While Dice settled his charge on the ground next to Dixon, Fry merely leaned over and deposited Reaper onto his feet.
“Stay there,” Fry grumbled, hand on the hacker’s shoulder.
“Please tell me you’ve been in here before,” Tristan said, mopping up his brother’s pale face with his shirt.
“Of course I’ve been here before. I wouldn’t have led you here if I hadn’t. It’s just been a long time. I need to—”
Reaper jerked his arm back suddenly, popping Fry in the nose.
While Fry stumbled back, nose gushing, Reaper lunged toward Lila, yanking her wrist and spinning her before him.
Her Colt clattered to the ground.
Reaper’s arm crossed her shoulders, pinning her, the useless scarf trailing from his wrist. A blade scrapped against her throat under the mesh hood.
Tristan and Dice drew their guns.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you. I’ll slit her throat before your sedative does its work. This is where Prolix and I get off this bloody merry-go-round.”
Reaper squeezed Lila closer and laughed. “You know, I didn’t realize who you really were until I watched you break into these tunnels. I didn’t realize that Prolix and Hood were one and the same. You went along with Tristan to the bombing, didn’t you? You snuck right into Bullstow and put your sticky little fingers to work in the BIRD. My, my, my, isn’t Daddy going to be angry when he finds out? Not only are you hacking into confidential databases, but you’re a terrorist as well.”
Lila sucked in her breath. Reaper knew, and he didn’t just have her body trapped, he also held her future, her reputation, her father’s esteem, and now her life, for she’d never beat a terrorism charge. He had everything important, everything she’d built over the years, everything she treasured, and he thought it funny.
Reaper pulled her farther down the tunnel, causing her to stumble, nearly causing her to fall. “Thanks for carrying me all that way, Fry. I know you must be tired, so I’m going to make this easy for all of you. I’m taking Hood with me, nice and slow, through the tunnels. As long as I get out of here without—”
“Shhh!” Lila turned her head away from the knife and stared down the opposite end of the tunnel. Even Tristan and Dice divided their attention, eyes straying for a few quick peeks.
“Don’t you—”
“Shhh,” Lila hissed again. Reaper shifted his body, slowly walking her back so that he could face the end of the tunnel.
But Lila didn’t cooperate.
And she damn sure didn’t wait for him to settle.
“Chief Shaw!” Lila shouted, imbuing the name with all the truth she could muster, the peac
e of sliding onto her Firefly after a tough day, the happiness of seeing her younger brothers’ faces, the relief when she spied Tristan in the water under the bridge.
Reaper loosened his grip slightly, turning his body so that Lila shielded him.
In that moment, half a dozen scenarios should have come to her mind from hand-to-hand training. Complicated releases, ways she could shift her weight, ways she could squeeze her arms into Reaper’s body and put him in some sort of hold. But nothing came to her, and Lila had never been good at any of them anyway.
Instead, in that moment of imbalance, Lila did the first thing that popped into her head. She yanked Reaper’s arm, turned her chin slightly, and bit the fuck out of his forearm.
Reaper screamed and nearly dropped the knife. His wrist twisted and turned by her cheek as he tried to stab her, but he could not work the blade into position.
Warm blood filled her mouth, but she held on like a pit bull, too scared to let go until she came up with another move. Seconds later, she drove her elbow into his wounded shoulder and collapsed onto the floor like a limp doll.
“You crazy bitch!” Reaper towered over her and raised his knife.
A shot rang out, echoing against the concrete walls.
Reaper jumped as though a hiccup had startled his body.
Blood spurted from a wound on his neck, gushing as his heart pumped more and more of the crimson fluid down his shirt. His eyes unfocused, and his mouth moved.
No air carried his words.