7| Thieves
"Looky-here, looky-here. What do we have, Steve?" one called to the other, drawing Salazar and Miki's attention. Not wanting to be followed inside, they both turned to face the men.
"Yep Jeff, must be something valuable seeing as how they are sneaking along in the dark," Steve rejoined. He cackled while his hands twitched nervously at his sides and his eyes ravenously raked Miki's body. Acting as if he was in feral heat, Steve licked his lips. "I'll take her, Jeff. You can have the kid," he announced and then wildly cackled again.
"Stand back," Salazar warned.
"Don't pay any attention to Steve. He's not himself right now. Come to think of it, no one is acting like himself. On the other hand, I'm trying real hard to be nice. Just give up the bags, son. Then, we'll let you be," Jeff declared, trying to sound sincere.
"I'm not your son and it's nothing of value," Salazar replied. "Just move along and I won't hurt you." With his voice calm and confident, it gave both men pause at first, and then, their greed got the better of them.
"Ha-ha, young man. Now, that is funny. Give us the bags and we won't hurt you," Jeff repeated Salazar's words and nervously laughed. Jeff considered that the kid seemed far more mature than he looked and that worried him a little. "Why would you think you're a match for two grown men? You're just a boy."
"Yep, just a boy," Steve agreed. "Just like you like 'em."
Then, showing his cowardliness and thinking she was petite and frail, Steve attacked Miki first. He tried to wrestle her bag away from her and was surprised that he got more response from Miki than he had bargained.
Miki was indeed Serena McKay's daughter. She surprised Steve when she used a forceful upper cut that squarely landed on his chin. The blow hurt and Steve stopped to rub his jaw and then shook his head a few times as if trying to shake it off. When he looked at Miki again, his lips curled into a wicked sneer.
"I see you like it rough, missy. I'll give it to you as rough as you want it." His hysterical chortle ended abruptly when Miki forcefully slammed him squarely in the nose with the heel of her flat palm. Blood spurted across both of them.
Miki knew that a broken nose was normally the best way to halt an assault. Most people didn't want to fight anymore after such a blow shattered the nasal septum and septal cartilage, especially when the excruciating pain hit the olfactory nerves. Steve was no exception. Suddenly, he felt as if icepicks piercingly stabbed his sinus passages.
He immediately stopped his attack to glare at Miki in shock. "You broke my damn nose!" he blubbered as bright blood gushed down his lips and chin, making it sound as if he had said, "Yew ploke my plamn plose."
"Yep, I certainly did, but that is on you. You should have left us alone," Miki replied.
Meanwhile, Salazar had been taught to eliminate threats as quickly as possible. In his mind, he heard Tom Lang's instructions replay, Never mess around, do it with force, and get the job done. With that as his main objective, Salazar executed two powerful and quick jabs to Jeff's solar plexus – the soft hollow spot between his ribs. He felt and heard Jeff's ribs crack when his blows connected, making it very difficult for the assailant to breathe or move.
Jeff immediately bent double, wheezing and in terrible pain. Too late, he realized that he had picked the wrong family to attack. A look of shock washed over his face as he gasped for air that did not want to fill his lungs. The well-placed blows ended his desire for anything more. He grunted and motioned for Steve's help. In a daze and hurt, Jeff didn't have the strength or wind to call out to Steve. He didn't have the energy to run away without his partner's assistance.
Still holding onto the straps of Miki's bag, Steve saw that Jeff was in trouble and couldn't stand up straight. He shoved Miki to the ground; however, determined that they wouldn't leave without something to show for their troubles, he held onto the tote straps. Again, he got more than he bargained for. Miki tenaciously held onto her bag while she dug her heels into the cracks of the sidewalk to counteract his wrenching. Even though Steve pulled with all his might, he could not tear it from her grasp.
Miki wore a circular broach that had been passed down from Marta Stevens to Serena and then to her. It was a beautiful ornament that used a five-inch sweater pin to attach it. Marta Stevens had taught Serena how to become a savvy computer hacker and to protect herself from the prying eyes of the government. More importantly, she had taught Serena how to live in a normal and loving family.
Now, Miki pulled the broach from her lapel and jabbed its sharp end into the meaty flesh of Steve's hand. He jerked his hand back and let go of the straps, but not before Miki jabbed the pin into his foot too. Growling in defeat, he turned to help Jeff get away. Together, the two men limped across the street and back into the ruins of a collapsed building.
After their attackers had disappeared from sight, Salazar gently helped Miki to her feet. When he saw the blood spatters on her face, he asked, "Are you hurt, Mother?"
"Just my shoulder," she admitted as she tried to pull her torn blouse together, "it's only minor." Salazar looked worried as he ran a finger through a dab of blood on her cheek and then showed it to her. "The blood?" Miki snorted, "It's his, not mine."
"I should have known," he admitted. "Your shoulder might be dislocated. If you had let him take your bag, maybe you wouldn't be injured."
"Fat chance of that!" Miki scoffed. "I didn't fight to let him win." She used the broach to re-pin her clothing and noticed that her own blood oozed from a scrape on her hand. She had skinned her palm against the broken bricks when Steve shoved her.
"Are you sure you're not hurt?" Salazar asked again.
"Really, I'm fine. Let's just get off these streets before someone else decides what we carry in our bags is valuable."
"I agree. It's not far now. Just a few more steps," Salazar urged and he led the way.
It was now six-twenty.
8| Entourage
Unaware that a dozen pair of curious eyes had witnessed the attack on them, Salazar and Miki ducked inside the jagged opening and out of sight. Once inside, they felt safely hidden from the view of anyone on the street. However, their confrontation and victory over Steve and Jeff had evoked a strange confidence in the twelve people who had watched the pair meet the challenge and win.
It wasn't often that they got to see any victories.
Although they had not arrived at their location together, they each had the same objective – to survive this ordeal the best they could. Even though they were terrified of the nearby shelling, they also considered that the broken-down building the mother and son entered looked unsafe. It was possibly a deathtrap. Almost all of the onlookers hesitated to follow Salazar and Miki.
Jesse Slater did not.
He had seen enough people in his line of work to recognize that the mother and son team were exceptional. He knew that wherever those two were headed, he didn't want to be left behind. He quickly followed them inside and disappeared from sight.
One by one, the others covertly sneaked into the building too.