Her martial arts training kicked in automatically. She stood, using one arm to push her mother behind her, placing her good leg back and prosthetic forward in a fighting stance.
“We no want to stay,” the taller of the two men said in broken English. He smiled a mouthful of yellow teeth and pulled down his hood, revealing greasy black hair. Something came from his pocket. It snicked open. A cruel blade glittered.
“Take...take whatever you want,” Celeste stuttered from behind Jess.
The tall man laughed and nodded at the man behind him, who stepped into the apartment, unfolding a large carryall. In it he tossed Jess’s backpack and laptop from the couch, and Celeste’s carryon from in front of the TV. He disappeared into the bedroom.
“What do you want?” Jess stood defiant as the tall man advanced on them.
At least twice her body weight, and strong, judging from the size of his shoulders. Still, she could drop him; duck down and one shot into his groin, then an uppercut into the throat. She eyed the glittering blade, gritted her teeth.
“Jess, don’t…” her mother whispered.
“No trouble.” The tall man held his knife wide. “Okay?”
Her skin crawling, Jess tensed. The tall man came close and used his free hand to pat her down. He took her cell phone, keys, purse, then did the same to Celeste. He backed up.
Thuds from the bedroom as the smaller man rifled through it, then he went into the kitchen area, piling things in his arms. He did a quick sweep, and not finding much, returned to deposit what he had into the carryall. He zipped the bag up and shouldered it.
The tall man backed up two more paces, the smaller man exiting the apartment behind him. “See? No trouble.” He turned to leave.
Their cell phones, their wallets, her laptop—they took everything. They’d be stranded. Red flashed before Jess’s eyes, and without thinking she jumped forward three steps and grabbed the man’s hand holding the knife, twisting the wrist at a savage angle. The knife fell from his hand, clattered to the ground. The man dropped to his knees and cried out.
Jess swung around him, jamming the door shut, twisting his arm further.
Something snapped.
The man screamed.
“Mom! Lock the door!” Jess yelled as she twisted further.
Roaring, the man grabbed Jess with his other hand and tossed her against the wall. She cracked her head, the impact knocking the wind out of her. He was too strong. There was no way she could control him. He threw her back on the couch, while the smaller man shoved his way back in through the door, a knife now in his hand.
The tall man advanced on Jess. She kicked at him, and he grabbed her leg and pulled.
Jess felt a suctioning pop, and her prosthetic leg came free. The man stumbled back, shocked, looking at the leg in his hand. He waved it in the air, looked back at Jess, and then smiled. Tucking her leg under one arm, he stooped to collect his knife with his good hand. “Now we have everything, yes?”
“No!” Jess screamed. “Give me my leg back!”
The man laughed and pushed his partner out the door ahead of him.
Jess jumped up from the couch and hopped to the door on one leg. “No, please,” she pleaded. “You don’t need that.”
The men disappeared down the stairs, and Jess jumped after them, using her hand to steady herself on the walls. She screamed, begged them to give it back. Celeste followed behind Jess, imploring her to stop.
Reaching the bottom floor, Jess hopped to the front door, exiting just in time to see the men getting into a car. “Stop!” she yelled. “Someone, help!”
She blinked and looked at the man driving the car. Pork pie hat, and was that a mole on his cheek?
Enzo?
The car pulled off.
Celeste ran behind Jess, steadied her as she balanced on one leg. It had started to rain, making the cobblestones slick. “Are you okay? Did they hurt you?”
“Why did he take my leg?” Jess cried, tears coming, mixing with the rain running down her face. Who would do something like that?
Behind them, the apartment door swung shut. Realizing too late, Celeste let go of Jess and jumped to try and catch it, but it banged closed. She tried to open it, but it was locked.
“It doesn’t matter.” Jess shivered in the rain, balancing unsteadily. “The door upstairs locks by itself, too.” A putrid river flowed from the pile of garbage to the drain by the one foot she stood on. They had no money, no phones, and no shelter.
Her mother came back to help her, and Jess put one arm around Celeste’s shoulder.
She looked down, bile in the back of her throat.
They stole my leg.
15
DARMSTADT, GERMANY
BEN ROLLINS STARED at the six wall-mounted displays in the ESOC control room, image after image of star fields appearing and then disappearing. Nothing. Absolutely nothing where Nomad should be. After three hours, the room had nearly emptied out. Ben sat beside Roger and Dr. Müller, in the front row of chairs on the raised viewing platform behind the operations teams. A skeleton team of media remained on the chance something might appear.
But it didn’t.