Maze, upon hearing my whistle, flew across the room to the thug farthest from us and propelled his sixty-pound body right into the man’s chest, teeth snapping and ripping at his neck. The terror behind the ski mask was real but his screams of panic came to an abrupt stop. A ceramic lamp lay in pieces around the thug’s head. Dr. Andrews had helped Maze finish the guy off. And since there was a pretty good amount of blood pooling through the ski mask, it was clear this guy wasn’t getting up anytime soon.
I only had eyes for the foul-minded creature who spoke to me. It was in that instant that I found myself smiling with anticipation. I felt a thrill ripple through my body as surprised registered in the man’s dull eyes. I leaped toward him in attack position. With my left hand I grabbed his weapon, and with my right, I delivered one quick strike to his nose with my palm that had him gushing blood and stumbling around.
Even though I was pumped and ready to finish him off, I thought better of it. I put him on the ground, face down and pulled his arm up and behind his back. He was in a lot of pain, but I had some questions and he better have some answers for me.
Chapter 31 The Messenger
This all had happened so quickly I hadn’t stopped to think about everything that could have gone wrong.
“Check in,” I called out just as mom had taught us.
“I’m good,” Alik wasn’t even a little out of breath.
“Me too,” Evan called out casually.
“I—I’m okay,” the doctor stammered a bit, but otherwise sounded fine.
“I’m freaking out, but okay,” Cole answered honestly. Maze was sitting on my right side, but he wanted to be sure I knew he was okay because he gave my hand a big slobbery lick.
Mom always said, “If you know you’re in for a battle, strike first and strike to win.” She would be proud of how we handled these goons.
“Come on in here guys. I’d appreciate your help asking this one some questions.”
Cole came flying from where he had ducked for cover. After quickly scanning the room and confirming that the bad guys were all subdued he blurted, “You guys are awesome! That was amazing! Oh, my gosh! I wish I had that on video! I would so put that on Yout—” he stopped mid-word and stared at the bad guy under me.
I was balanced on my guy’s back, my knee digging into his right shoulder blade, my arms wrapped around his right arm painfully pulling it back and up. The guy was trying valiantly not to scream like a little girl. (Well, a regular girl.) Cole looked back and forth from the guy’s cringing face, to me. I’m sure he was thinking, she only weighs 120 pounds, tops, and she brought that giant down?
“They had guns! They were coming to kill us?” Dr. Andrews was downright furious now.
“Well, I have my suspicions, but let’s just go ahead and ask this fella right here. So, were you sent here to kill us?” With the last word I yanked his arm a little further, and then eased off enough so he could talk through the pain.
“I ain’t telling you nothin’!” the thug spat through his bloody face.
“Ohhh, wrong answer.” I made a soft tisk-tisk noise with my tongue before I grabbed the hair on the back of his head, lifted and slammed his face into the crusty motel carpet.
I heard the doctor and his son gasp simultaneously. Good grief, they really didn’t have the stomach for this! Mom must have trained us really well. This was no big deal to us. I confirmed my thoughts by looking over at my brothers. Yep, they were both standing with arms crossed looking annoyed at the guy; no pity in their eyes at all. I guess growing up playing war games will desensitize a person.
The idiot under my knee was groaning. “Wanna try answering that question again?” I growled in his ear.
After several wet coughs and one uncontrolled sob from the pain, he answered, “We weren’t gonna kill you. Our orders were to bring you back to The Institute.” He was telling the truth, I could tell.
“Who gave you these orders?” I demanded to know. He hesitated one fraction of a second too long for my nonexistent patience, so he got another face full of carpet.
This time he came up spitting out a name, but it was too garbled to understand.
“Say that name again, slowly.” And to his credit he enunciated the best his broken face would allow, “Dr. Williams.”
Evan stepped closer and asked the most important questions, “Is our mother alive? Does Williams have Margo Winter?”
But it was too late, he had passed out. Darn it! Why didn’t I ask those questions first? Why did I have to be so rough on the three-hundred-pound thug? Why do I have to be so emotional all the time!
I felt myself start to cry, and then the doctor’s hand was on my elbow. Cole rushed to my other side and they walked me to the nearest bed.
“Are you hurt, Meg?” Cole asked gently.
I looked around the room through tear-filled eyes and saw Alik and Evan working on lining the four guys against the far wall. With quick movements, they were tying them up using the thugs’ own belts and shoelaces.
“My body feels fine. Never better. But my heart hurts, and I’m mad at myself for not handling that interrogation better. I really needed to hear that mom was alive.”