The Most Dangerous Dame

She dropped the Broad and reached behind her to unsheathe a six-inch tactical blade from her belt. “You still think this is funny business, don’t you? Let me show you something funny. I’m going to cut your little tramp’s face from ear to ear. She’ll be laughing then. Permanently — just like the others. Just like Maxine.” She smiled as she seized Electra by the hair and pulled her head up. “I want you to watch, Michael. I want you to remember who you really are.”

I yanked against the manacles until the steel bit into my flesh. “Natalie… ”

She placed the tip of the blade just inside of Electra’s mouth and paused. “You haven’t told me what my real name is, Michael. You tell me that and your little wildcat lives. Come on, Michael. You can do it. It’s so easy.”

I grimaced, frantically trying to unearth the stolen memories. No matter how hard I concentrated, nothing surfaced. My mind was a sprawling maze, but I was sealed inside a tiny section of it by towering walls of oblivion.

Natalie’s eyes rimmed with red as she shook her head. “You really are lost, aren’t you? Time’s up, Michael. Maybe this will finally jar your memory.”

Heavy footsteps reverberated down the hall. Natalie dropped Electra and stood quickly as a burly giant barreled into the room at full speed. He roared as he closed in on Natalie’s diminutive form.

Ben the Bear.

Benny never slowed when he slammed into her, seemingly unaware of the combat dagger she stabbed deep into his abdomen. Natalie’s feet left the floor from the force of the impact. Her body was already limp by the time it busted completely through the drywall to the adjoining room with a bone-splintering explosion of dust and broken wall beams.

Benny whirled, his eyes feverish as he looked for more combatants. He finally calmed down when he recognized me.

“Mick. What… what are you doing cuffed to the bed?”

“Being interrogated, Benny. Terrible stuff, can’t talk about it. Grab the key over there, willya?”

After finally being freed of those horrible cuffs, I found my pants and strapped the Mean Ol’ Broad back under my arm. My shirt was a ragged mess after being sliced open by Electra, but there was nothing I could do about that. I pulled on my suit jacket and placed my Bogart back on my head. “Electra all right?”

Benny looked up from where he crouched over her. “Broken arm, some cuts and bruises. She’ll be ok. Her pride will hurt worse than anything.”

“I thought you were babysitting Lord Troll. What the hell happened?”

His broad back stiffened. “Excuse me for saving your ass, Mick. Ms. Sinn had Lord Troll taken care of. He’s at Neo Luxe being watched by Oscar Greco’s boys. Oscar’s falling head over heels to get back in my uncle’s good graces. Sinn ran that mathematical bunk and figured I’d be better used over here.”

“Well, I can’t argue with math. Stay with Electra.” I pulled the Broad and ducked in through the cavity in the wall. The room was thankfully empty of any innocent patrons. A clear trail of debris and blood spatters led down the hall.

And out the open door.

“Dammit. She’s dusted out, Benny.”

“What? No way she brushed that hit off.”

“You’re not factoring in a healing system powered by nanoaccelerators.” I put the Broad back in her holster and returned to the other room. “I’ve gotta go after her. You stay here. Sinn will alert the paramedics and get you and Electra taken care of.”

“Me? I’m coming with you, Mick. We almost had her. Sinn’s got access to Lord Troll’s entire surveillance network. Your girl’s got nowhere to go where we can’t find her.”

“You’ve got a knife in your gut, Benny. You’re in no shape to do nothing but rest. I’ll take it from here.”

“I got a knife… in my—” Benny stared disbelievingly at the crimson stain that spread around the protruding handle. “I didn’t even feel—”

“You’ll feel it in a minute. Leave it alone. Let the paramedics handle it.”

His eyes practically swam in his head. “Am I gonna bite it, Mick? Is this how I go out?”

“You’ll be fine, kid. It’ll be all right, I promise.”

He slowly sat on the bed, eyes alternating from the knife handle to anywhere else in the room. His chest heaved. “I’ll be all right. I’ll be all right… ”

“You will. And hey, kid — you did good.” I pointed at him. “Keep an eye on Electra. Help’s on the way.”

He gave me a sickly grin. “Nothing to it.”

I left the room and strode down the hall. “Sinn, you did alert the paramedics, right?”

“I alerted them when the first shot was fired. They’re entering the building now.”

“Fantastic. You got a bead on Natalie?”

“Of course. She’s taken a floater to the skylanes. Not to worry. Lord Troll gave up all of the SS safe houses. I’ve already narrowed it down based on the trajectory of her flight path.”

“Good. Stall her and send the data to my holoband. How’s Poddar doing?”

“He took out the gunman and the backup agent, but took a bullet in the arm. He’s on the way to a hospital to get sewn up.”