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“How well you put it,” Gaynor said.

Bruno stood away from the wall, limber and eager. Oh, well. I slid off the bed on the opposite side. I had no desire for Gaynor to grab me. Bruno’s reach was over twice mine. His legs went on forever. He had to outweigh me by nearly a hundred pounds, and it was all muscle. I was about to get badly hurt. But as long as they didn’t tie me up, I’d go down swinging. If I could cause him any serious damage, I’d be satisfied.

I came out from behind the bed, hands loose at my side. I was already in that partial crouch that I used on the judo mat. I doubted seriously if Bruno’s fighting skill of choice was judo. I was betting karate or tae kwon do.

Bruno stood in an awkward-looking stance, halfway between an x and a t. It looked like someone had taken his long legs and crumbled them at the knees. But as I moved forward he scooted backwards like a crab, fast and out of reach.

“Jujitsu?” I made it half question.

He raised an eyebrow. “Most people don’t recognize it.”

“I’ve seen it,” I said.

“You practice?”

“No.”

He smiled. “Then I am going to hurt you.”

“Even if I knew jujitsu, you’d hurt me,” I said.

“It’d be a fair fight.”

“If two people are equal in skill, size matters. A good big person will always beat a good small person.” I shrugged. “I don’t have to like it, but it’s the truth.”

“You’re being awful calm about this,” Bruno said.

“Would being hysterical help?”

He shook his head. “Nope.”

“Then I’d just as soon take my medicine like, if you’ll excuse the expression, a man.”

He frowned at that. Bruno was accustomed to people being scared of him. I wasn’t scared of him. I’d decided to take the beating. With the decision came a certain amount of calm. I was going to get beat up, not pleasant, but I had made my mind up to take the beating. I could do it. I’d done it before. If my choices were a) getting beat up or b) performing human sacrifice, I’d take the beating.

“Ready or not,” Bruno said.

“Here you come,” I finished for him. I was getting tired of the bravado. “Either hit me or stand up straight. You look silly crouched down like that.”

His fist was a dark blur. I blocked it with my arm. The impact made the arm go numb. His long leg kicked out and connected solidly with my stomach. I doubled over like I was supposed to, all the air gone in one movement. His other foot came up and caught me on the side of the face. It was the same cheek ol’ Seymour had smashed. I fell to the floor not sure what part of my body to comfort first.

His foot came for me again. I caught it with both hands. I came up in a rush, hoping to trap his knee between my arms and pop the joint. But he twisted away from me, totally airborne for a moment.

I dropped to the ground and felt the air pass overhead as his legs kicked out where my head had been. I was on the ground again, but by choice. He stood over me, impossibly tall from this angle. I lay on my side, knees drawn up.

He came for me, evidently planning to drag me to my feet. I kicked out with both feet at an angle to his kneecap. Hit it just right above or below and you dislocate it.

The leg buckled, and he screamed. It had worked. Hot damn. I didn’t try to wrestle him. I didn’t try to grab his gun. I ran for the door.

Gaynor grabbed for me, but I flung open the door and was out in a long hallway before he could maneuver his fancy chair. The hallway was smooth with a handful of doors and two blind corners. And Tommy.

Tommy looked surprised to see me. His hand went for his shoulder holster. I pushed on his shoulder and foot-swept his leg. He fell backwards and grabbed me as he fell. I rode him down, making sure my knee ground into his groin. His grip loosened enough for me to slip out of reach. There were sounds behind me from the room. I didn’t look back. If they were going to shoot me, I didn’t want to see it.

The hallway took a sharp turn. I was almost to it when the smell slowed me from a run to a walk. The smell of corpses was just around the corner. What had they been doing while I slept?

I glanced back at the men. Tommy