by JL Terra
Mei gritted her teeth. She needed to resolve this situation fast and then get out of here. Before the police arrived.
The man didn’t go, despite the fact they clearly weren’t going to simply hand over the girl.
He just stared around the room and sniffed. His nose caught a scent and his head whipped around to the hall on Mei’s right. Just then, it dawned on Mei what was happening. She followed his gaze and spotted the young woman standing there. Of course you’re here. Bella stood at the mouth of the hall, wide eyed, staring at the scene before her. Even with all she’d been through, a disheveled man demanding that he have her was absolutely frightening. But who wouldn’t be terrified by this?. Both the man himself and the fact he wanted her was enough to send a grown man into shock. Did Bella know who this was?
The guy turned toward her. Before he could get one step closer, Mei swung after him with the baton, aiming low and moving into a shallow lunge. She clipped the back of his thigh. Her knee hovered three inches off the ground for a second before she straightened, bringing her opposite foot up as she moved.
The man sprawled across the floor on his front.
Bella turned and ran down the hall before anyone could call her back. Sheila said, “The police will be here any minute.”
Before Sheila even finished her sentence, Mei stuck a knee in the man’s back and turned her head toward the chieftain, Han, “Get me something to secure him. Tape. Rope. Anything.”
He nodded.
A part of her wanted Han’s awe and respect for her and her skills, not the calm acceptance of what he had to do to help. The part of her that needed to be thought of as special, or important, wanted to also be recognized with a kind of wonder. Could be that it said more about the kid and his inability to be impressed, even though he was barely a teen. More likely it said that Mei had poor self-esteem, because she seriously didn’t want to be “special.” Not like the others in her family. They’d faced all kinds of crazy things, and she wasn’t like them—nor did she want to be.
Liar.
Mei sighed as she twisted the man’s arms behind his back and clasped his wrists in her grip while she waited for whatever the kid found to secure him.
She didn’t want the terror that came with the things her family had been through. Being “special” was overrated. Mei wanted a normal life that was peaceful. Maybe a little boring, with the chance to help some people here and there.
And yeah, if they thought she was cool or worthy of their respect, that wasn’t something she would turn down. Or discourage. Who didn’t want to have worth in the eyes of kids who’d suffered? She probably had a hero complex. Like deep down she wanted to rescue them.
Han gave her a couple of plastic ties. She fastened them tight enough the guy protested. “Shut it.”
Outside the open front doors, a cop car pulled up to the curb. Time’s up. Kids scattered. Mei wanted to do the same thing.
She turned to Sheila. “Stay with this guy.”
“Where are you—”
“Bella ran off. I need to make sure she’s okay.”
“Oh. Right.” Sheila nodded. Mei could hear the cops heading up the stone steps of the building and closing in on the front entrance. “Bring her back here.”
“Sure.” Mei turned away, wincing at the blatant lie. No way would she bring Bella back to talk to the cops. Neither the teen nor Mei wanted to speak with them.
Mei jogged down the hall. She had to check every room for the girl, barely fourteen years old. What had that man wanted with her? Mei was going to find out, because it was exactly the kind of thing she worked to get to the bottom of—even before she’d joined a team of private security experts.
But that was months ago. Her life before.
She’d all but walked away. Ghosted every text and call. So much for being any kind of hero.
“Seen Bella?”
Another girl, this one of Hispanic descent, shook her head.
“Cute sweater.”
She left the girl standing there looking after her, and headed for the EXIT door at the end. She pushed outside and was enveloped in traffic sounds, horns and sirens—typical sounds of New York City; it filled the skyline like a soundtrack to her favorite movie.
Bella dashed around a corner out of sight.
Mei set off in pursuit.
Chapter 2
Mei followed Bella for three miles, weaving through streets and back alleys long enough she wondered why the girl didn’t have a subway card. The teen could’ve taken a subway all this way—and though it would’ve taken about the same amount of time to reach her home neighborhood, it was better than scurrying through the city on foot.
The rows of brownstone, three-story houses that faced each other had those huge concrete steps leading to the front door. These days, they were spliced up into apartments and rented for more than the mortgage on a house four times the square footage in one of those flyover states. Still, who didn’t want to live in NYC, even with the enormous price tag?
Mei tended to stay in one place as long as she could before the noise and the press of humanity caved in on her, the weight of it forcing her to flee to a new, quiet spot. The top of a mountain. Some secluded lake in the middle of nowhere, barely a blip on a map. A spot where she could breathe clean air and listen to nothing but the sound of her inhales.
She lost Bella the last half mile but knew roughly where the neighborhood was. Mei waited at a red light at the corner of two streets to buy her some time to find the address again. She pulled out her phone—like everyone else walking through the streets of New York, though without the earbuds—and listened to the voicemail message she’d saved. She needed the house number.
It might’ve been left for her a month ago, and she’d replayed it probably eighty times since then. She listened to Remy’s voice again now.
Her friend. Her best friend.
