Page 71 of A Silent Reckoning

Pain radiated throughout Shaun’s chest and it felt like she was swallowing needles when she tried to take a breath.

Dasha knew exactly what she was doing. The woman had clearly trained in combat.

As Shaun lay on her back trying to catch her breath, Dasha rolled away, reaching for the knife. When Shaun realized what Dasha was after she forced herself off the floor and did the last thing she wanted to do. Every instinct inside her told her to get the door open and run, but she doubted she could open the door before Dasha got her hands on the knife again.

So instead, Shaun threw herself on Dasha’s back, slamming her to the floor. Dasha went down with a grunt.

The knife was a few inches from Dasha’s fingers.

Shaun leapt for it, grabbing it triumphantly and rolling away from Dasha.

Realizing Shaun had the knife, Dasha rolled in the opposite direction, using a stall door to drag herself to her feet.

“Stay back!” Shaun yelled when it looked like Dasha would lunge for her again.

Dasha remained eerily silent as she watched Shaun, taking in the way Shaun’s hands shook and how she was holding the knife. It was clear to both of them that Shaun had no idea how to hold a blade defensively.

Dasha decided to risk it and began stalking Shaun, dancing from side to side, her heels clicking on the floor tiles as Shaun swung the knife. It was a truly amazing and horrifying sight to see the elegant older woman with her hair in complete disarray and Shaun’s blood smeared down her white fitted sweater.

When Dasha finally made her move, Shaun was completely unprepared. The other woman swung her leg around in a spinning kick that made her look like a blur. Before Shaun could determine where Dasha was trying to strike, the blow hit Shaun in the side of the head, and she was thrown sideways into the counter. Shaun retained her hold on the knife, but her ears were ringing, and her vision was blurred.

Dasha punched Shaun in the back.

Shaun screamed in agony as her knees buckled. She had no choice but to suck it up before Dasha regained the upper hand. If Dasha got her hands on the knife again, it was game over for Shaun.

Shaun pushed away from the counter, absorbing the next blow and swinging around, bringing the knife up as Dasha lifted her arm to hit Shaun again.

“No!” Shaun yelled as Dasha’s arm swung straight down.

Dasha didn’t see the knife swinging up and wasn’t prepared as it was buried deep in her arm, severing her brachial artery.

Chapter Thirty-Five

Dasha fell back, surprise written across her face.

She looked down at her arm, watching as the blood flowed down the limb like a fountain. She dropped to her knees and then fell to her side as shock crippled her.

Shaun dropped the knife and flung herself at Dasha.

“You stupid idiot!” she snapped as she assessed the other woman’s injury. She would have seconds to act if she wanted to stop Dasha from bleeding out.

Without hesitation, Shaun gripped the jagged edge of Dasha’s sweater where it had been cut. She tore it wide open, drawing a scream from Dasha; the first sound the woman had made since attacking Shaun.

Shaun looked around but there was nothing within immediate reach that would help her. She needed something to tie around Dasha’s upper arm to cut off the flow of blood pumping from her heart and out through the wound.

Her belt! She reached down and undid the buckle, dragging the belt through the loops. She swiftly fitted it over Dasha’s upper arm, pulled it through the metal loop and yanked as hard as she could.

Dasha screamed again, but she didn’t fight Shaun, instead slapping her hand over her own wound to stem the flow of blood. She must’ve realized Shaun was trying to save her life.

“This is going to hurt like a motherfucker,” Shaun warned, sitting back on the floor and placing one booted foot against Dasha’s armpit, and the other on her hip.

“Do it,” Dasha gritted hoarsely from between her teeth.

Shaun was impressed. Dasha’s wound was life-threatening and would be extremely painful, but she was dealing with it better than anyone Shaun had seen with a similar wound.

Shaun wrapped the end of the belt around her uninjured hand, gripped the leather with her bleeding hand, braced herself against Dasha and pulled as hard as she could.

Dasha screamed again then bit down on her lip to stop the cries from spilling out.

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