on her, Iâm guessing youâre a stranger here yourself.â
âIf youâre guessing, it seems I have you at a disadvantage.â The girl was apparently British and sounded amused. âYouâre Anthony Motson ⦠and your companion is Tye Chery.â
Tye frowned, sensed Motti stiffen beside her. âWell, donât that make me nostalgic. Ainât been called Anthony in years.â
âI see the two of you have wrecked our transport,â the girl went on. âNow weâll have to take yours.â
âIs that so?â Tye kept her face impassive and her grip on the gun tight. âHowâd you know who we are?â
âMy nameâs Bree. Glad you could make it.â Her smile grew wider as she held out a hand to Motti, who ignored it. âI suppose youâre here to help your friends? They could use it. Theyâre in a lot of trouble.â
Motti glowered at her. âIf theyâre in trouble, Breezy,
youâre
in trouble. Now what say we go find them all together?â
âDonât trust her,â the redhead told them, in an accent difficult to place. But wherever she was from, she was speaking aloud Tyeâs own thoughts: this Bree girl seemed too relaxed, too confident by half. âSheâs a psycho,â the girl went on. âShe and her friends tore this place apart, theyâve got Mr Blackland ââ
âIgnore Maya here,â Brie interrupted smoothly. âSheâs a student librarian, and really not very helpful.â
Maya flinched. âIâm only here for the summer,â she whispered.
âIâd say your employmentâs terminated.â Bree turned back to Tye and Motti. âWeâve acquired the Guan Yin manuscript. The Bloodline Cipher is ours. And pretty soon weâll have all your friends, too. In pieces.â
âThen the cavalryâs arrived just in time,â snarled Motti. âYouâre gonna take us to them right now.â
Suddenly Tye noticed Breeâs eyes flick twice between them and the inner door.
Thatâs why sheâs so confident
. âMot, sheâs been stalling for time.â Tye took a warning step nearer the girl, both hands on the gun. âSomeoneâs coming ââ
The handle of the door jerked suddenly, and the heavy wood swung open to reveal a man standing in the doorway, paunchy and grey. Motti was already running to intercept. He punched the old man in the stomach and chopped him on the back of the neck as he crumpled to the carpet.
âNo!â Maya shouted as she saw him fall. âMr Blackland!â
The owner?
Tye took in the huge bloodstain spreading over the back of the manâs pale shirt and swore.
Poor old guyâs dead
, she realised with a sick feeling,
a decoy, just propped in the doorway to distract while â
Motti looked up angrily from the corpse â right into the swing of a baseball bat. He yelled out as the wooden club cracked against the side of his head, shattering his glasses, knocking him to the ground.
âMotti! Tye yelled, swinging the gun round to cover his attacker â but Bree had anticipated the movement and swung her palm down edgeways in a karate chop that almost took Tyeâs wrist off. The gun slipped from her numbed fingers â but Tye was already turning to kick Bree in the stomach. The blow hit home, and Tye followed through with an uppercut. But her opponent feinted backwards, caught Tyeâs forearm and bent it back hard. Gasping with pain, Tye was forced to the ground where she got a knee in the face. Tye jack-knifed backwards, hit the floor in a daze beside Motti. He was out cold, a thick crimson dribble running down his temple from the hairline. Tye felt a stab of panic and fought to stay calm. If she could only rest a few moments, get her strength back â¦
Bree had picked up Tyeâs gun and now surveyed her dispassionately. Abruptly she turned towards the
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