Sin faced Nick in the hallway. The hand that gripped hers was expertly placed, proving once again that the Kurevs had stepped up their game since Sin and Lee had begun picking them off so long ago.
The problem that Sin had now—aside from the obvious gun in her ribs—was that she didn't know who this man worked for. Though she desperately wanted to ask, she wasn't in any position for an interrogation. She didn't have time. The easiest thing was to let him grab her, let him think he had the upper hand. He was better trained than she’d expected.
As she watched, Nick lowered his gun.
She mouthed to him, "Don't drop it."
Whether he understood or not, he still held onto the weapon, though it was no longer pointed at the man who held her.
For a moment, she began to relax and sniffle a little bit. Whether this was believable or not depended on the gullibility of a man holding a woman holding a sai. The very fact that she was here in the tunnel meant she was probably someone who knew what she was doing.
Though that said the same thing about the man who held her.
But did he know enough?
She sniffled again, this time taking a deep, choking breath, as though she were crying. The sound hopefully distracted him from the fact that she raised her ribcage as she sucked in air. He jammed the gun into her side again, though this time it was tucked just under her last rib, where she wanted it.
It hurt like a bitch, but she did it anyway. It certainly hurt less than a bullet would and less than getting in a fight.
Despite the bite of the muzzle, she sniffled and mewed and worked her ribcage as though she was afraid. Though he pressed his thumb against the bones of her hand, he didn't force her grip to open. It could be done, and there wasn't much a person could do about it. It was just physiology. The fact that he didn’t led her to believe he wasn't as trained as he could be. Churkin would have had the sai clattering to the floor long before this.
Another mew from her, another dirty look from Nick at the man whose face she couldn't see, and she pushed her flesh into the front of the gun. Making another noise, she took another breath, and as he pulled her position tighter, she worked the muzzle further under her ribcage.
She only knew two things about this man. One—he wasn't aware of what she was doing or he wouldn't have let her do it. And two—he wasn't the mechanic.
Without moving her head she blinked rapidly at Nick. If her captor was any good, he would detect if she nodded or moved her hand. Nick's long breath out told her he was ready, even if he didn't know her play.
She mewled again, rocking herself into the gun to the point that the slide pushed back and only the actual barrel gouged at her. She blinked once. Twice.
And she moved.
Leaning into gun, Sin rolled around to face the man. Even as she did it, he pulled the trigger.
The bastard actually shot her.
Her breath held against the possible pain. She didn't pause, couldn't afford to.
But the pain never came.
By leaning into the gun and pushing the slide back, she’d made it impossible for the weapon to fire. Score one for her.
Sin was smiling when she came face to face with him. His trigger clicked only once, and after that she had her left hand wrapped across the front of her body, holding onto the slide, forcing it back, making firing it impossible. His surprise was all she needed.
He couldn't control her sai hand as she rolled out of his grip. And his concern turned to his suddenly useless gun. He didn't even try to hold the weapon at bay.
Amateur, she thought.
Holding the gun by the muzzle, she pulled it outward as her sai came up across his throat.
The fist holding the sai pushed into his collar bone, forcing him back into the wall as she plucked the gun from his hand, his arm stretching all the way out before he finally relinquished the weapon.
Even so, she brought it quickly back to him in the form of a blunt object under his jaw line.
Hitting the nerve box there with the added weight of the gun knocked him out cold.
She stepped back as he slid down the wall, his eyes rolling upward in a grotesque parody of a perturbed teenager.
Sin turned to Nick. "Let's get him in one of these rooms."
She was greeted with reluctant help and a sigh. Nick was already grabbing the man under his arms, even as he complained. "We could have questioned him. He would have cracked like a nut."
While she agreed, she had a different take on it. "He pulled the trigger! He tried to actually shoot me."
Folding the man unceremoniously onto the cold floor, Nick pulled the door closed behind him. "I'm not convinced he didn't just jerk in surprise. But it's done now. Keep going."
Handing Nick the purloined gun, she watched as he tucked it into the back of his pants. While the thought made her cringe, it wasn't as though she could carry it. Armed to the hilt, she was out of room.
Stepping foot over foot, they moved at a slower pace now. This time she and Nick shared the task, slowing them down immeasurably.
Normally her heart didn't thump in situations like this. She had trained enough, and fought enough, that she had her adrenaline under control. Once she'd read that parachuting was at its most dangerous when the skydiver no longer got the heart-pounding rush from the jump. Before this month, she would have said she was at the same place.
She didn't fear for herself. She had believed there was nothing that could be done to her that was worse than what had already been done. And she never worried about Lee; she knew he could hold his own.
This, . . . This was new.
Now it was her fear for Lee, her fear that she was too late, that made her heart thump loudly. The sound of her own blood pumping made an oceanic roar in her ears and fogged her brain. It was a fog she couldn't afford.
She held the gun down at her side, concerned the Mechanic might throw a bound Lee at them, hoping they would shoot their own man. And why not? He wasn't getting paid for the kill anymore. He needed only to escape to the next job.
Three of the windows they passed were bare. The rooms beyond them dark. Still she and Nick opened the doors with caution, sweeping their weapons into the corners, ready to kill what popped out at them. But nothing came.
Nodding to Nick, she put her hand on the fourth knob and made a motion.
The light was on behind the shade. The thick walls would have made anything short of machine gun fire or screaming all but impossible to hear. With no idea what waited on the other side—and hoping it was Lee—Sin turned the knob.
