Page 163 of Jay Bird

His weapon remained trained in her direction, yet his eyes stayed locked on hers.

Then he gave her the smallest nod.

Willow wasn’t sure whether he had meant anything by it, but something inside her immediately responded.

She heard Nova’s voice in her head. “Whatever you do, never quit.”

Being afraid didn’t make her weak, and panic didn’t have to control what happened next. She could feel both and still fight. That was exactly what she intended to do now.

Willow drew in as much air as Chen’s hold allowed and forced herself to stop fighting against his arm. She needed him to believe she was frightened enough to cooperate. She needed him concentrating on the dozens of armed men surrounding him instead of her.

Liu slowly lowered his weapon and looked around the property.

“Chen, it’s over.”

“Don’t,” Chen snapped.

“There is no way out of this.”

“I said shut the fuck up!”

One of Chen’s other guards moved suddenly. Willow never knew whether he had panicked or believed he had spotted an opening, but the sharp crack of a gunshot shattered the standoff.

Everything changed in an instant.

People shouted as Chen jerked behind her, and Willow didn’t wait to understand what was happening. She dropped her weight the way Nova had taught her and turned hard into Chen instead of trying to pull away. Surprise loosened his arm just enough for Willow to wedge her bound hands between his forearm and her throat.

Then she drove her elbow backward.

Chen grunted as her elbow connected with him, and the arm around her neck loosened another fraction. Willow twisted, throwing everything she had into the movement despite the pain tearing through her bruised body. Her bound hands made the maneuver awkward, but she didn’t stop. She struck him again, turned her shoulders, and finally felt his arm slip away from her throat.

Chen grabbed for the back of her shirt as she stumbled forward, but Willow tore away from him just as more gunfire erupted behind her. She threw herself toward the ground, landing hard on her shoulder and hip while bullets struck the concrete somewhere nearby. Tiny pieces of concrete sprayed across her arms and legs, stinging her skin, and Willow curled inward as much as her bound hands allowed.

She barely had time to cover her head before something heavy came down over her.

Willow screamed and instinctively tried to fight until a familiar voice reached her through the chaos.

“I’ve got you, Willow. I’ve got you.”

Jay Bird.

Every bit of fight went out of her at once.

He covered her completely with his body, shielding her while shouting continued around them. Willow buried her face against his chest and grabbed whatever part of him she could reach. The gunfire seemed to last forever, although she knew it couldn’t have been more than several seconds before it finally stopped.

The helicopter still thundered overhead, and men continued shouting commands around them, but Jay Bird didn’t immediately move. He remained over her until someone called that the scene was secure, and even then he only lifted himself enough to see her face.

“Willow, look at me.”

She did, and the expression on his face nearly broke her.

Jay Bird looked scared. She had watched this man handle everything with an almost irritating calmness since the day she met him, yet nothing about the way his eyes searched her face or how his hands moved over her shoulders, arms, and sides felt calm.

“Were you hit?”

“I don’t think so.”

“What do you mean, you don’t think so?”