Page 132 of Fury In Death

She unblocked the door, got in, ordered the security level.

As she started down, she worked out how it made the most sense.

Then he dropped down out of the grid, and was on her.

Chapter Nineteen

Down, hurt, dazed, she still reached for her weapon. As the blow she never saw coming slapped down, as her wrist exploded with pain, it skidded out of her hand.

“Don’t,” he said. “Don’t. Stay down. I don’t want to hurt you again. I want you to listen.”

She swung out; he knocked her fist aside with a force that radiated through her whole body. She managed an elbow strike, which seemed to surprise him enough to give her room to aim the next fist.

When it connected, pain rushed up her arm, but she reached toward her ankle and her clutch piece.

Once again, she didn’t see it coming. It came too fast, a blur of movement.

But she felt it, the short-armed jab to the face that blew through her in a shock wave. She tasted blood; her vision grayed even before her head bounced against the elevator wall.

She felt him rip her ankle holster away like it was made of paper.

“You need to stop.”

She came up, head ducked, leading with both fists.

He moved like lightning. Her body flew up, slammed against the elevator wall. Her left shoulder screamed from the impact.

And she dropped like a stone.

“Stay down! You can’t win here. I’m faster, I’m stronger. I don’t want to hurt you, you’re doing your duty. But I will because I’m doing mine. I want you to listen.”

“I know who you are, what you’ve done, why you’ve done it.” The stunner, she saw, though her vision hadn’t quite cleared, was just out of reach.

Distract him, get to it. Push through the pain and get to your weapon.

“If you want me to listen, come with me into Central.”

“You know that’s not going to happen. I’m not finished.”

“Steve.” Use his name, use his name, she told herself as she swiped at the blood on her face.

She had to take a moment, just a moment, because even breathing hurt.

“I know what they did to your family, to all those other people who were just living their lives. We’re shutting them down, Steve. The whole company. We’re taking it down.”

“You really think you can?”

“I think we have. We came here to arrest Jacob Wyst. We have arrested Calvin Banner. We will extradite Jack O’Brian.”

“I heard. I was listening. I’d just gotten off the top of the elevator when it started down. It surprised me. I wanted to see who was coming. Maybe Banner.

“Then I listened. My hearing is very acute while I’m on the serum. I needed to be strong, be fast to do what needed to be done. I was so weak, weak and thin and frail after all those years. I could barely walk half a mile.”

He’d aged, Eve saw now. White, pure white, dominated his hair, with only a few dark streaks mixed in. His face, lined with time and trouble, his eyes shadowed by fatigue.

“If you listened, you know Banner-Wyst is done. Banner and O’Brian, and anyone else we find is or was complicit, they’ll spend the rest of their lives in prison.”

“Banner owns politicians, judges, more.”