The Operator

A brown rainbow flew in a beautiful arch. Peri followed it a half second behind, aiming for Harmony’s bad leg. In the distraction, it would land.

But Harmony stepped into it, not back. The coffee splattered across her, and shock reverberated up Peri’s leg as the woman blocked her with enough force to send her stinging back. Panicked, Peri thrust out, getting a softer blow to Harmony’s side.

“Damn it!” Peri cried as brown fingers clamped onto her wrist and pulled her off her feet. Gut tensing, she went with it lest she get her wrist broken, and the watching agents cried out in approval as Harmony levered her over her shoulder and slammed Peri onto the tile.

What the fuck! Not breathing, Peri kicked up, forcing Harmony to let go. Harmony couldn’t outfight her in hand-to-hand—not with her weight confined to one leg—but that was exactly what she was doing. Still on the floor, Peri rolled.

Harmony jumped to evade it, and Peri reversed, cutting her legs out from under her on the return. Swearing, Harmony fell right on top of her. Harmony’s elbow hit the stone tile instead of Peri, and Peri couldn’t help her grin as she grabbed her by the cornrows and slammed her head down.

Groaning, Harmony brought her knee up, jamming into Peri’s groin. Peri hesitated in shock, and in that moment of distraction, Harmony got a solid grip on Peri and spun her facedown onto the floor.

Pain lanced through Peri, so hard and fast she couldn’t tell where it came from. Her face was on the cold tile. Blood slicked it, coming from her lip. Harmony had her knee on her back, and Peri’s arm was wrenched behind her. Her breath came in with a gasping pain as Harmony let up, and she lay there, caught. Damn, the woman is good.

“Go ahead. Draft. I don’t mind kicking your ass twice,” Harmony said, leaning to put her lips inches from her ear. “Great, I think they’ll believe it now,” Harmony said around her whispering pants. “You’re going into a cell—”

Peri bucked wildly at the sound of the metal cuffs. Harmony fell back, and Peri lurched upright, spinning to a crouch as the watching agents cheered them on. Coffee covered Harmony, and she looked ticked. The elevator dinged, and Harmony’s expression shifted to annoyance when it opened to show Steiner and his aides. “I don’t have time for a pissing contest,” she muttered, then launched herself.

Peri’s eyes widened. Screaming, Harmony jumped onto the glass table, using it for momentum and speed as she flew right at her, feetfirst. They hit Peri square on, shoving her back into the pillar. Her head hit with a thunk and, dazed, Peri leaned against it, trying to remain upright. Before her, as if in a dream, Harmony hit the table as she fell, shattering it.

Peri could do nothing as the agents urged Harmony to finish it. A primitive fear struck her as Harmony dragged herself upright, shoving pieces of the table aside as she crawled forward. The urge, the need maybe, to jump was a faint tickle, and she shoved it away.

“I’ll be down to get you in an hour, okay?” Harmony muttered, clearly in pain even as she pushed Peri over and yanked one, then the other of her arms behind her back. “Just sit tight.”

Like I have a choice? Peri thought, shuddering at the feel of steel ratcheting about her wrists. “Get off,” Peri wheezed, but Harmony had already pulled away, leaving Peri to sit up and lean against the same pillar she’d hit her head against. Her skull hurt, and she stared at Harmony as the woman got to her feet and tugged her coffee-splattered top straight. The agents ringing them had gone silent at Steiner’s disapproving presence, but money was changing hands as they began vanishing.

“Make sure she doesn’t have a concussion and put her in a cell,” Steiner said.

“Don’t touch me,” Peri demanded, knowing that “helping hands” might hurt more than assist, and she staggered to her feet. Her breath came in slow, and the world stopped spinning. Harmony was good, exceptionally good, and a deeper respect sifted through her.

The lobby was emptying with a guilty quickness. Filthy and clearly hurting, Harmony retrieved Peri’s bag before shoving Peri to the elevator.

Peri searched Harmony’s face as she got in, ran her card, and punched a button, but there was nothing: no satisfaction from having bested her, no anticipation at the beginnings of an escape—just a pained tiredness. “You’re a tough bitch,” Harmony said as the elevator doors closed. “Did you black out?”

“No.”

“Good.” Harmony dropped her head, hiding her face from the camera. “I’ll be back down in an hour to get you, and we can go. Nice and quiet out the back door. It takes that long just to free the pass codes after a lockdown.” She glanced sidelong at her. “Thanks for taking it so easy on me.”

“No problem.” That was easy? Peri wiped away the blood from her lip with her shoulder.

“I just need to know one thing.”

Pulling back, Peri eyed her. “What?”

“What did Heddles mean by ‘I won’t let you need’? Don’t lie to me. I have three younger sisters, and one dumb-ass older brother, and I can tell.”

That Harmony hadn’t asked where Michael was stuck in Peri’s mind. It wasn’t necessarily a sign of trust, but rather a signal of intent, an assurance that Harmony wouldn’t take the information and go, leaving Peri behind. Her breath quickened, and she kept her head down and away from the cameras. The voice telling her to be honest with Harmony was only a shade louder than the one telling her to stick to her old ways and trust no one. “Bill darted me with Evocane at Everblue,” she finally said, heart pounding. “Michael is bringing me a vial as a sign of goodwill. Allen is there to sanction it, but the reality is that it’s probably a trap.”