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  His emotions seemed to take hold, allowing him a burst of strength. He flung his arms back, throwing the lead guy off him. He didn’t try to fight. He focused on pushing his way through the mass of people. He was expecting to see her on the ground lying next to Hamish, but there she was fighting Glass hand to hand. The look of anger on her face was feral. Glass’ move had awoken the fighter in her, and Jacques suspected Glass would come to regret that. He didn’t get the chance to watch the fight progress as the lead ganger was coming back for him. Knowing that she was at least able to defend herself fueled him. Ava was from the The Fringe, and her harsh life had prepared her for these kinds of situations. If he was going to stand by her side, he needed to show he was every bit as capable at defending himself as she was. Now he was glad that Lucy had dragged him to some of Zane’s self-defense classes.

  Jacques blocked the first swing. A heavy kick connected with his shin as the guy tried to take him down, but there was no way that he was going to let that happen. This was his fight, and he was going to win it. He kept blocking and waited for an opening to attack. It came quickly, as his opponent dropped his guard every time he hit with his left. On the next attack, Jacques took advantage of the weakness, landing several heavy blows and forcing the guy backwards.

  There was fighting everywhere. It seemed like the mercs who used this joint felt a connection with it just as he had. It was a home for those who didn’t have one, and the misfits it took in were eager to defend it. He was just glad that guns weren’t being used. The sound would bring the security, and he didn’t want their help. This was their place to protect.

  *****

  The second that silver blade had connected with her side, Ava had sworn at herself. How could she not be expecting some underhand shit from that woman? The knife had skimmed her ribs and, luckily, buried somewhere in the loose jumper she wore rather than her flesh. That was good. It was a slight injury that she could fight through, and she was going to fight. This bitch had got the better of her once, and that wasn’t going to happen again.

  Glass had used her trick card. That stupid augmentation that allowed her speed. Ava couldn’t keep up with that, but she could fight smarter now that she knew what to expect, and that was what she was going to do. Glass was coming at her with a ferocity that she hadn’t used last time. It seemed like losing Jacques to her, or the killing of her father, or both, had really brought out the psychotic killer within her.

  “You’re going to die, bitch,” Ava snarled.

  She didn’t let Glass get on a roll and went on the attack. A good offense was the best defense in her books. The more you pushed the enemy, the harder it would be for them to attack back. Glass would know what it felt like for every inch of you to hurt. Ava would make sure of that.

  Ava focused on Glass’ left side. She needed to avoid hitting that metal arm, else even a block could break her hand, and she couldn’t afford that right now. A kick to Glass’ knee caused her to stumble backwards. Ava used the distraction to bring a fist up into her ribs, and she was pretty damn sure she felt a rib break.

  The battle around her faded to the background. Glass was all she saw. She lunged, a perfect hit connecting with her face, and a crunch as her nose pasted across her face. An eye for an eye, Ava thought. Both of Glass’ hands came up in response, grabbing her face. Blood poured down her chin. She spat and peered through her fingers; that look of anger was back again.

  “Aww, did that hurt?” Ava said mockingly.

  She was pushing Glass to use that fucking enhancement. Ava had spent the combat pushing her into a good location where speed wasn’t going to matter. Ava had never been so determined in her life. This fight wasn’t about Jacques; it was about getting revenge for the first attack. There was no way she could live without getting her own back after what had happened.

  “You know how this went the first time. Back down,” Glass said, her voice distorted from the broken nose.

  “I don’t think you have it in you to beat me again,” Ava said. She was doing everything she could to rile her up. “I think you won by fluke last time.”

  “Oh, bitch, you have no idea,” Glass responded.

  As expected, she had taken the bait. Ava saw the moment the augmentation kicked in. There was a buzz to her, her pupils widened, and her gaze darted erratically around the room. She was ready. Glass lost no more time before going on the offensive. The first attack was with that big, heavy arm. Expecting the movement, Ava dodged left. The next attack was a kick; expecting it, Ava dodged backwards.