Mei bit her lip because this wasn’t about all the lingering emotion between them. As women, they couldn’t be more different. But life didn’t always work out the way people thought it should—least of all for her. Sometimes a redheaded, genius daughter of a super villain and a Chinese foundling of dubious origins, and even more dubious life experience, became best friends. Whether it made sense or not wasn’t the point.
But still, life had intruded. Expectations. Relationships. Priorities. All things that grew wedges between two people the way secrets did. Buried deep, they still had a way of creeping out into the open where they wrought all kinds of havoc. No matter the lengths taken to try to prevent it.
Hey, it’s Remy. Not sure why you haven’t called me back yet. Girl, a text asking for an address does not cut it. And yet, she gave the address anyway. I don’t even know what’s up with you, but I wanna talk. Things are good between me and Shadrach. It’s nice. Remy let out an audible huff of breath that sounded kind of like a laugh. Isn’t that weird? I’m kind of worried that normal is going to get boring, but Shadrach said one of us is going to run into something abnormal so he’s not worried. Can you believe it? He probably thinks it’s you. Or Malachi.
Just hearing Remy say his name birthed an ache in Mei she didn’t want to think about.
Anyway, everyone is good. Your mom and dad. Bryn and Daire are back in Nevada, staying with Amelia for a while. She paused. Call me back. Pl—
Mei hung up before Remy got the rest of the last word out. She had the address, the house number for Bella’s brother. Why else would she have listened to that voicemail so many times over? She wasn’t fooling herself, but it was easy to keep pretending she kept it around only for the address.
She stowed her phone and looked at the house, not thinking about her family. Your mom and dad. She sniffed and closed off the part of her that demanded to ache over missing them. They didn’t need her in their lives right now.
Her mom had been her best friend for years and was a former CIA operative. Of Chinese origin, she’d blended in all over this melting pot world. Mei’s dad was the man wh
o’d found her in the alley as a baby. Ben Mason had been cursed as a teenager and yet had been able to fight the encroaching evil inside him long enough to be a good man for years before it threatened to overtake everything he was.
Her mom and Ben had finally found each other a few years ago after decades of being estranged because her mom had mistakenly believed Ben killed her father years prior. It had kept them apart all these years, but now Mei’s parents were newlyweds in their fifties, making up for lost time, and Mei didn’t need to be around when they were acting all snuggly. Even if that meant having to field either one of their calls every day they weren’t able to see her in person. So, most days.
Bryn had been an FBI agent, and Daire was some kind of immortal. Or he had been at one point. Now he was a regular guy. Mei still didn’t even totally get what that’d been. But Bryn and Daire were happily married now. Bryn was pregnant with their first child. Life had moved on.
Even Shadrach, formerly a soldier who’d been experimented on, and Remy who was his fiancé now, had fought their demons. They’d defeated Remy’s father and his organization of corrupt military contractors trying to overtake people’s lives and create an army of super soldiers for their own designs. They were happy too, or so Remy said in her message.
Why did Mei feel compelled to gather all the complicated junk in her life and put it off on them—ruin their happiness? Her actions were threatening to drag them back down with her into the darkness they’d worked so hard to escape.
That wasn’t fair to them at all.
Malachi. No, she didn’t want to think about the final team member. Whatever that was—whatever he was—Mei didn’t need more complication in her life. Despite the fact he hadn’t expressed interest in her in that way even in the slightest, she still entertained the idea, even though it would never work. Like, at all. Ugh. She was stupid to even think those thoughts. She’d turned into a middle schooler with a crush on a boy obviously not interested.
If he was, he’d be here, right? And he distinctly was not.
Mei watched the teen ascend the steps outside her house. Two guys stood by the front door in XL shirts, chains hanging over their jeans from their belts and work boots in perfect condition. One had a backwards ball cap. Both shifted as the teen approached. The taller one was younger, maybe seventeen. The other was in his twenties, with tattoo sleeves visible on his dark skin.
One spoke close to her, the older one. Clearly the ranking member of whatever club this was. Mei didn’t like politics in any form, but the pecking order was just how the world worked. People ranked themselves or allowed others to rank them. Then again, if everyone was equal, literally nothing would fit right. Humans just weren’t built that way—someone had to be in charge. And if anyone disagreed with her, they should show her a business or organization run by a whole committee that actually thrived.
Bella slipped by the man and raced inside while he watched her. The younger one made some comment, and the man’s teeth flashed in the dark. Probably meant to be a smile.
She watched a few more minutes, and then made her approach. The woman she was trying to be these days was only here to check on Bella. However, who Mei was under the surface had proven to be someone quite different. One who felt familiar in this scenario, a fallback to established patterns, but that didn’t mean she preferred who that woman was.
The two men on the door caught on to this persona of hers without much delay. There was no hiding her instincts, or her training. Still, they had their own interpretation of what that meant for them.
Namely, that she presented a challenge.
“Looks like my night just got better.” The younger one was still finding his confidence in this world. He’d killed before—something she knew because she caught on to other people better than most—and most kids didn’t even think to hide something they thought was undetectable. He just didn’t get many results with the ladies. “Mama, you are fine.”
Mei shot him a smile. “Well, aren’t you sweet.”
He grinned.
