There wasn’t enough room for her to slam the back of her head into his face. Kiyomi set her jaw and started to curl her fingers into a claw, ready to plunge it between his legs to grab and twist his balls.
But the door opened again before she could move. A ribbon of fear twisted through her as Tarasov’s hold tightened.
Something was wrong. Marcus and Chloe should have been down here by now and dealt with this other guy.
But they weren’t. So she had to fight them both on her own.
Tarasov turned his body slightly, moving his head away. With a low snarl she threw her head back and twisted sharply to the side.
The back of her skull hit his jaw with an audible crack of teeth. He grunted, his hold easing for just a moment. Kiyomi dropped to the ground and spun her body in a hook kick, her foot sending the door flying closed.
The man outside bellowed in frustration, catching it just in time to prevent it from slamming shut.
She jumped up, drove her foot into Tarasov’s side as he came at her, and pivoted to ram her hands against the edge of the door. This time she caught the intruder’s forearm in it. He screamed, reflexively shoved the door open enough to withdraw his arm.
The instant he did she drove it closed with a click and hit the light switch, just as shouts came from farther down the hall.
Marcus—
Tarasov hit her from behind, tackling her to the floor. She hit the unforgiving tile hard, the impact of his weight bruising her ribs and pelvis and driving the breath from her lungs. Spots danced in front of her eyes as she struggled to adjust to the sudden brightness.
“Got you now, bitch,” he snarled, seizing a handful of her hair and wrenching her head back.
Her gaze shot to the wicked blade in his other hand. A military-issue knife poised in front of her throat, turning her blood to ice.
WHY THE HELL wasn’t she answering?
“Kiyomi, come in,” Trinity demanded for the third time.
No answer. Just an awful, hollow silence that told her something had gone terribly wrong for her friend. On top of that, Heath was hurt bad. She had dispatched other team members to assist his team, but it might be too little, too late.
You can’t do anything else right now. Focus on Kiyomi.
Where was she?
She shut off the static in her head, put aside all the other things happening at the same time, and concentrated on the task before her. Kiyomi was downstairs somewhere. A hidden room maybe.
She quickly scanned all the feeds currently showing on her laptop screen. One of the burning garage a block away from Tarasov’s place, a tall plume of black smoke billowing into the air. Various calls to 999 had gone out just seconds after the explosion, and others after the gunshots had begun.
First responders would be there in minutes. Trinity needed Kiyomi and the others out of there before crews arrived. And then she would have to tell Chloe about Heath—
She shook the thought away and checked the cameras showing the exterior of Tarasov’s house. One gave her a view of two armed men who looked like the type to work for him running toward the side door.
As for what was happening downstairs, the situation was worse. She was running blind now. No video feeds to tap into. No way to see what was happening, where Kiyomi was, or what she was up against.
Dammit…
She keyed the radio again. “Marcus, where are you?”
“Moving to the stairs,” he answered, breathing hard. “Kiyomi followed the bodyguard. She’s down there alone.”
“Two more tangos are heading your way, through the west door. I can’t reach Kiyomi. I think she’s in—”
“I’ll find her,” he said grimly, his clipped tone telling Trinity all she needed to know. He was worried as hell.
“Hurry,” she urged him. “Fire crews are en route, and the cops won’t be far behind them. I’m sending backup to you, but Kiyomi’s down there alone with Tarasov and maybe one other tango. It sounded like they’re hand-to-hand, but the audio cut out and now she’s not responding.”
“On it,” he said, and there were sounds of a scuffle near him. A pained grunt came next, then a sharp cry and a gunshot.
Trinity held her breath, waiting, every muscle pulled taut.
“I’m going after her,” Marcus said.
She exhaled at the sound of his voice, willing him to go faster. “Roger that.”
It was a race now. She prayed Marcus got to Kiyomi in time.
Chapter Sixteen
Marcus finished securing the final man’s hands behind him and stiffly pushed to his feet, urgency beating at him as he faced Chloe. “I’m going after Kiyomi.”
She nodded, but he could tell she was far from okay. Her expression was pinched, and she was uncharacteristically quiet. Little wonder, as she’d just found out Heath had been injured, and couldn’t go to him. “Go,” she said.
He nodded and took off, leaving her to guard the prisoners and watch the door. His hip burned like hellfire as he ran for the stairs, and he cursed the hobbling gait that slowed him down. Kiyomi was downstairs engaging Tarasov alone. He had to get to her.
Precious time had been eaten up dealing with Tarasov’s men. There had been more than they’d expected. He hoped the hell no more were coming, because Chloe would have to face them alone. He wasn’t leaving Kiyomi, and every second counted.
His pulse raced, shards of pain shooting through his hip and down his leg with every step. Pushing past it, he shoved aside his fear for Kiyomi and fell back on his decades of training. He was no good to her incapacitated or dead. And before he could help her, he had to deal with any other threats standing between them.
He paused at the edge of the wall next to the staircase, waited a beat, then ducked around the corner to check for targets.
A shadow moved down below. He broke from cover and started down the stairs, watching below him intently, finger on the trigger.
There was no sound to indicate how many men he might be facing, or where Kiyomi was, or whether she was still all right.
A flicker of movement caught his attention as he neared the bottom of the stairs. He instinctively dropped to one knee and took aim, waiting.
Hands appeared, holding a weapon, and two shots exploded in the quiet, thudding into the wall above him and shattering the plaster.
The shooter’s hands vanished from view. Marcus moved to the other side of the staircase, giving him a better angle, and crept down two steps.
The weapon appeared again. Marcus fired, and the shooter backed off.
He was too exposed here, and needed to move. Staying here on the stairs waiting for the shooter to make a mistake left Marcus vulnerable, and wasted time Kiyomi didn’t have.
Decision made, he acted. This time he saw the shadow before the shooter’s hands appeared. He shifted left to get a better angle, then paused, waiting. The instant the weapon appeared around the corner he fired, hitting an arm.
A bitter curse followed.
He kept moving, his hip screaming at him to stop, on the verge of giving out. But he couldn’t stop. He had to neutralize this threat, no matter what. He pushed past the burn, focused on taking this man down so he could get to Kiyomi.
More movement alerted him a split second before the shooter tried again. Marcus pivoted, caught sight of the shooter and aimed center mass. Two quick non-lethal rounds to the chest dropped the man.