Page 100 of Sinner's Salvation

“He’s trying to arrest me, Enzo. You’d have figured that out if you had more than two functioning brain cells left in your head, but you don’t so...” she spread one hand out to gesture at the space they were in. One broken handcuff around her wrist. She tilted her head to one side. “Is this your idea of suicide by cop?”

Luca flashed his fangs, which were stained with blood. “We’re in no danger fromthem.”

The agent next to her slowly holstered his gun, then pulled something out of a sheathe on his belt and put it in her hand.

A tactical knife with a six-inch-long blade.

That would do.

“Whatisthis?” he whispered. “Our intel saidyouwere the terrorist, but you sound like you’re a couple of mob families.”

“I wish I could say these two aren’t interested in terrorism,” she said to him. “But they enjoy nothing more than terrifying people. Please, don’t misunderstand, they’re not part of a religious or ideological group. They just get off on other people’s pain.”

“Why are you explaining yourself to this cockroach?” Enzo asked, but his attention was split, his gaze darting around the space.

She pivoted, pushing the agent behind her, so she could see the Italians and the crowd of regular people.

The crowd was a lot smaller than it had been before Enzo and Luca started their bloody circus act, and she couldn’t see Evan or Brian anywhere. Most of the Chinese tourists were gone, too.

Good, that wasgood. Now, to keep the Italians’ attention on her.

“They are also insane and very stupid,” she added.

“Bitch,” Enzo snarled. He launched himself into a sprint, coming straight for her.

She didn’t wait for him to reach her, she sprang toward him, her borrowed knife deflecting his sword strike. She didn’t dare block any of his attacks directly. His sword would likely snap her blade right off.

Off to her right, Luca ploughed into a group of Homeland Security agents setting off screams, gunshots, and renewed pandemonium.

God damn it, he was going to kill them all.

“Why do you insist on protecting them?” Enzo asked, sneering at the Homeland Security agents. “Even now when they hunt you? Hunt us all?”

“Us?” Anna asked, dodging another attack. “You’re not here forus. You’re here for you and your brother. You’re here because you’re greedy and it’s made you stupid.”

Enzo smiled, the kind of smile a serial killer had on his face right before he killed someone in a gruesome way.

She dropped to the floor and stabbed up and behind her with the knife. She got Luca in the groin and his screech was suitably high-pitched. He’d tried to come from behind her, but she’d been in a lot of fights, and had expected it.

Had they forgotten that? Idiots.

She kicked Luca away from her, got to her feet, and turned to counter Enzo.

A blade plunged into her right shoulder at a steep angle, driving deep into her chest and piercing her lung. The pain sent a shock through her, bringing everything to a stop: her breathing, her awareness of the chaos behind her, and Luca’s ranting screams.

Enzo was close enough to her to spit in her face, but he just smiled his killer smile and twisted the sword.

This time, the pain elicited the opposite response—her awareness expanded in a dizzying rush.

The Homeland Security agents, those that were ambulatory, were clearing the area and dragging their dead and injured away.

Luca was kneeling on the dirty concrete, his hands over his crotch, his high-pitched squeals making him sound like a stuck pig.

The agent she’d protected had retreated with the rest, but oddly, a handgun rested on the floor where he’d been standing. Had he left it on purpose?

Did it matter?

She coughed and blood bubbled up from her shredded lungs to spray across Enzo’s face.

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