Page 64 of Guarding her Gangster Girl

I go quickly and silently back to the main living area. Have they found a way in yet, those Syndicate harpies? My training kicks in, sharpening my senses. The architectural interior of Brie’s house fades away. Now, it’s just terrain. Cover. Angles. Sight lines.

I do a sweep of the layout in my mind—single floor, limited entry points, large windows that should withstand a pretty heavy round of shots, even from high-powered rifles. I just hope those damn skylights here and there throughout the house are made from the same glass.

Anyway, I’ve turned worse odds in my favor before.

A smashing sound from above, a few rooms away, confirms my suspicions. The skylights were regular glass, and the Syndicate women are coming in through the roof. Damn it.

I move silently to position myself in a blind spot near the stairs. The house is dead silent around me, as though holding its breath in anticipation of the coming battle.

Footsteps, quick and light. My pulse quickens, a mix of adrenaline and—if I’m honest—excitement coursing through my veins.

“Clear,” a woman’s voice whispers. Lyssa. Which means the other one is probably?—

“Clear,” comes another voice.

Yes. Scarlett is also close by. And they know I am, too. Killers so highly trained would use hand signals, not verbal confirmation.

They’re playing with me.

I ghost through the shadows, using my knowledge of the house to stay one step ahead. They’re good, I’ll give them that. Every movement is precise, calculated. But this is my turf now, and I’ll be damned if I let them get the upper hand.

I catch a glimpse of Lyssa’s blonde ponytail disappearing round a corner. I peek around to see that she’s alert, gun raised, every muscle coiled and ready to spring. Scarlett’s doubling her movement on the opposite side of the room, and they move in perfect time.

For a moment, I feel a pang of something like jealousy. They’re partners. And they don’t hide their feelings, their connection. They don’t care who knows it.

I shake off the feeling. That’s great for them. But right now, they’re partners who want to kill me and the woman I…

I can’t go there. Not now. It’s time to make my presence known, to try to draw them out. I deliberately step a little heavier, make sure my footstep is heard, and then I melt back into the darkness.

Their reaction is immediate. They split up, andnowI see the subtle hand signals they exchange, the way they maintain visual contact even as they separate. This is a carefully choreographed dance.

“Nik?” Lyssa calls out, her voice echoing off the high ceilings. “We don’t want to make this difficult for anyone.”

“Come on, we’re all professionals here,” Scarlett adds, her voice coming from the other side of the room. “No need for this to get messy. We’re not here for you.”

I’m outnumbered and they’re skilled. Taking them both on directly would be foolhardy. But if I can separate them, truly separate them…

I move again, letting Scarlett catch a glimpse of me before disappearing around a corner. Footsteps follow—just one set.

“Look,” Lyssa’s voice is further away now, tense but controlled. “We know you’re just following Eva Novak’s orders. We get it. But there’s more going on here than you?—”

Suddenly, bright light floods the space where Lyssa stands, and I allow myself a small smile as she curses and retreats. Brie must be watching on the monitors, and is helping where she can via the smart house light functions.

Lyssa’s light-blindness buys me precious seconds, and I move faster, silent on the thick carpet. Scarlett’s still in front of me, just around the corner.

I raise my gun, but I’ll need to take a step away from the wall to get her in my sights. I step out cautiously, aim carefully at Scarlett’s head?—

From the right, Lyssa descends on me like a lightning strike, her fist grazing my cheek even as I dodge. We trade blows, disarming each other almost immediately so that we’re down to hand-to-hand combat. She’s fast, her technique flawless. Each strike is calculated, designed to incapacitate with brutal efficiency.

For a moment, I feel a grudging respect. It’s been a long time since I’ve faced an opponent of this caliber.

We break apart, both of us breathing hard.

Scarlett, who was standing back and watching like this was a show, moves to flank me. “We’re not here to hurtyou,” she insists. “There’s a bigger picture you’re not seeing.”

“Enlighten me.”

“The list of names that we recovered from Grandmother—we’re not sure yet what they mean. We only want totalkto Brie, ask her?—”

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