A Marriage of True Minds: A Sasha McCandless Novella by Melissa F. Miller Read Free Book Online

gotten herself into? And
would she be of any help? She was clearly brave, but Sasha could only hope she
was battle tested.
    “Now?” Naya
stage-whispered.
    Sasha nodded her
head. “Go.”
    Naya threw
herself to the ground with a loud yelp. Sasha pulled the door nearly closed,
and she and Aroostine squinted through the crack.
    “Somebody help
me!” Naya shouted. “ ¡Ayúdeme! ”
    The door from
the kitchen banged open, and heavy footsteps sounded in the hallway. Naya
clutched the shears in her right hand and twisted her body to conceal them from
the men advancing toward her.
    There were two.
One, stocky and out of shape, breathing hard but running fast. The other looked
to be in much better shape. They wore the same uniform as the boy who was
currently tied up in the dressing room.
    The heavier one
reached Naya a moment before his companion.
    “I twisted my
ankle. I need a doctor,” Naya said loudly in slow English.
    She stretched
out her left hand, and he reached for it. He pulled her to her feet, roughly,
and, as he did, she lost her grip on the shears.
    They clattered
to the floor.
    His eyes
followed them, narrowing in surprise and fury.
    Watching from
the closet, Sasha felt her stomach lurch.
    “ ¡Puta! ”
he roared.
    At the
expletive, Naya’s eyes flitted toward the closet door.
    Sasha didn’t
think Naya could see inside, but she tried to convey a look of calm, just in
case.
    The man wrenched
Naya’s arm behind her back at an awkward angle. His friend drew near, laughing
and leering.
    “Oh, crap,”
Aroostine whispered.
    “Time for Plan
B,” Sasha whispered back. “On three. One, two, three.”
    They burst from
the closet.
    Sasha plowed
into the back of taller man, aiming for his knees.
    He toppled over
and landed on the ground on his stomach.
    She scrambled up
and straddled his back. Then she grabbed a fist full of his dark hair with one
hand, lifted his head, and drove his forehead into the floor with a bang .
With her other hand, she reached around to his hip and relieved him of his
machete.
    Aroostine
retrieved the scissors and advanced toward the big guy, who had twisted Naya
around to serve as a partial shield, although he was much wider than she.
    “Let her go,”
Aroostine said.
    He laughed and
tightened his grip on Naya.
    As he leaned to
the right and fumbled with his sword, Aroostine lunged forward and drove the
shears into the left side of his belly in a fast, stabbing motion. She pulled
them out and plunged them back in again.
    He bellowed and
released Naya. She sank to her knees near the wall. Blood sputtered from his
stomach like a fountain.
    Aroostine dropped
the scissors and clamped one hand over the man’s mouth. With the other, she
pulled him by his shirt into the closet. She stuffed a cleaning rag in his
mouth and used another to bind his wrists.
    Sasha followed
with the tall man, who moaned wordlessly as she dragged him unceremoniously
across the floor by his feet. Aroostine gagged him with rag and then bound his
hands as well.
    They shoved both
men into the space, arranging them under the shelves and squishing them
together so that the door would close. It would be tight quarters until someone
found them, but Sasha could muster no sympathy.
    She did,
however, have a great deal of concern for Naya, who sat still in the middle of
the floor, now clutching the shears and taking fast, shallow breaths. Her eyes
were pinned on the kitchen door, unblinking and dilated, waiting for someone
else to come through it.
    Sasha squatted
beside her.
    “Hey, you did
great.”
    Naya didn’t look
at her.
    Aroostine joined
them, crouching on the other side of Naya.
    “You sure did.”
    “So much blood,”
Naya managed, letting her eyes flick down toward the stain that had formed on
the floor.
    “There is a lot of blood,” Aroostine agreed. “But, it’s a superficial wound. Those bleed
a lot. He’s going to live.”
    “Is that true?”
Naya demanded of Sasha.
    Sasha didn’t
have the slightest