“No deal!” Natalie said. “What’s wrong with you guys? She’s a kid.”

“She’s got enemies, and she’s not exactly popular right now. As far as a lot of people are concerned, a lot of people who watch television, she’s fair game. If you get in the way, so are you.”

“That’s not how it works. There is no ‘fair game’.”

“If we can get away with it, it’s fair,” he said.

“It’s really, really dumb to attack a tinker in her workshop or home,” Kenzie said. “You’re being recorded on cameras.”

“No,” Natalie said, quiet. “Not a good approach.”

“But they’re being idiots. They’re not going to get away with it, so it’s not fair or good.”

“You’re just making them desperate,” Natalie murmured.

“She’s not making us anything,” the guy retorted.

“I’m not making them desperate and I’m not making them anything,” Kenzie said. “Because I’m giving myself up.”

“No,” Natalie said, seizing Kenzie’s arm as Kenzie walked past her. “No.”

“Yes. You and Tony are cool and you don’t deserve this.”

“They’re going to hurt you.”

“Probably. Or kill me. That girl over there is Colt, hi Colt.”

“How do you know my name?”

“Her mom misses the hell out of her, since she left home to go be a henchman for Nailbiter. Nailbiter is in Love Lost’s group, and Love Lost’s group is all about violence and threats. Protection rackets, debt collection and doing hits on people. Sometimes hits with prejudice. Making it hurt.”

The guy smirked. Colt looked away, down the stairs.

Kenzie smiled back at the guy. How could she do that?

Natalie, already glancing back behind her to see Kenzie’s expression, glanced down. If her phone had landed screen-up, then she might be able to see if there was a signal. If so, could she grab her phone, grab Kenzie, and get into one room, barricading themselves in there?

The phone was gone.

Was Kenzie doing something? If so, Natalie could—

She had no idea what she was supposed to do. It was another moment and…

She could only trust.

“Colt,” Natalie said. “If you want out, if you’re trapped, you can call. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done, we can get you the best possible result.”

Stupid, to say it in front of the guy.

He advanced on her. She backed up, and she bumped into Kenzie. It let him close the distance by another step, the point of his knife moving toward her chest. She raised a hand, ready to defend herself in the meager way that a hand could fend off a knife, and he swiped out in the direction of that hand. She let it drop.