Before she could get her feet back under her, Zahra was bull rushed and taken to the ground. She responded as if her skin was on fire and thrashed, bucking and clawing wildly. She heard a pair of grunts as her fingernails caught her attacker in the face. He straddled her smaller frame and pressed his weight down on top of her.
Zahra needed to fix their positioning and do so quickly.
She grabbed him by the hair and pulled while also snagging his left nipple and twisting hard. Zahra was not known for fighting fairly. His assault paused long enough for her to bring her legs up behind him. She wrapped her muscular legs around his head and yanked them back down to the ground. The man was dragged backward, bent over at a weird angle.
She released him and scrambled to her feet, aided by a nearby dresser. Her assailant rolled onto his hands and knees and went to push himself up. Zahra grabbed the first thing she could — a lamp — and slammed it on the back of his head. It was a glancing blow, and it only caused him to stagger. He was still very much in this fight.
He stayed low and shouldered into Zahra’s gut, taking her into and through the bathroom door. Zahra dropped a series of elbow strikes on the back of his head before being thrown backward into the tub. Her skull struck the wall, and she saw stars.
In her dazed state, Zahra was dragged back into the bedroom and thrown onto her bed. The bigger man straddled her and quickly clutched her neck with both hands. Zahra’s air was instantly cut off. She desperately tried to drive her hooked fingers into his eyes but couldn’t reach them. His arms were too long, and he was too strong.
“Stop,” Zahra croaked. She was already seeing spots. “Stop, wait.”
But her attacker wasn’t stopping
He was killing her.
In the far recesses of her mildly concussed mind, she heard her door open.
“Zahra!”
A split second after her name was shouted, Zahra’s attacker was bowled into. His grip was jostled free, and he and Zahra’s savior, Yana, went tumbling off the bed. They hit the floor with a bang and began trading blows. Unlike Zahra, Yana stayed on top and drove fist after fist into the man’s now bloodied face. The Russian was a savage.
Zahra couldn’t move. She took in several life-giving breaths before she could do anything but lie still and inhale and exhale.
The only other female in the room yelped. Zahra lifted her head in time to see Yana get thrown into the mirror mounted on the wall opposite the bed. She landed atop the dresser in showering glass, then rolled off and onto the floor with an audible “Oof.”
Zahra silently rolled off the bed and stood on trembling legs. She needed to disable the brute quickly. Luckily, she knew of a sure-fire way to do so.
She kicked the unknown attacker in the testicles from behind. The blow bent him over. From her back, Yana jabbed at his throat. The quick shot was enough to make him stagger away toward the bathroom. Zahra shuffled over to her fallen sister, grasping her neck with one hand. She helped Yana to her feet with her free hand, using what little strength she could muster. Both women steadied the other, then charged the bigger man as a pair.
They went high, shouldering into his chest. The trio continued into the bathroom and into the shower. The same tile that had concussed Zahra cracked beneath his weight as he struck it. He rebounded off the wall and fell toward Zahra and Yana. His mass was too much for the injured pair, and all three fell to the floor of the tight bathroom. He was half out of it, which was still half too much for Zahra’s liking.
Yana must have felt the same way.
She snaked out from beneath him, grabbed a towel, and wound it up tight. She gripped it in both hands and did her best hitman impersonation and wrapped the makeshift garrote wire around the man’s neck.
He fought back and got up on his knees, shouting at them in German.
“You will not find the Underworld! You will die before—”
Zahra sat up and punched him in the stomach.
His air left him, as did his words. His retaliation dwindled.
For good measure, Yana yanked his head to the right and slammed it into the corner of the sink. The big man crumpled to the floor, crushing Zahra beneath his girth.
“Ugh,” Zahra moaned. “Coulda gone without that.” She looked up at Yana. “Little help?”
Yana pulled Zahra out from beneath the hulk and helped her up. Both women were bleeding from small cuts. Zahra had fared much worse. It hurt to speak and to swallow.
“What the hell was that about?” Yana asked. “Was he speaking German?”
Zahra nodded. “Yeah,” she rasped. “He said something about not finding the Underworld?”
“The Underworld?”
Zahra shrugged. “That’s what he said.” She took a deep breath. “Someone is trying to stop us.”
Yana snorted. “You think?”
Zahra shot the Russian a quick, annoyed glance. “The Germans?”
Yana was still holding Zahra’s arm, and she was thankful for that.
“Could be,” Yana replied. “We are investigating a Nazi U-boat, yes?”
