Okay, now you’ve stepped in it.
Shay grumbled as she raced down the stairs, skipping a few steps at the bottom. She tossed her phone on the end table, drew her gun, and rushed into her kitchen as one of the cartel members jiggled her door handle. The bastards wanted somewhere to hide. They could have gone in any direction, or even screwed with the house right next door, but they had to choose her house. Big mistake, and the last they would ever make.
I’m gonna provide a little service to the neighborhood. Too bad no one will ever know.
Shay ducked behind her island, holstered her weapon, and readied a knife instead. Killing them with a minimum number of gunshots lowered the chance of attracting police attention. She couldn’t rely on idiots who’d screwed up their own surprise raid to keep the authorities away. She slid another knife into her open hand.
There is absolutely no fucking way I’m letting these assholes kill me in my kitchen. I’m not Natalie, and I don’t give one shit about the universe’s sense of irony.
A loud bang sounded, and her door flew open.
“No alarm,” a man said in Spanish. “Too trusting. I’m going to head upstairs and finish anyone off before they call the cops.”
“You do that,” another man responded.
“Anyone coming from the stash house?”
“Not that I can see. I think we lost them.”
The first man grunted. “The boss will be mad.”
“Better than being dead.”
Shay held her breath and crept to the edge of the island. Small flat green lights in a few of the light sockets pushed away total darkness in the kitchen and allowed Shay to spot the shadow of a large man skulking into her kitchen.
Should have stayed in the stash house. It’s a lot safer there, assholes. Now get ready for a real killer.
Shay leapt up from behind her island. She didn’t even give the first cartel member time to do more than let out a surprised grunt before slashing his neck open. A quick spin ended with her second knife in his partner’s throat.
Yeah, better than being dead, indeed.
She yanked out the blade, and the man gurgled and collapsed to the ground, blood spraying from his neck.
The three remaining men backed away from the door and squeezed off rounds. Shay dodged, but a stray bullet struck her knife blade. The blade snapped in a shower of sparks, and the two halves clattered against her kitchen floor.
“Damn it,” she mumbled. “That was one of my favorite knives.”
Shay returned the other knife to its sheath and pulled her gun back out. She wouldn’t be able to close on her enemies now. The cartel members peppered the kitchen with gunfire, but their panic led to them not wounding anything but walls.
You assholes are almost embarrassing.
This group only had pistols, rather than the rifles. A bullet storm from five AKs on full auto might have been too much even for Shay to dodge.
She darted across the kitchen toward the living room. Bullets followed her path.
“Come on, assholes. Take the bait.” Shay crouched near her stairs, her gun pointed at the kitchen door.
True pros wouldn’t come into the living room. They would spread out and flank her on both sides of the house. But these panicky fools had tried a home invasion after running away from a failed raid. Right now, they possessed the tactical acumen of rabbits high on cocaine.
Everything I’ve heard about the Nuevo Gulf Cartel getting weakened by competitors is true. Or these guys were always pussies waiting for someone to stand up to them.
Shay didn’t have to wait long. Heavy footsteps filled the kitchen, and a few seconds later, the first man entered the living room, his gun up.
A single round between the eyes brought him down. Shay put three rounds through the wall right next to the door. A man yelled, and a loud thump followed. She sprinted toward the kitchen and jumped in, twisting sideways.
The final cartel member waiting on the other end of the kitchen didn’t even get time to pull the trigger before Shay shot him. She hit the ground before he did.
Shay hopped to her feet and put a few more bullets into the downed men. She headed over to the back door and closed it.
Five dead bodies and several bullet holes in the walls. Not exactly the least suspicious gathering of evidence, even if the most gullible cop or cartel member showed up to check out what happened.
Damn it. Why did these guys have to pick my house?
A heavy sigh followed. Five cartel members ended up in her house. It’d been a coincidence, and the lack of sirens suggested at least someone was directing the cops away from the incident for the moment, but it didn’t matter.
Someone would investigate, either criminal or cop, and they’d stumble on her place and then it wouldn’t be a stretch to figure out that the name on the lease didn’t go with the woman inside, especially since she’d proven she could kill five cartel enforcers.
“Damn it. it’s a warehouse for the night.”
The condo served her well, and some fondness might remain in the coming years as she thought about her place in L.A., but for now, she needed to burn any connection she had with the place.
Time to fucking go.
Luck, as mediated by preparation, was again on her side.
Shay headed back into the living room and grabbed her phone. She scrolled down her contacts list and dialed.
“Purity Solutions,” a cheerful woman answered. “Your 24/7 cleaning and moving solution.”
An always open firm might be suspicious, but it wasn’t like people not in the know even had the phone number for the company. She needed her place cleaned out without a trace of even DNA ASAP, and that wasn’t something she could manage alone, or even with Peyton’s help.
“I need to confirm an emergency spring cleaning and move,” Shay said. “There
