Chapter 4: The Elevator

I pulled on yesterday's dress and my boots, and took the knife.

Bram put on a jacket over his T-shirt and followed me to the elevator.

"You're coming?" I asked.

"It's my building."

"It's my delivery."

"Then we'll both be disappointed."

The doors opened on a long marble lobby.

The doorman stood behind his desk, looking relieved to see us.

A man in a courier's gray jacket waited by the mailboxes with a long white box under his arm.

He was fifty, with a gray beard and thick wrists.

His shoes were wrong.

Couriers wear sneakers, and his were black work boots with steel toes.

Under his jacket collar, a thin wire ran up behind his ear.

"Ms. Tierney?" he said, and smiled.

"That's me."

"Needs a signature, ma'am. I was told to bring it up personally."

"Of course you were."

Bram's hand touched the small of my back.

I stepped into the elevator without taking my eyes off the box.

The man came in after me, and Bram came in last.

The doors slid shut.

The car began to rise, humming.

The man in the gray jacket lifted the lid of the box with one hand.

There was no gift inside, only a short black pistol with a suppressor.

I took his wrist before the barrel cleared the cardboard.

I turned it hard, and the bones went with a wet crack.

He grunted and swung his left fist at my head.

I ducked under it and drove my elbow into his ribs.

The pistol fell and skidded across the floor.

He caught me by the hair and slammed me back into the mirrored wall.

The glass cracked behind my skull.

I saw white for a second, and then I saw him raise a heavy boot.

I kicked his knee sideways before it landed.

He dropped.

I came off the wall, took his head in the crook of my arm, and held on.

He clawed at my sleeve and tried to bite me.

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