  Glass lunged forward, the attack falling short as she tripped over a few broken barstools, and she went down, hitting the floor hard. The augment may make her faster, but it didn’t help if she didn’t watch her surroundings. Ava had moved her so the barstool was basically under her feet. The plan had worked, and Glass was on the ground. Ava wasted no time as she dropped to the floor and pinned her.

  “You don’t fuck with Fringers,” she said smugly.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Lucinda hadn’t expected this. Any of this. If anything was going to go wrong, she had expected it to happen at the club. When things had gone so smoothly, she had really thought they were out of the woods. There was no way she expected the gang to track them back here. No one had followed them in the car, and she wondered how they knew Glass had been brought here. Not that it mattered in this moment.

  Throughout the conversation, Zane had been tense. One hand had stayed around his beer while the other held Caspian’s shoulder under the table. It seemed like he was holding himself back from getting involved. It must be a real blast from the past for him. His mouth was a grim line and his jaw tense as he watched the interaction. Even Caspian was ready to interfere. From her limited view, she could see that he was leaned forward on his knees, ready to throw himself forward.

  That was proven the second the fight kicked off. Caspian was out from under the table and Zane out of his seat within seconds. The two men acted like a wall of muscle protecting her from the fray before them. There was a glance between them before they nodded to each other, an identical look of determination on their faces.

  There was so much activity in the bar it was hard to keep track of what was going on. At one time, this sort of situation would have scared the hell out of her, and she would have been terrified to the point of hiding until it was over. But since she had begun training with Zane, she felt a lot more confident in her own abilities. Her main issue now was what to do. She tracked the combat, trying to figure where she would best be of help.

  “Luce, duck,” Caspian said. She followed his direction as something came flying in her direction. As she looked back up, Caspian had grabbed a guy and slammed him to the floor, grasping his throat. “Stay safe.”

  She wasn’t insulted that Caspian was warning her to stay clear of the fight. She didn’t exactly have the physical prowess that they did. The skills she had weren’t brawling, they were self-defense, to take someone down so she could run or get help. A full on barroom brawl wasn’t something she had planned for. She’d even left her Taser in Hamish’s borrowed car.

  Jacques was in combat with the lead guy, and he seemed to be handling the fight well. They were meeting each other blow for blow. Ava was off to the side fighting with Glass. The two women’s fight seemed more brutal than any other combat in the room. Ava had a point to prove, and the girl was proving it. Glass seemed to be giving no quarter, either.

  Her eyes drifted back to Zane and Caspian. The brothers were fighting back to back, each of them covered by the other. Their moves seemed to flow together like a perfectly choreographed dance. They must have fought together so much that they had become the perfect unit.

  That’s when a realization hit her. It was the complete worst time, but you couldn’t help when the life-changing epiphanies came to you. Even though the brothers fought, and those fights were violent and worrying, it had led to a bond that was deeper than anything she’d ever seen. Years of living in The Fring
e and fighting for their lives had created something that couldn’t be broken. Sure, their tempers got the better of them, and they took it out on each other, but when something important came along, they could put that to one side and stand together against anything.

  She had spent the last couple of weeks watching the family, picking them apart and trying to find a reason why she couldn’t move in. The reason? She was scared. She was scared by how much she cared about Zane and the family. She was scared that one day she would come home to find them gone without a trace. It had taken her so long to get over the disappearance of her parents, and twelve years later, it still killed her that she had never found them.

  She didn’t really care that Zane and Caspian got into fights, or that Sawyer could possibly steal her stuff. She didn’t care that the twins were always in trouble at school, or the fact that Blair was already behind in her classes. Deep down, she was worried that they would all go away. and she would be left alone again.

