Her heart pounding, she heard the sound of battle. Determined to protect him even from his own stupidity, she dropped the coat and ran after him. She slowed as she saw the bodies he’d left in his wake. Well, don’t I feel worthless.

Without her, he appeared to have had no problem getting through them all.

But what concerned her were the bloody footprints that were so large, they could only belong to one being. And there was a lot of blood.

Terrified for Dancer, she followed the footsteps, taking care to pay attention so that no one came up behind her. By the time she reached the bay, she was afraid of what she might find.

“Shoot him, Uncle Hauk! Blow his minsid head off!”

Sumi stayed in the shadows as she saw Thia being held by the man who had told Dancer to surrender. Her young face was battered and her lips bleeding. As her old memories surged, Sumi wanted blood. How dare they harm a girl Thia’s age!

His hand perfectly steady, in spite of the blood on him, Dancer eyeballed the man. Dancer’s lips and face were swollen and bleeding. “Kill her and you know what happens next. They’ll be scooping your brains up with a ladle for weeks.”

Darice was tied and gagged while Bastien lay in a heap near Dancer. He appeared dead.

Sumi turned her attention back to Thia and realized the man had target fixation as he watched Dancer. He had no idea that she was here.

Moving silently, she positioned herself so that she had a clear shot to the assassin’s head.

Thia’s gaze slid to her, but she gave no outward clue to the men that she saw her. All the fear faded from her eyes as she knew instantly what Sumi was about to do.

With a single nod, Sumi held up three fingers to let the girl know when to expect the shot. When she got to her fist, Thia picked her feet up and dropped straight to the ground at the same time Sumi fired.

The man staggered back and Dancer unloaded on him. No one moved until he stopped shooting. Only then did Thia look up with tears in her eyes as Dancer ran to her.

Sumi went to Darice, who didn’t move at all. He was completely frozen. “Darice? Are you in shock?”

He blinked slowly as he scanned the room full of bodies and then looked to his uncle. It appeared he couldn’t comprehend what Dancer had done. He frowned at Sumi. “But he works in IT.”

She laughed at Darice’s confusion. “He doesn’t work IT, sweetie.” Ruffling his hair, she cut Darice loose and went to check on Bastien.

“Is he alive?” Dancer asked.

She glanced over her shoulder to see Dancer with Thia in his arms. “Yeah, but they beat him terribly.”