Gilliard spun around and looked in the direction of the voice. He moved toward it quickly.

Knife, Jessie screamed as she tried to scramble to her feet. Hes got a knife.

Gilliard crouched at the edge of the hedge as Karen came into view. She was looking the wrong way.

Time seemed to stand still. Jessie flashed back to the moment only months ago when she watched helplessly as her ex-husband plunged a knife into the chest of her partner, the man she loved. Now it was all happening again. Another partner was about to be attacked and she was too far away, powerless to stop it.

But almost as quickly as she had the thought, she rejected it. It wasnt true. She wasnt powerless. This didnt have to end the same way. She could stop it. She had to try. All at once, the world sped up again.

Behind you! Jessie shouted as Gilliard lunged at Karen.

Her partner turned around and managed to get her arm up in time to block the knife as it came toward her. But the blade embedded in her arm and the gun dropped from her hand. Karen let out a bloodcurdling scream.

Jessie tried to ignore it as she ran toward Gilliard, who was attempting to yank the knife out so he could stab Karen again. Hed just ripped it from her flesh when Jessie dove at him from behind, slamming her shoulder into the small of his back. As he lurched forward into the hedge, his body bent back in an unnatural U shape. Now it was his turn to scream.

His arm, knife included, was tangled in the branches of the hedge. He seemed unable to extricate himself. Jessie got to her feet and punched him in the kidney. He groaned and dropped to his knees. As he did, his face slid down, scraping along the hedge. But he was still holding the knife.

Drop it, she yelled.

He wouldnt let go. Suddenly all the pent-up fury that had built up over the last few days spilled out of her. She would not allow someone else to be hurt on her watch. She would stop this, no matter what.

She didnt have a weapon on her so she proceeded to punch the arm holding the knife, first the triceps, then the elbow. When he still wouldnt release the knife, she began pummeling the same spot at the elbow junction over and over again. She lost count after a dozen blows. Finally he loosened his grip and the knife fell to the ground, too deep in the hedge to be reached.

Step back, Jessie.

She looked to her right. Karen was sitting on the ground with her knees up. Her right arm was propped on her right knee, aiming her gun at Gilliard. She used her left arm to steady her right.