  The family’s bond was so deep that they would protect each other to the end of the world and further if they needed to. That was what she needed. She needed that kind of fire in her life. For so many years, she had been looking for a place where she fit in. Somewhere she could belong. This was it. She belonged with Zane and his family. She couldn’t sit here trying to desperately protect her heart. She needed to jump in two feet first and give this relationship everything she had.

  Feeling invigorated, she jumped from beneath the booth. As Caspian dodged a punch from his assailant, Lucinda brought her fist up, catching the man in the solar plexus. He expelled a huge lungful of air as he staggered backwards.

  “Zane, I’m gonna move in with you,” Lucinda said.

  “You made that decision right now?” Zane asked, sounding confused. He threw a kick at his opponent and forced him away.

  “Yeah, I know I’ve been acting weird, but if it’s okay with you, we’ll talk later,” she said. Even in the midst of combat, she couldn’t fight the smile that was on her face.

  “I’m down for that. Now go help Ava,” Zane said as he nodded in the bar’s direction.

  “On it,” Lucinda said. She went to move, but stopped to glance at Zane. “I love you.”

  “I love you, too,” Zane said as he grabbed the next assailant and threw him to the ground.

  With that image in her mind, she turned and made her way across the bar. She dodged past the bouts of combat or assisted as she went. None of them seemed to be using knives or any weapons, which meant they weren’t fighting to kill. That was something she was glad of. The likeliness of someone else getting killed was low.

  Glass was on the floor by the time Lucinda got there. The woman had a look of shock on her face as Ava pinned her to the hardwood floor. The feral look on the Fringer’s face was disconcerting. The look didn’t suit her pretty features.

  “How can I help?” Lucinda asked.

  “Rope, string…fucking scarves. Anything I can restrain her with,” Ava shouted to her.

  Lucinda looked around the bar. There was far too much fighting going on for her to be able to find anything. She threw herself over the bar and decided to head for the back rooms, hoping to find something there.

  There was a crash behind her as a body came flying over the bar. There was a shattering of glass as the person broke a shelf and a load of glasses. She looked around to find Jacques lying in the mess. She quickly ran to check on him.

  “Jacques, are you okay?” she asked, the worry almost suffocating.

  “Yeah, yeah,” he said, clutching his chest as he got to his feet. “I need a favor.”

  “What?” she asked.

  “I need you to distract the guy I was fighting. I have a way to end this,” Jacques said.

  “Yeah, I can do that, but you need to get Ava a rope,” she said. Even at the thought, her heart started beating a little a faster. She was already telling herself that she could do this, and mentally running through all of the moves that Zane had taught her over the year.

  She stood up, surveying the bar to find her opponent. He was already heading this way. Probably looking for the guy he threw into the drinks cabinet. There was blood pooling from his nose, and there was a pissed off look plastered over his face. Oh, she was no way ready for this, but she was going to do this. No being the pretty little girl anymore.

  “Oh, Zane’s augmented leg, Seattle grade augment, right?” Jacques asked.

  “Yeah,” she responded, a little confused. When she glanced around to ask him why, he was already gone. She shook her head, turned back to her assailant, and jumped on the bar. Time to fight.

  *****

  The plan had come to Jacques when that augmented hand had connected with his cheek. He wasn’t a fighter, not really. He knew enough to get out of a scrap, but in a prolonged fight, there was little chance that he would win. That’s why he had to rely on his brain. As he ran into the back room, he started raiding the storage shelves.

  When he was first homeless, he’d found a garage full of old outdated electrical devices that hadn’t been used in decades. Using the old fashioned handbooks, he’d taught himself all about electronics and how they worked. There was one piece of tech that could really help him out here. An EMP. If he could create a strong enough electromagnetic pulse, then he stood a chance of knocking out the gangers who were flooding the bar.

  From the research he’d done on the Chrome Razors, he knew a lot of their augmentics would be black market or just poor quality. Augmentics like Zane’s leg that came from legitimate Seattle sources would come with EMP shielding, but the second rate stuff, no way. EMP shielding was expensive to produce and install. All he needed to do was find suitable parts. Luckily, Hamish never threw anything away which might come in handy.

