The docks in San Pedro had one thing going for them—it was easy to keep everything in front of you and avoid being ambushed from behind if you planned it right. After some deft maneuvering and a dash of lead foot, I arrived at the dock from Burbank twenty minutes before my scheduled meeting, allowing me to position myself perfectly for a quick escape if I needed it. I had never worked with this client before, and the people who hired me had a higher propensity than most to be bottom feeders. Even if most of the bottom feeders I knew had ethics, it paid to take precautions.

I kept the car running while I rummaged through the mountain of weaponry and armor in the trunk, looking for a sheath big enough to hold the curved dagger. Three million dollars for a stupid dagger. I couldn’t believe it, but I wasn’t complaining either. I slid the now sheathed dagger into my coat, slammed the trunk closed, and exited the dock.

Lily and I had been through a lot together, and I loved her more than anything else in my life. She was the only thing that never let me down and had saved me more times than I cared to admit. Even when you are careful, in this line of work, you got into plenty of hairy situations. It paid to have somebody to watch your back—my somebody just happened to be a car.

A 1985 Oldsmobile Cutlass pulled to a stop a dozen yards from me. I pulled down my sunglasses to get a better look at it. It must have been barely off the lot because even in the darkness, it shimmered. I hated the boxy look of 80s cars, which was why I had no desire to get rid of my ’68 Barracuda, even though it was almost twenty years old. They didn’t make cars like Lily anymore.

Neither of the demons who exited the car was my client. I had never even spoken to him except over the phone, and none of my contacts knew anything about the smooth-voiced stranger, which put me on edge. Still, he had already given me five hundred grand in cash as a down payment, which gave me all the confidence I needed to take the job.

The driver was Balaam, a six-eyed demon with an underbite disguised as a black, square-jawed ex-wrestler. The other demon was Moloch, whose horns were tall enough to give him trouble getting in and out of cars. Moloch fancied himself charming, but he was as vile as any demon. They were both bulky and muscular and always chose to remain shirtless, perhaps to show off how ripped they were. I had lived long enough to know that muscles don’t mean much in the grand scheme. A small girl like me was stronger than both of them combined, and I looked like a swift breeze would blow me over.

“Ollie,” Balaam said. The duffle bag slung over his shoulder could have only been my money, even if it looked too small for three million. I knew that money was a lot slimmer than they made it seem in the movies.

“Boys,” I said with a confident smile.

“Do you have it?” Moloch said.

I walked toward the demons, hand tight on the dagger’s hilt under my coat. “Of course. It was a real pain finding it.”

“That’s why it cost three million dollars, right?” Balaam said, gruffly, as if it was his money he was spending and not his boss’s. “We didn’t think you’d show.”

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“I always show.” I pulled the dagger out of the sheath as I removed it from my jacket. I felt the power of it in my hands then, which I hadn’t quite appreciated before. My heart began beating faster, and I took a deep breath.

“Impressive,” Moloch cooed.

“I should have charged you double,” I told them, holding out the dagger for them to see.

“We would have paid it, too.” Moloch beckoned me forward. “Now, give it to me.”

I shook my head and slid back a step. “That’s not how this works. You slide the money over, and then I hand you the merchandise. We talked about this.”

“Afraid we can’t do that,” Balaam said. “Just do as he says.”

Something’s wrong. Sure enough, a moment later, they pulled out their guns, massive hand cannons with barrels nearly as big as my head. The kind of thing impotent and feckless men used to compensate for their inadequacies.

Moloch looked down the barrel of his gun. “Now, hand it over.”

I couldn’t help it. A big grin rose on my face. I was most at home in a fight. Subterfuge wasn’t my jam, even though it was almost always called for in my line of work. I preferred to punch my fist through something squishy when given the chance.

“You don’t want to do this,” I said. “All you’re gonna get is dead, and then I’ll have the knife and the money.”

Balaam’s trigger finger twitched. “I’m sorry about this. You seem like a fine person, but we have orders.”

“So did the Nazis, and they still fried. This is your last chance.”

“Enough!” Moloch screamed.

“Yes, I agree,” I replied. “I have given you enough chances.”

I leaped high into the air as their hand cannons fired, sending several bullets into Lily’s chassis. They would pay for that. I flipped around and landed behind the demons, where my smile dropped into a snarl.

“Now you’ve done it,” I growled. “Chwyth iâ!”

A massive ice blast flew from my hands. It smashed into the two demons and sent them crashing into my car—my beautiful car.

“Lily! Dammit!” She was an innocent in all of this, but with the duffel bag Balaam dropped at my feet when I blasted him, I had the money to fix her up. “Now, look what you made me do!” I knelt and picked up the bag. “I’ll take this as compensation for not killing you. It’ll cost you another three million to get the dagger.”

A shadow filled my vision, but not from the demons. This one was coming from the air in the form of a monster truck. “YOU BITCH!”

I spun out of the way, and an enormous monster truck, purple and red with tires at least six feet around, landed between the demons and me. Blezor popped his head out of the driver’s side door, shaking his fist at me. “I loved you!”

“We barely knew each other!” I almost laughed. “I’m good, but I’m not that good!”

“I’ll kill you!” Blezor screamed. “How could you steal from me?”

“It wasn’t personal!” I shouted back. “It’s just business.”

“That’s bull! Everything is personal!”

I had to get clear of these psychopaths. I couldn’t reach Lily, but the demon’s car sat idling behind me. I slid over the hood and ripped open the driver’s side door. The car hummed under me as I slammed the gear in reverse. The tires screeched, and I took off backward across the dock.

Bullets pinged against the hood as Blezor fired an Uzi at me. That little prick! I looked into my rearview mirror to see a half dozen cars and trucks turn on their lights at the entrance to the dock. The way out was completely blocked by a string of Blezor’s men.

Oh, poor Blezor. You really didn’t know me at all, did you? No wonder we didn’t last.

I slammed my foot down on the brake and spun the car until I was straight on with the blockade. Blezor was gaining with his monster truck.

“Tonnau sioc!” I shouted, and a shockwave echoed out from the car as I gunned it forward. Two cars in the center of the blockade flipped and crashed upon two other cars, giving me the perfect window to freedom. I slid through them and out into the night, Blezor hot on my heels.