Page 139 of Dash

“Thena?” I called out quietly. “You’re bleeding.”

She didn’t acknowledge me in any way. She kept her aim on Arthur. The only signs she wasn’t a statue carved in marble was the tremor that shook her arm.

“Please,” Arthur begged me. “She’s gone mad.”

He was bleeding from the gut. His good arm extended toward the Beretta, which lay just beyond his bloodied fingers. Guzman made a move to retrieve Arthur’s gun, but Thena swung her arm and aimed her gun at him.

“Hey, Goddess?” Guzman lifted his hands in the air. “It’s me. Goofy. You like me. Remember me?”

Although Thena returned her gun to point at Arthur, she gave no signs of recognizing Guzman.Stay put, I motioned with my fingers. The last thing I needed right now was a friendly fire incident.

“She’s crazy.” The expression on Arthur’s face was pure fear. “She’s gonna kill me!”

“Thena?” I signaled for the guys to slowly spread out over the eaves and surround us on three sides. “What’s going on?”

“He said my sisters are dead,” she said in a monotone.

“We don’t know if that’s true,” I reminded her. “You know he lies, right?”

“He says he knows secrets. Important secrets. It’s the only reason he’s alive right now.”

“I understand how you feel, darling.” I took a step toward her, winced, and almost fell flat on my face before I regained my balance. “But it might be to our advantage if we can find out more about his employer.”

“It’s Li. I confirmed that,” she reported in that mechanical voice that sucked the soul out of me. “If I don’t kill my piece of shit uncle, he’ll keep on murdering innocents. More will suffer. More will die. Because of him.”

“I’ll make sure that doesn’t happen,” I pledged. “I’ll neverlet him hurt you again.”

“Astors have been killing Astors for generations,” she said. “It seems we’re fated to destroy each other.”

“Maybe some of the Astors that came before you were bloodthirsty animals like Arthur.” I took another step and managed not to black out. “But you arenota killer and neither are your sisters.”

She chewed on her lip and sniffled. “If I kill him, it will end the streak.”

“Or it will begin it anew.” I dragged my limp leg as I got closer to her. “If you don’t kill him, that’s how you end the streak.”

That seemed to get through to her. Her forehead creased and her eyes lifted to meet mine. She seemed to wake up from some sort of a trance.

“Oh, my God, you’re hurt!” Her stare centered on the blood pooling around my feet. “Your leg!”

“You’re hurt, too.” I opened my arms. “Come here.”

Lowering her gun, she stumbled into my arms. She was cold, bloody, and shivering, but I held her tight against my chest, and massaging her limbs, gave thanks that she’d survived the night. As a precaution, I took the gun from her, engaged the safety, and shoved it in the back of my pants.

“Call an ambulance.” She looked up at the guys. “Dash is hurt.”

“Help’s on the way,” Bozeman reported as the sound of distant sirens echoed in the night.

“You’re alive. The guys are alive.” She smiled up at my crew. “Is everyone else okay?”

“They are.” I’d tell her about Rivera later.

“Mina?”

“Bozeman tells me she’s safe and Druid is back and watching after her and the others.”

“Then my piece of shit uncle lied and my sisters might be alive, too.” She glowered at Arthur.

“I concur with that assessment.” Thena and I braced on each other as she dipped her face in the crook of my neck and let out a long sigh.

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