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As she neared the pawn shop that she kneas a front for selling weapons, she pulled out one of the throay phones she’d bought the week before and texted her contact to infor lot She’d purposely smeared dirt and mud over the license plate and she parked in the farthest spot with her tail end turned toward the street She’d been inside the shop during noruise and knew the owner didn’t have any video cameras, but she liked to be careful It had been drilled into her o and so s and the neon sign that said OPEN was turned off After her text, the sign flickered on once, then went off just as quickly It was her signal that it was clear to co down the nearly deserted street--except for prostitutes and drug dealers skulking in the shadows--she slid fro lot

She hadn’t had tiloves so she pulled her sweatshirt sleeves down to cover most of her hands and when she opened the front door, she used the sleeve The ht by the entrance Manuel, the seller, stood about five feet ten inches and he was clearly in charge She would have known even if she hadn’t done recon With dark hair and watchful dark eyes, the Hispanic man had an air of cockiness about hi white s in his ears, nose, lips and eyebrows Pretty stupid for a security guy to be pierced like that when his own body art could be used against hiuy strode toward her, she held out her arms She’d known they would want to frisk her for a wire and weapons He looked al so easily, but she didn’t have tiet out

She kept her gaze straight on Manuel as his thug searched her When his hands stayed a little too long on her butt, she gritted her teeth "Keep uy chuckled, as if the thought was ludicrous, but the rest of his scan was quick and efficient Manuel’s gaze narrowed slightly on her, but he was silent until Mr Piercings stepped back

"She’s clean and has the money strapped around her middle," he murmured

Manuel nodded once "What do you need weapons for?"

Mara snorted "Are you in the business of questioning all your clients or are you asking because I’m a feave an inch or showed fear they would pounce like the predators they were

"Cal her

"I’ If you want to do business, fine If not, I’ll go somewhere else" She intentionally nahtened and he was suddenly all business Manuellocked, then signaled for her to follow hi her back to anyone so she kept an eye on the lass cases as she followed Manuel to the back The other guy wasn’t far behind her, but he’d given her enough personal space that she didn’t feel crowded

The second she stepped past a gaudy beaded curtain into a private office, she realized that Manuel didn’t plan to sell her anything She could see it in his rigid stance and when he made a move to draeapon from underneath the front of his shirt, she struck out first

Knowing she only had seconds toat her back couldn’t take her out with his sheer strength, she sla out, he flew backward, rolling over his desk Though she wanted to lunge after him, she turned and slammed her foot down on the otherwildly at her, but she kept attacking Kicking out, she made contact with his knee this time He let out a hideous screa up with her knee, she broke his nose and ripped out his eyebrow ring with her hand Pulling out the ring was overkill, but she didn’t care She needed hih it felt like an eternity, only seconds had passed As she swiveled back toward Manuel he was struggling to pull hiht Thankful for the extra seconds he’d given her, she quickly scooped up the gun he’d dropped and pointed it at his head while the other man moaned in a bloodyof a revolver Pointing both weapons at thea few feet between the had twisted so that it was obvious it wasn’t her hair but the cap was on tight enough, keeping it in place They h to cover her pale eyebrows and they were both a little distracted She doubted they’d be worrying about her hair color

"Do your noruel sweetly "Bad way to do business"

Manuel kept his hands in the air as he stood, cursing at her in Spanish as he shot daggers at her with his eyes

"Enough," she snapped when it didn’t seem as if he planned to stop his tirade "I want the weapons I cas playing poker "There are two Glock 17s, a 357 and a 45 in a safe"

"Are the last ones S their first conversation She was picky about her weapons of choice