Page 3 of The Echo of Violence

He snorts. “Thanks for the commentary, but where is the man of the hour?”

“I’m just giving him a head start. Playing with my prey is no fun when it’s too easy.”

“You’re fucked up. You know that, right?”

“We’re all a little fucked—”

“Shit, something’s wrong with Tina,” Rex calls over the radio.

I pause, keeping my eye on Ronnie as he gets farther away.

“OD?” Nico asks.

“Looks like it. I’ve cleared her airways, but she’s foaming at the mouth. Call an ambulance.”

“On it. Jinx, stop playing with your food and bring that asshole in.”

“If you insist.”

I crack my neck and take off, wishing I’d brought my dog, Toto, after all. Oh well, next time.

Chasing after Ronnie, my blades make light work of my run as I sprint across the flat terrain of the alleyway. With my focus on Ronnie, I can tell he is starting to slow down now, which takes some of the fun out of the hunt. But what’s a girl to do these days when the caliber of criminals is severely lacking?

Pulling out my gun, just in case, I close the distance between us. He must hear me because he turns to look over his shoulder, cursing when he sees me. He reaches into his back pocket for something. Not sure if it’s a gun or a knife, I decide to incapacitate him instead of shooting him like I want to.

Putting my gun back in my holster, I speed up, and once I’m close enough, I spring at him, knocking him to the ground, letting my momentum roll us until Ronnie is flat on his back with me on top of him. He stares up at me with a mix of anger and arousal. If the twitch in his pants is anything to go by, the man has a kinky side.

“Got a fetish for pain, Ronnie, or just a thing for women in control?”

“I’m gonna fuck you raw, Jinx. Let’s see how smug you are then, you fucking bitch.”

“You want to borrow my dick, Ronnie? I think we both know mine is bigger than yours.”

When he lifts his fist to punch me, I roll off him, yanking out my taser before he can move. I point it at him as I stand and walk over to him. Lifting my leg, I press one of my blades against his throat and push down, his eyes widening in fear.

“Well, what do you know? I’m turned on, after all. Nothing makes me come harder than taking down a spinless little weasel like you.”

Nico huffs out a laugh in my ear. “You have him contained?”

“We were just getting to the handcuffs part. I think Ronnie will really like this part.”

I tug the restraints from my pocket. Unlike the cuffs cops use, these have a solid bar in the middle, keeping each hand a few inches apart.

“Be a good boy and roll over.” I pull my blade back to give him room but keep my taser pointed at him. “You can glare at me all you want, but all it will take is one little slip of the finger, and you’ll be singing soprano with a set of smoking balls.”

He curses me out but rolls over.

“Now, hands behind your back and ass in the air. I’m sure you’re familiar with the position.”

“I’ll have your badge for this,” he snarls as he puts his hands against the small of his back.

I quickly snap the cuffs into place and step away from his legs, not trusting the asshole not to try and put me back on my ass.

“Not a cop, remember? If you want my badge, you’ll have to rummage through my glove compartment. I never remember it, and you know why? Because I don’t need it. The rules don’t apply to me, Ronnie.”

In fairness, they should, but I sure do like to see how far I can bend things before they break.

“Ambulance is here. You need backup, Jinx?” Rex asks.

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