Nick swung into the doorway, legs braced wide, gun sweeping the area as four officers stood up abruptly. Chairs scraped back, unnoticed as hands went for guns or into the air.
"Nick!" One of the officers with his hands in air offered an oily smile. "Didn't expect to see you here."
As soon as the door opened, she positioned herself at Nick's knee level, weapons in hand and ready. Most people still didn't expect an attacker not fully on their feet and that played out here as well when one of the men spotted her.
He almost laughed, his hand reaching for his gun. "The girl has a knife."
He was sliding the gun from the holster while Nick kept his gun trained on the oily one. The woman and the third man were keeping their hands still if not high. Sin took Nick's lack of relaxation as a sign that all was not as copacetic as the greasy cop wanted to portray.
And the other one was being a dick.
She didn't know if she was more offended by his calling her a 'girl' or his belief that her knife was somehow lesser. Or maybe she was just enjoying the surprise.
Letting him draw his weapon, knowing he intended to use it before she acted, Sin waited until he had his grip and the gun was rising.
So many hours of training. So many moving targets Lee had rigged for her. All paying off.
Keeping her wrist straight and throwing from the elbow, she let the unadorned knife fly.
He was reaching for his chest and feeling the blade embedded there before he realized she'd thrown it. His hands involuntarily spasmed, dropping the gun with a heavy clatter to the cement floor.
The noise must have jarred the other officers from their stupor, because they now reached for their weapons and turned to her. They no longer thought Nick was the primary threat.
But Sin was already holding the next knife, having plucked it from the pockets she'd sewn into the jacket lining so long ago.
This time they saw the knife and lowered their weapons.
"Nick." The only officer talking acted as though Nick should be friendly with him. Sin had doubts about any officer that left a brother gurgling in his own pool of blood.
For a moment she felt a pang about taking down a man in uniform. She had a deep love/hate relationship with that particular shade of blue, but there was still something about a crooked cop that bothered her more than anything. She didn't regret the hit.
Nick didn't speak. Only looked at the man he must have known. Something in his eyes said Nick was disappointed.
"Nick, I'm your guy here."
"No. You knew about this place and you didn't tell me. You were Kaspar's guy all along."
Sin understood then. Nick would not take his aim off of Oily.
Slowly standing, she kept one eye on the two remaining officers who were now looking around as though seeking escape. Their buddy was dying at their feet and while they didn't move to help him, they also no longer reached for their weapons.
"I only just found out about this place!" The officer lifted his hands higher.
As convincing performances went, it ranked pretty low. Sin was just about to remind Nick that they had an agenda, when he beat her to it.
"I don't believe you. But I'm looking for a man held prisoner, probably down here." Nick watched the other man's eyes.
"No prisoners down here." He shook his head, his smile and his confidence betraying his earlier lie. "Just some guns, some art, some safes."
"You know a lot for a man who just learned about this." Nick smiled as he stepped further into the room and kicked the door shut behind him.
Her knife was quiet, gunfire not so much.
The door clicked only half a moment before Nick's gun went off and the oily officer dropped to the floor with a look of surprise on his face.
Two remained standing, their eyes wide, hands now flying into the air.
"Guns." Sin held out her hand.
The man handed his over to Nick who promptly knocked him out with it as Sin had done earlier. The woman tried to be a hero.
"Seriously?" Sin grabbed the woman's wrist and twisted until it broke, the Taser in her hand falling to the floor. "That was dumb as shit. If you survive, you'll need surgery now." And she leaned over and picked up the weapon knowing Nick had her back.
The trigger felt familiar under her finger even if the anger in her system did not. Sin actually enjoyed tasing the bitch, watching her muscles lock and her stone statue body fall to the concrete with a thud. Normally, shocks were administered over grass to avoid head injuries. Sin didn't give a shit.
Using the officers’ cuffs from the backs of their belts, Nick and Sin made short work of leaving them hog tied. Two dead meant extra cuffs for the living. When the woman moaned, coming around from the shock just as Sin finished, she was rewarded with another conk on the head. Then Sin pulled off shoes and stuffed the woman's socks into the mouths of the two remaining live officers. "Now they can't scream if they come around while we’re still down here."
Nick turned away in disgust.
"Really?" She looked at him. He'd committed far worse himself.
"Dirty socks?" His mouth curled.
Shaking her head, she turned and headed to the next room.
Jogs in the hallways both slowed them down and provided cover.
As they stood at the third one they encountered, Nick pointed upward. Though there was nothing to hear, they were under the backyard now.
Standing side by side, pressed against the cold wall, Sin felt her heart give a sick turn. Lee had not been in any of the rooms they had opened. The tunnel itself was an unexpected revelation. The rooms offered finds that would have been fascinating on any other day. But today each open door was another room Lee wasn't in. Another drastic drop in the likelihood that they would find him around the corner.
And if he wasn't here, then where would he be?
There was nowhere else she knew to look.
Breathing in through her nose, Sin looked at Nick and forced her concerns back. They would find Lee or they wouldn't. If they didn't, she would get through it. She'd gotten through the worst before. Only this time she was older. She understood the loss she faced.
But this time she had Nick.
Looking up at her older brother and realizing he had become her family in a way that even her sister Wendy had never been, she did something she rarely did. She told him, "Thank you."
He only offered a small smile and a nod asking if she was ready.
Knife in one hand, sai at the ready in the other, they softly turned to face what was in the corridor ahead.
As she looked down the long hallway, a door slid slowly closed.