Shield And Protection

feet, she felt

o, eleven-year-old girl; he seemed no smaller or less menacing n

ing to keep down the contents of her stomach, staring mutely

was cold, almost detached, as he wrapped his left hand around her nec

een taught ran through her mind in a disordered jumble: do not think of winn

right was blocked by his left as he was choking her-and d

lyzed him; it would

e too meaty for the blow to penet

y momentaril

t his hand delve into his boxers and free what felt like the end of a baseball bat. "My only regret is that I didn't fuck your sis

tly cleared the

or n

the knife and quic

e almost supernatural speed he p

body, they both stood frozen for a moment, so close together they

ucking..

Finn confirmed what she'd sen

floor, clutchin

yes, exhaling sharply as she spotted the c

over and g

he put the receiver to his ear an

of the emergency, he screamed into the receiv

to take flight, Autumn held the phone as he screame

ured him that on

even in her panicked state, she realized that the

open behind her before snapping the chain th

filled trenches in the capital, where it would likely b

**

utumn passed, siren blaring, less than three minutes after she pulled awa

g forced its way out, an unmist

her torso and gasped as her finge

xwell's

short grass that separated the pavement from the road, grateful that she

her seat to retrieve a bottle of distilled water. As she used the now sickenin

t she'd wanted from the moment the man had fi

nger than her rage had stop

on and showed that the intervening years hadn't softened his bruta

o wound him enough fo

rned into

that small det

her con

y not in a c

into the man's own h

*

the sleepy-looking woman at the front desk, as

t-A-Car will be here to collect

d, looking as though she was t

ed out of the dingy hotel, thank

classified as such-was clearly intended as a place for p

py mattress, which looked as though it provided a constant

d didn't require its guests to produce any form of identification. More importantly, i

International Airport close by. She wrapped her hand aroun

she should have disposed of them on her

slipped into the back of the taxi. His eyes went to the entrance of

firmed. "I'm t

rig

he accelerator as soon as the

but the roads were almost deserted, and she had no objection

and the knife into the polluted water of the drain below it. Even if she hadn't worn

they passed the begi

way from the airp

ping and praying that she hadn't left a tra