She still looked at the older one—the one undoubtedly in charge—when she said, “Is Ricardo here? We have uh…business. You know?” Let them think what they wanted.
The younger one said, “Figures.”
Even though it had been months since she’d last done a job, Mei slipped back into the role more easily than she would’ve liked. It got results; that much could not be denied.
The older one let her in the door. Mei crossed the threshold, taking in the house’s interior as she did. Her palms tingled. No. She didn’t need that happening. But despite her attempt to will away the sensation, to calm down so maybe it would just go away, the tingle increased until it started burning. I don’t need this right now. It wasn’t the time.
She rubbed her palms on the outside seams of her jeans. I don’t need you. I can do this myself.
Two men approached from the living room. Neither matched the picture Remy had texted of Bella’s brother. If he wasn’t even here, she wasn’t going to waste her time.
Mei pushed past the first and headed for the stairs. Bella would’ve retreated to her room. One of the men grabbed her. She twisted and slammed the heel of her palm into his diaphragm. He bent double, coughing.
The other yelled, “Hey!”
He grabbed her upper arms. Was he planning on shaking her into cooperating? She had no idea what he was doing, but the grip he had on her was tight.
Mei grabbed his elbows and brought her knee up to his crotch. “Don’t touch women like that.”
She jogged up the stairs, making no noise until she hit a step that creaked. Mei stopped before the top and peered around so she could get the lay of the land. Judging by the noises—and the sound of talking—there were people up here. One open door, another with tile on the floor that indicated it was a bathroom, and three other doors that were closed.
She looked in the open one. The décor was “teen girl on a budget,” but a couple sat on the twin bed with their backs to the wall smoking a legal substance. Mei swiped to the gallery on her phone and showed them the screen. “You seen this girl?”
“You her mom?” The male thought he was a comedian.
Both had glassy eyes. Stringy hair and dirty clothes.
The woman motioned to the open window with the joint. “She ducked out there.”
Mei walked to the middle of the room, tempted to kick them out just on principal. But two people in her personal space were hardly the crux of Bella’s problems. Her parents’ house turned into a squatting place for people doing drugs. Teachers and a brother who cared little—if at all—about her. A center she’d barely discovered, that could be a refuge. If she trusted the hand being held out to her.
So far she hadn’t grasped hold.
Mei headed for the window which looked out onto a metal fire escape. She reached for the window frame, but not before feeling a hand grab a fistful of her jacket. She spun back instinctively and halted when she saw the barrel of a gun in her face.
Ricardo. He had the money in this operation. His life was about what people needed from him, and how much they were willing to pay to get it. He made a living off the markup.
“You’re trespassing.”
Mei shrugged. “You think I care ‘bout that?”
Ricardo studied her, shifting his head so that gold earring glinted in the overhead light. “I think you care too much.”
“Because I’m the only person in your sister’s life who gives a crap?”
That didn’t even give him pause. “Nope. That’s not it.” He turned to the two on the bed. “Get out.”
They scurried away, leaving him and Mei alone in the room. “I’m only here for Bella. That’s it.”
“Plans change.” He motioned with a flick of his fingers to two men in the hall. They flanked her, grabbed her arms, and walked her out where one slammed her against the wall.
“Oops.”
Mei’s palms itched. Then burned. She gritted her teeth an
d turned, keeping her back against the wall so they’d think she was at a loss over what to do. Or as though they’d caught her by surprise, and she was in a tight spot.
One got in her face. “This is gonna be fun.”
“Like your friend downstairs?” Surely they’d seen the guy she kneed in the hallway. Moaning and groaning. Or had he stumbled out of sight so no one knew he’d been felled by a petite Chinese bombshell—which was how she preferred to think of herself. Not the way her last boyfriend had meant it, but in the way that meant her fabulousness was, quite literally, killer.
Something flickered in his expression, a moment of doubt. “You did that?”
“He was in my way.” Her palms were hot now. “Kind of like you.” She touched his cheek, and he yelped and backed up. The others laughed—the second man and Ricardo.
He moved his hand from his cheek to reveal a red spot. “What the—”
“Enough.” Ricardo closed in on her. Before he could get any closer, she felt it.
Cold metal in her hand. She brought the other together with it, clasping the hilt between her palms while lifting the sword point.
Ricardo backed up.
The burned guy gaped. “Where did that come from?”
“Here’s the deal,” Mei said. “I walk out of here, and I don’t have to use this thing.”
Bella’s brother palmed a gun. The other two did the same. “You think that’s gonna intimidate us?” He flashed a sneer. “A sword? Really? This ain’t some kind of renaissance thing.”
He didn’t ask where she’d managed to produce it from. He was too busy laughing at the fact she’d brought a knife to a gun fight…albeit an oversized one.
She had a gun as well. And several other weapons on her person.
Mei lowered the sword point to the floor. She balanced it for a second on its tip, then let go of the handle. The blade started to tip over. It fell towards the floor and disappeared a second before it hit.
“Now you have no weapon.” Ricardo motioned with his gun. “And I still have this.”
“Yeah, silly me. Giving up my only advantage. How can I possibly hold out against the three of you?”