“Get. Out. Of. My. Way.” She put some steel into her voice this time. No need to increase volume when intensity works better.
Beady eyes narrowed at her as goon number one flexed his thick fingers into a meaty fist and released them. Threat clear.
Ah, well. Intonation could work on people with more neurons firing inside their heads. She might not have a whole lot of stature going on at five foot four, but her new friend should’ve at least spared a moment to ponder that maybe a woman in a black suit with white dress shirt and an earbud hanging over her collar from a wire might mean something.
He was a thug dressed in a monkey suit.
She was a much higher pay grade.
He advanced on her and made a grab for her arm. She saw it coming with plenty of time to react, rising up on the balls of her feet and keeping her limbs loose in anticipation, her joints relaxed to maximize her range of motion. As his left hand reached her upper arm, she stepped forward slightly with her left foot to meet him and seized his wrist from the inside, her thumb pointing downward. Swinging her hips and right leg around so her butt lined up with her attacker’s forward leg, she bent her knees briefly and hip bumped him to rock his weight upward. She completed her move with a full upward body twisting motion, throwing him completely over her and onto his back.
She wasn’t entirely heartless though. She kept a hold on his arm to prevent it from breaking or dislocating as he fell. It’d been known to happen when a person was caught by surprise. And judging by his yelp midair, he was definitely surprised.
The man didn’t get thrown by a person almost half his size all that frequently, maybe. He should experience it more often though. It’d make him a better fighter.
He crashed down on the very hard, cold marble floor of the elevator lobby and she turned to address his companions. They were just beginning to respond, their postures open with their surprise as they started to reach for their weapons.
Not the wisest decision for either of them. Her position was easily within most people’s reactionary gaps—the distance needed between a person and an attacker to have the time to react to an aggressive attack. She’d allowed the first man to make a move against her because she needed a reason to cite self-defense but she preferred to take her fight to her opponents.
He’d started it. She’d finish it.
She covered the ground between her and the nearest man standing with a slide step, landing in a Bai Jong or ready stance and immediately lashed out with her rear leg in a powerful front kick directly to the man’s chest, then instantly drew her leg back to return to her stance. The air left his chest in a whoosh and he stumbled backward into the wall behind him.
Pivoting to face the third man, she struck with a hooking kick as she came around, catching his gun hand and sending his weapon clattering to the floor. He didn’t have time to react as her other leg swept up in a high roundhouse and caught him on the side of the head. The man remained standing for a second, clutching the side of his head, then toppled over.
Three opponents, all downed and barely groaning.
The entire altercation took less than ten seconds. She leveled a stare at the only man left standing. He prudently kicked the fallen handgun to one side, well out of reach of the downed men, and pressed the elevator call button for her.
“Thank you.” The elevator opened immediately and she stepped inside without turning her back to him.
There was a faint smile playing on his lips and one eyebrow was raised as if he had found something incredibly interesting. She scowled at him. His smile widened.
“Believe me.” His voice had a rich, sensual quality to it. It hinted at intimacy he had no right to and a lot of naughty things. “The pleasure was mine.”
As the elevator doors began to close, police jogged up to him, huffing with effort. “Mr. Yeun. We can’t guarantee your safety if you don’t cooperate with us and stay where we can protect you.”
Isabelle was curious. Especially as she caught snippets of them arresting the downed men just as the very slow doors finally closed all the way shut. But the call of a hot bath was stronger than curiosity.
She was done for the night.
*
Her phone rang and she reached out with unerring accuracy, snagging it from the nightstand. “Scott.”
Damned thing was sturdy enough not to break under a pounding or from being thrown so she’d learned to grab it as quickly as possible to shut it the hell up. Even if she wasn’t quite awake yet.
“Morning, Lizzy. You were involved in an incident with the police.” Gabe’s voice came through, crisp and businesslike, maybe mildly amused.