to do it? Don’t push your luck, Michael. I’ll do it.”
Sinn’s voice buzzed over the Datacom. “It’s done, Mick. Poddar’s taken out the sniper.”
I grinned at Natalie. “Too late, sweetheart. Should’ve done it when you had the chance.”
She had just enough time to look confused before the shot rang out. Her handgun sparked and ripped from her grip, flying across the room. She threw herself in the corner, holding her injured hand while throwing a murderous stare my direction.
“Guess I underestimated you, Michael. I figured you had some help in all of this. Whoever they are — they’re going to regret ever being born.”
“No.” Electra used the comforter to help pull herself up from the floor. Her eyes narrowed into slits. “You’re the one who’s going to regret being born, bitch.”
Natalie stared. “Your catsuit. It’s made of poly-liquid aramids, isn’t it?”
Electra twirled the switchblade in her hand. “A girl has to be prepared for these kind of hijinks. Think the Service is the only distributor of PLA suits? You should try the Grey Market sometime. Everything’s for sale at the right price, baby.”
Natalie smirked and raised herself into a crouch. “The impact still hurts, doesn’t it? I know it does. You know what — I’m glad you’re not dead. Just gives me the chance to cut your throat out like the other pathetic little girls.” She yanked a stiletto dagger from her boot and flew across the room.
The air hummed with the speed of their slashes. I was a hapless witness to one deadly display of speed and reflexes as they tried their best to spill each other’s guts across the floor. The blades scattered glints of light across the room as the two women thrust and parried. Most knife fights end in a few seconds, but those dames where good. While they practiced their slice and dice skills I struggled to free myself again. Both the cuffs and the bedframe still refused to cooperate.
“Sinn? Poddar? A little help here would be nice.”
My ear buzzed. “Hang on, Mick. Natalie has another agent on-site. Poddar’s taking fire.”
Automatic gunfire erupted in bursts outside the hotel, followed by the screams and mass panic of the crowds. Engines revved, tires squealed, and metal crunched as vehicles careened into one another. I figured Poddar could handle himself. I was more worried about my own predicament.
Electra bashed a cheap vase across Natalie’s head, leaping back to avoid a wild slash. Her free hand tossed a key at my feet. “Get out of here, Mick. This puttana is mine.”
“Glad to oblige.” I concentrated on trying to pick up the key with my feet. It was a bit hard to do while two women took turns throwing each other into walls and across furniture. Both seemed to have lost their knives and were engaged in a vicious round of fisticuffs. Enraged screams, grunts, and the sound of shattered furniture filled the room as the key dangled precariously between my big toes.
I nearly cried when Electra was flung from halfway across the room and took a tumble over the bed. Her body struck my legs, the key glinted as it tumbled across the room. Electra fell awkwardly on the other side, grimacing as she clutched her right arm, which appeared to be broken. Blood slid down her face from slashes to her cheek and forehead. She gritted her teeth as her gaze fell on the Mean Ol’ Broad lying beside the bed.
“That’s not gonna—”
My warning was cut off by Natalie, who catapulted over the bed and landed right on top of Electra’s injured arm. Enraged shrieks followed as Natalie pressed her advantage, pummeling Electra with repeated lightning-quick punches. After Electra went limp, Natalie snatched up the Broad, aimed at Electra’s head, and pulled the trigger.
Or tried to. She looked at the Mean Ol’ Broad in disgust, wiping her bloody nose with the back of her hand. “I can’t believe it. This old piece has bio-recog installed?”
I gave her my best guilty smile. “Can’t be too safe these days.”
She dropped the Broad and reached behind her to unsheathe a six-inch tactical blade from her belt. “You still think this is funny business, don’t you? Let me show you something funny. I’m going to cut your little tramp’s face from ear to ear. She’ll be laughing then. Permanently — just like the others. Just like Maxine.” She smiled as she seized Electra by the hair and pulled her head up. “I want you to watch, Michael. I want you to remember who you really are.”
I yanked against the manacles until the steel bit into my flesh. “Natalie… ”
She placed the tip of the blade just inside of Electra’s mouth and paused. “You haven’t told me what my real name is, Michael. You tell me that and your little wildcat lives. Come on, Michael. You can do it. It’s so easy.”
I grimaced, frantically trying to unearth the stolen memories. No matter how hard I concentrated, nothing surfaced. My mind was a sprawling maze, but I was sealed inside a tiny section of it by towering walls of oblivion.
Natalie’s eyes rimmed with red as she shook her head. “You really are lost, aren’t you? Time’s up, Michael. Maybe this will finally jar your memory.”
Heavy footsteps reverberated down the hall. Natalie dropped Electra and stood quickly as a burly giant barreled into the room at full speed. He roared as he closed in on Natalie’s diminutive form.
Ben the Bear.
Benny never slowed when he slammed into her, seemingly unaware of the combat dagger she stabbed deep into his abdomen. Natalie’s feet left the floor from the force of the impact. Her body was already limp by the time it busted completely through the drywall to the adjoining room with a bone-splintering explosion of dust and broken wall beams.
Benny whirled, his eyes feverish as he looked for more combatants. He finally calmed down when he recognized me.
“Mick. What… what are you doing cuffed to the bed?”
“Being interrogated, Benny. Terrible stuff, can’t talk about it. Grab the key over there, willya?”
After finally being freed of those horrible cuffs, I found my pants and strapped the Mean Ol’ Broad back under my arm. My shirt was a ragged mess after being sliced open by Electra, but there was nothing I could do about that. I pulled on my suit jacket and placed my Bogart back on my head. “Electra all right?”