"Well, there are seven of us, so I think it might be a crapshoot," Annie said, her hand on the door handle, ready to slide it open if her help was needed. "If you don't want to be part of the action, you just sit in here and play with your pearls."

"That hurt, Annie."

"It was supposed to sting, Myra. Ah, look, they went right past, but now they're backing up. Get ready, girls. Oh, dear, those men look like lean, mean fighting machines."

"How many are there?" Myra demanded, her voice now ringing with confidence.

"I see four," Annie hissed.

"Piece of cake," Myra shot back.

Annie turned around, and said, "Myra, my dear, you rock!"

Myra beamed. Alexis and Isabelle clapped in approval.

The three dowdy-looking women were bent over poking at the tire when four strapping men, Little Fish in the lead, approached. Yoko was jabbering a mile a minute in Japanese as she kicked out at the tire with a shoe that looked like it belonged to a longshoreman.

"What seems to be the problem, ladies?" Little Fish asked.

Yoko straightened up to her four-foot-eight height and said, "You are the problem!" She pivoted, her right leg swinging out like a piston, felling the man nearest Little Fish, while her left hand, fingers like steel rods, jammed into the man on the other side of Fish.

Nikki took the third, while Kathryn did a lightning pirouette and had Fish in a neck vise as Yoko reached for the gun on his hip.

Kathryn dusted her hands dramatically. "Guess that takes care of that! What should we do with them?"

The door to the white van slid open on well-oiled tracks. Annie held up her hand for silence. "Trouble," she hissed.

"I think the question is, what should we do with you?" a voice said from the SUV, where three men stepped to the ground, guns drawn.

Quicker than lightning, Yoko had her foot on Little Fish's neck. "Make a move, and I crush his throat." She bellowed for Annie and the others, who raced to the scene.

Myra and Alexis reached for the newcomers' guns and tossed them into the desert. Her foot still on Fish's throat, Yoko handed the gun to Annie.

"Get over there and sit down with your friends while we decide what to do with you," Isabelle shouted.

Kathryn looked over at Yoko. "You didn't kill those two, did you?" She sounded like she was asking if Yoko had picked up eggs at the grocery store.

"I don't think so." Yoko shrugged to indicate it didn't matter one way or the other.

"You," Myra said, pointing to the three newcomers. "Come over here, sit down, and put your hands over your heads."

Annie had Fish's gun and was waving it around. "Move, and I'll shoot you. Ask Mr. Fish here how good I am with a gun."

Yoko stepped away from Fish.