  He started dragging old machines off the shelf and tearing them apart. He could hear the fight that was raging in the next room. He had no idea what side was winning, but things didn’t seem to be calming at all. If anything, it was starting to sound worse.

  Now he wished he hadn’t taken the job from Hamish. If he’d just left her alone, then none of this would have happened. Hamish wouldn’t be dead, Ava wouldn’t be hurt, and the bar he loved wouldn’t be under siege. No, he couldn’t start thinking about that; he needed to focus on the job ahead. There would be plenty of time to mourn Hamish when other lives weren’t in danger.

  It only took a few minutes to put the device together. The device was small, but it should cover the entire bar area; if not, then it would knock a few of them offline long enough to give the Casket’s people the upper hand. He was going to have to activate it and run, though. The augmented eyes he had were second hand and poor quality. There was no way that they would survive an EMP. All he had to do was set the thing on the bar, hit the button for it to activate, and then he had about ten seconds to get to the alley out the back. Easy.

  With the device in hand, he slipped back into the bar.

  *****

  Ava didn’t know how long she had been pinning Glass, but she did know that her arms were starting to hurt from restraining that augmented arm. She didn’t know how long she could hold it. Lucinda had gone for rope but had ended up fighting. Now she was waiting on Jacques, and he was taking his fucking time. She could feel the burn in her biceps as Glass was trying to push her off. There was no way she was losing to this bitch again.

  She glanced to the door behind the bar just in time to see Jacques walking out. There was an instant relief in her chest. That was until she noticed he wasn’t carrying any rope, just…she didn’t even know what he was carrying.

  Suddenly, Glass threw her hand out. Ava couldn’t maintain her grip, and Glass broke free. Fuck! There was no way that she was going to trick Glass again. She had to think of another way to take her down. Ava went to throw herself out of the way so Glass couldn’t catch her, but she was too slow. Glass caught her wrist in the metal hand. Her grip was quickly getting tighter and tighter, threatening to shatter the bone.

&n
bsp; Ava bit her lip, fighting against the pain of the hold. There was no way she was going to gasp; she didn’t need to give Glass the satisfaction of knowing how much damage she was doing. She wanted to think her way out of this, but she couldn’t think past the pain that was radiating from her crushed limb.

  She wanted to yell out for Jacques to help, but her pride was holding her back. She could do this herself; that’s how things had always been. But that wasn’t how things should be anymore, should they? What the fuck was Jacques doing over there? Why the fuck wasn’t he helping anyone?

  *****

  As Jacques went to activate the EMP, the thing had started to fall it apart in his hand. He was currently the only thing that was holding it together. He needed more time to fix the thing. It would only take maybe two minutes. He glanced up to the room and was instantly concerned when Glass wasn’t still pinned on the floor. The two women were fighting again. He hoped that Ava would win, but it was obvious that she was struggling, and that concerned him.

  A bead of sweat dripped down his forehead as he fumbled through his tool kit, trying desperately to fix the EMP. Every time he fixed it, it seemed that something else was breaking. He wanted to scream and shout, but that wasn’t going to help him right now. What he needed was to focus on the job at hand. Not the combat.

  He glanced up again. Lucinda was still going blow for blow with his assailant, and she was holding her own, but the blood on her face showed she wasn’t going uninjured in the process. Fuck! It was all going to shit. This had seemed like a good idea, but as usual, things were falling apart around him. He was about to give up on the whole EMP idea when he glanced over to see that Glass had Ava in a hold.

  The whole world seemed to slow down as a glint of silver appeared in Glass’ flesh hand. It was the knife from earlier. There was no way that he was going to be able to cross that distance in time, and if he shot with his gun, he had more of a chance of hitting Ava than Glass. He looked down at the device in his hand. He only had once choice.