More furious than prudent, I rammed the heel of my right hand into the nose nearest to me and shoved up. I heard a growl. It was mine. Mr. Gloves screamed and clutched his nose, which started to bleed through the nose holes in his mask. His gloves were getting messy. “Aaaah, godammid. I dink she broke by dose. Fuck it all doo hell.” He lunged for me, grabbing me by the neck with bloodied fingers, rearing back to smack me with the other hand. His partner stopped him midswing.

“Back off. We got it. Let’s go.” He then grabbed the bottom of my face in his monster grip, a thumb to one cheek, index finger to the other. “You’re done with this, if you know what’s good.”

Gloves cradled his nose, glaring at me through the holes in his messy mask. “Dext dime.”

“Hey, what’s going on down there? Hey!”

Another man’s voice had been added to the mix, and he sounded pissed off. All hands flew off me. The human cluster I’d been in the middle of melted away and I could feel night air on my face. My shirt and jacket front were bloody and bunched up around my chin. I felt along my chest, taking inventory. I’d lost only a couple buttons, thankfully. Buttons I could replace. Teeth? Now, that was a whole other story.

“Oh, good Lord!” a woman screamed from a distance. Or at least I thought it was from a distance.

It was Muna. Muna?

I teetered against the side of the building alone, fresh air flooding over me like a wave of good fortune and newfound redemption. Angry voices being raised in defense, and then the sound of running feet, gave way to the start of a car engine and the squealing of angry tires.

“You all right?” Muna asked.

I gave focusing a try. Two Deeks. Two Munas. Both staring at me. The apartment building across the street undulated lazily like the psychedelic ooze inside a lava lamp.

“Far-out,” I heard myself say.

And then the lights went out . . . and stayed out.

When I came to, I was lying on my back on something cushy. And I was moving. Streetlights in a box flickered past. Out of the corner of my eye, a felt-covered puppy dog nodded lazily at me. Everything smelled of fake pine. Streetlights in a box? Not a box. A window. Streetlights whizzing past a window. Of a car. I was in the backseat of a speeding car. I slowly opened my eyes wider, focused. The something cushy was Muna. My throbbing head was in her lap.

I bolted up, or tried to, but the force of the action sent my brain swishing around in my skull. I eased back down, gritting my teeth. “Owww.” Cass Raines, mistress of the understatement.