“Oh shut up,” Sophia sneered, raising the gun towards Nina’s face. “Eddie, I hope you can see this. I’m going to kill your little tart. What do you think about that?” For just the briefest moment, her gaze flicked sideways to look at Chase-

Nina lunged forward.

She grabbed Sophia’s arm with one hand as she twisted out of the line of fire, using the other to knock the gun from her grip. It hit the floor, a sharp edge gouging out a chunk of polished wood, and skidded under the coffee table.

Momentarily startled, Sophia stared after it before looking back at Nina, a mocking smile forming. “Oh, you have been practicing with Eddie, haven’t you?” Her other hand snapped up and seized Nina’s upper arm.

“But so did I,” she hissed, yanking Nina towards her and sweeping her right leg at the other woman’s feet.

Nina tripped and fell to the floor, landing hard on her elbows next to the African statue. Old bruises flared with new pain. Across the room, Chase’s eyes met hers, but he was powerless to help.

Sophia ran to the glass table, bending down to get the gun.

Nina jumped up, needing a weapon of her own, finding one-

Sophia’s hand had just closed around the gun when the statue cracked down across her back like a baseball bat, so hard that the head of the sculpture broke off and bounced across the room. Before Sophia could respond with anything more than a cry of pain, Nina swung the carving again, this time hitting her shoulder. Sophia staggered and fell, the gun spinning from her hand.

Nina raised the statue, about to slam it down on Sophia’s head-

Sophia kicked, catching Nina just above one knee and sending her stumbling backwards. Her calves braked against the edge of the coffee table and she fell onto the glass. It exploded beneath her, only her outstretched arms against the frame stopping her from landing on the broken shards.

Clutching her shoulder, Sophia got to her feet, hunting for the gun. It was on the far side of the room, near the balcony window. She rushed for it.

Nina painfully rolled over the side of the table’s frame and crunched down on her knees among the broken glass, blood oozing through a dozen cuts in her back. She looked for Sophia-

She had the gun!

Nina threw herself behind the kitchen counter as Sophia fired, three shots blasting chunks of fractured marble out of its top. She crashed against the cabinets on the back wall, the door of one popping open to reveal an assortment of cleaning products.

She grabbed a plastic spray bottle, frantically unscrewing its cap…

The gun raised, Sophia advanced on the counter. She saw movement behind one end and turned to fire-

An arc of liquid flew from the end of the open bottle as Nina swung it, bleach splashing across Sophia’s chest. The Englishwoman managed to bring up an arm to protect her face, but even diluted to act as a kitchen cleanser the chemical gave off a pungent stench strong enough to sear her nostrils, choking her. Sophia reeled, coughing and rubbing her eyes.

Nina jumped up, looking for another weapon. She saw Chase’s Castro figurine on the counter and thought of hurling it at Sophia, then changed her mind and yanked the cord of the coffeemaker out of the wall before flinging the machine over the counter. A dark spray of coffee grounds burst from the lid as it hit Sophia’s gun arm, jolting the weapon from her grip and sending her staggering back against one of the armchairs.

Nina snatched a large carving knife from the wooden block and ran out from behind the counter. If she could reach the gun…

Eyes red and streaming, Sophia saw her coming and pulled the leather seat cushion from the armchair, raising it like a shield as Nina slashed the blade at her. The leather split open, sliced yellow stuffing bursting out like fat from a surgical incision.

The gun was on the floor between them. Sophia rammed the heavy cushion against Nina’s face and upper body, knocking her back a step. Then she dropped, hand outstretched-

Nina kicked wildly at the gun. It skidded across the room to end up a few feet from Chase.

But he couldn’t reach it, couldn’t move anything except his eyes…

Sophia drove a fist into Nina’s stomach, then threw the torn leather cushion hard into her face. Nina stabbed blindly with the knife as she staggered, but Sophia dodged it and clamped a hand around her wrist. She struck at Nina’s fingers with her other hand, fiercely bending them back.

Nina screamed as joints crunched beyond their limits, nerve endings blazing. The knife dropped from her hand.

Still twisting Nina’s fingers, Sophia brought her elbow up hard and smashed the point of the bone against Nina’s temple, twice. Dazed, Nina fell onto the chair.

Sophia searched for the knife, but it had ended up amid the broken glass from the table. Instead she turned for the gun.

Nina sat up, head spinning, seeing Sophia running from her.

And beyond her was Chase. Their eyes met, just for a split second. Then he looked away, not at Sophia…

But at his outstretched hand.

Nina instantly knew what he wanted her to do.

She flung herself across the room at Sophia just as she picked up the gun and spun to shoot-

Nina tackled her at shin height. Sophia wavered, then fell backwards, landing on Chase’s hand-and the dart clutched in it.

Sophia’s eyes went wide as she felt the metal spike stab into her back, knowing what it was, what was about to happen to her. “No!” she cried, the shriek falling to a strangled gasp as the toxin took effect.

Nina released her legs and pulled the gun from her trembling hand. She threw the weapon aside, then looked down at Sophia’s terrified face.

“Help me…” Sophia barely managed to whisper. “Please…injection…”

“There’s an antidote?”

“Yes… in dart gun…” Her eyes flickered in the direction of the abandoned weapon.

Nina checked it. Clipped under the barrel was a small metal tube. She opened the cap and tipped the contents into her hand; a syringe.

Sophia watched pleadingly, eyes begging her for help, but Nina just regarded her coldly for a long moment. “There’d better be enough for two people,” she said, holding up the syringe. “Because if there isn’t, I’m going to sit here and watch you die… bitch.”

“Well,” said Chase, surveying the room from the couch, “the apartment’s fucked.”

“You know what?” Nina replied, curling up next to him. “You were right. It’s not really us. We can get somewhere nicer. And cheaper.”

“We’ve probably lost our deposit, though.”

She nodded at the bullet holes in the counter. “Oh, ya think?”

The antidote had worked; it only took thirty seconds before Chase could move again. She had been sorely tempted not to give what was left to Sophia, but he persuaded her to deliver the lifesaving drug-once he had retrieved the gun.

An alarmed neighbor had already called the police after hearing the gunfire, and it didn’t take the NYPD long to arrive, finding Sophia tied up on the couch with Nina triumphantly holding the gun on her. There were some jurisdictional disagreements when the FBI and Homeland Security turned up soon afterwards over exactly who should take custody of the country’s most wanted terrorist, but it was quickly decided they could be settled after Sophia was securely locked in a cell. She gave Nina and Chase a final hateful glare as she was handcuffed, then was hustled away, leaving them alone to contemplate their wrecked apartment.

“So,” Chase said, putting his right arm around Nina, “any chance of that coffee?” She pointed out the broken coffeemaker lying on the floor. “Ah. Guess not. Why’d you throw that and not Fidel? You could’ve finally got rid of the ugly bugger.”

“He’s not so bad. Thought I’d give him a second chance.”

Chase got her meaning. “Well, probably a good thing. Coffee keeps me up all night anyway.”