The Most Dangerous Dame

The Mean Ol’ Broad tumbled from my hand when I fell backward. My head rebounded off the floor, giving me double-vision long enough for a worm’s-eye view of Natalie’s feet sailing over the table. Both were planted in my chest, crushing the wind out of my lungs. As I writhed and gasped for air, she kept moving. Somersaulting off my body, she landed smoothly and snatched up the Mean Ol’ Broad. I thought she had forgotten about the bio-recog and would try to shoot me again.

Instead she whipped around and caught me square in the chin with the pistol grip. Stars exploded across my vision and the coppery taste of blood laced my tongue as my head snapped back. Natalie didn’t stop moving. She dropped the Broad and snapped off one of the table legs. Her eyes were wild when she hoisted it above her head.

“You had to go and ruin everything. You always were the weak link.”

The table leg blurred as she swung downward. There was a sharp crack as I blocked the blow with my arm. I couldn’t tell if it was the wood or my arm that splintered. From the agonizing jolt of pain that flared from wrist to elbow, I figured the latter.

She raised the leg again. “I told you I’d kill you before I ever let you walk away. You obviously don’t remember I always keep my word.”

I kicked the side of her knee before she swung. I couldn’t put much power into it while lying on my back, but it was enough to buckle her leg and stagger her. I leapt to my feet, trying to flank her long enough to make a grab for the Mean Ol’ Broad.

Natalie wasn’t having it. The table leg blurred in her hands when she charged with a snarl. I took a hard shot in the chest that nearly cracked my sternum, but I managed to latch on to the leg and rip it from her grasp. My bum arm prevented any counterattack and Natalie took full advantage, seizing me by the collar with an enraged scream. Her forehead battered my face, knocking me nearly senseless. My vision blurred as I groggily tried to shove her away. Her knee slamming into my groin put an end to that. I ate the carpeted floor with a groan, queasy from the explosion of pain in my guts.

Her hair flailed across her face. “I took you in, Michael. I protected you when everyone called you soft. I saw the potential in you and I knew you would come around in time. I made you one of the best, and this is how you repay me.” Each sentence was punctuated by a savage kick. I barely felt the impacts, still occupied with the earlier blow to the nether regions. Somehow I managed to catch her foot and shove. She stumbled back, tripped over the discarded table leg and fell.

The door banged open, admitting two swaggering Mafia boys in pinstriped suits and Trilby hats cocked on their heads. Both toted Thompson machine guns. The taller goon took in the scene with an exaggerated smirk.

“Looks like we got here just in time, Donny.” He sniggered. “Looks like Mick can’t handle his moll. Whaddya say, doll? You gonna be a good girl or do we hafta put a little lead in ya to get you to cooperate?”

His face crunched when struck by a flying table leg. His Thompson erupted as he fell, sending a blaze of bullets across the room. His partner Donny cursed and ducked for cover from the ricocheting slugs. I dropped to the floor as the hot lead whizzed dangerously over my head.

When I looked up, Donny gurgled in fear. Natalie had disarmed him, taken his Thompson and used it to strangle him from behind. His eyes widened for a second before she gave the weapon a savage twist. His neck crackled. Natalie let his limp body fall to the floor.

I dove for the Mean Ol’ Broad. The trail of gunfire that trailed me was faster. I felt fire flare in my shoulder and leg before the blaze of slugs stopped. My limbs refused to respond as the agony flared. I took a painful glance at Natalie. She yanked a spare drum magazine from Donny’s belt and reloaded her weapon.

Tires squealed outside, accompanied by the sound of yelling voices as the windows flooded with the glare of headlights. Natalie finished reloading and crouched by the window, peering from the cracks in the blinds.

“Looks like more of your friends. I’ll deal with you after I take care of them.” She sent an offhanded burst of gunfire my direction. The slugs missed, but tore apart the china cabinet behind me. The heavy frame groaned agonizingly as it buckled. I could only stare in disbelief as the plates and dishes upended on my head.

Followed by the entire cabinet.

Things got hazy at that point. I recall blacking out, but it must have been only for a few seconds. Lightning was the first thing to greet me when I came to. Paparazzi-style flashes filled the room, along with the nonstop rumble of heavy gunfire. Crippled by bullet wounds and half-buried in china, I could only turn my head.

It was perhaps the most beautiful sight I’d ever seen.