The Gadget: The Rondon Chronicles Book One by V. Timlin (speed reading book .TXT) 📕

her face. She took a deep, slow breath, listening to her body, but no fuzziness crept in.

Nat exchanged shots, risking a glimpse outside. Whoever was giving them a hard time on the other side of the wall forced him to dive back down again. Although Anouk’s heart tried to break through her ribcage and she did her best to become one with the stone wall, she was frustrated. Nat alone kept the thugs at bay. There had to be something she could do.

Footfall came from the small entry. Nat shot a glance at Anouk and cocked his head towards the doorway. Anouk nodded. Yes, it was her job to watch his back, but her katana lay in the middle of the room.

“Shit,” she growled and darted towards her sword, keeping low. Bullets whistled over her head and she barrel rolled across the floor.

She crouched just in time to see the door curtain swinging aside and a man jumping in, firing towards Nat. Nat dropped to his stomach and returned the fire. The attacker dodged sideways, avoiding the bullet by a mere inch, and aimed to shoot again. Anouk lurched towards the man, raising her katana to slice him down. As if sensing Anouk’s attack, he spun towards her and fired.

A sharp tug on her side pulled her off the balance just before she slashed her sword down. The attacker dove under Anouk’s blade, missing it by a narrow margin. With adrenaline pumping in Anouk’s veins, she leapt up again and ignoring the burning sensation in her side, she kept swinging her sword vertically. The intruder jumped backwards, firing again, but his shot went wide, hitting the stone wall.

Anouk snarled and started to press the man with a series of quick cutting motions, but her foot caught an iron pan and she fell flat on her stomach. She pushed her upper body off the floor, but something hard and round pressed on the back of her head. She froze. Oh, double shit! The man was standing over her, resting his gun on the base of her skull.

“She…” the man started, but never finished. A gunshot boomed in the confined space. The man grunted and crumpled on the floor next to his prey. Silence fell over the room.

Anouk stumbled up, her body shaking. She looked at Nat, who peeked outside from the broken window. His shoulder line relaxed and he turned giving a thumbs up. Relief washed over Anouk—it was over, and not a minute too soon.

“I’ll check the bodies,” Nat said.

She nodded, happy to let him do it. She didn’t want to touch them.

Nat knelt next to the man who a minute ago tried to kill his partner. He went through his pockets and patted down the body. Anouk’s stomach flipped, but she managed to hold its content inside. Nat moved to search the other two men. Her stomach protested again so she decided to check the damages to the room to take her mind off it and in case she saw Rose again.

The table and chairs were toppled over, pans and kettles scattered on the floor, three bodies lay sprawled and shards of broken glass were everywhere. What a mess… She knelt down next to her bag and carefully checked its interior. As she guessed, one of the glass globes had taken a hit. After removing the shards, she glanced up. Her jaw dropped; the kerosene lamp was intact. How was that even possible after all the shooting? Not that it was a bad thing. If it had been shot down, it might have caused a fire that would most likely have had devastating consequences.

A hand landed on Anouk’s shoulder and she started—pain stabbed between her ribs. She sucked in air through her mask.

“Did you get hurt?” Nat asked.

Anouk touched her side and looked at her hand. There was blood. When had that happened? Oh, yes, when she tried to slice the intruder in half and he dodged under her blade. So the sharp tug and burning had meant this. How close was the first vital organ and how narrow had her escape been? A few inches? Her head started to spin.

Nat reacted in a split second and made her sit on a chair. She pulled her mask off and took a deep breath, trying to steady her panicking mind. She was alive, she was alive… There was no scent of lily of the valley anymore, just blood. Her stomach lurched and she vomited. Nat jumped aside just in time. Slimy brown half-digested food landed on the spot he had stood a moment ago. Wonderful, Rose would so appreciate this mess.

Nat pulled his mask off; concern creased his face. “Let me check your wound.” He lifted her shirt’s hem. “A flesh wound,” he said, relief in his voice. “I’ll bandage it quickly, and we will treat it properly back at camp. We can’t linger here.”

Anouk nodded. “Yes, let’s leave now. I’ll manage, don’t worry.”

“I know you will.” Nat smiled at her. “We’ll go, but first we take care of your wound.”

Anouk wanted to protest, but gave in with a sigh when Nat pulled a small sachet from his inside pocket. Guess it was better to give first-aid sooner rather than later and avoid possible deadly consequences like blood poisoning. Nat opened the sachet and took a white bandage out.

“You have a first-aid kit with you?”

“Of course. Now, keep the shirt’s hem up.”

Anouk did as he said. Nat’s face frowned in concentration when he pressed a cloth against Anouk’s side and wrapped the bandage around her torso. She couldn’t help wondering what he was thinking, seeing her skin. Was he studying her body the way she had when Vari had treated his wounds?

Nat tied the bandage and stood. “That’ll do. Vari will clean it properly later. Let’s go.”

Anouk tucked the hem inside her trousers. “I’ll get to experience that white balm of hers, won’t I?”

Nat grimaced. “Unfortunately.”

“It can’t be that bad.”

“You’ll see.”

Nat checked the street before they stepped out. For the