Double Dragons
1
“Just put her in the bag.”
The frightening words jolted Melissa Jones out of the book she was reading.
Just who was trying to put whom in a bag?
The library was eerily dark all around her. She’d stayed late, reading, as she often did after work, because she tended to get caught up in books and because there was no one waiting at home for her.
Being assistant librarian with a key to all the books in the world was truly the perfect job.
Until a bunch of thugs had to come along and ruin it.
Her heart pounded as she plastered herself to the wall and risked a look out the side window.
A large group of the some of the biggest, meanest-looking men she’d ever seen was partially blocking the window. As she moved to the other side to get a better look, she realized there were at least a dozen. All angry, all fierce. All twice her size or more.
And they were looking down at something in the center that she couldn’t make out. Something that was whimpering in a heart-wrenching way. They’d said words like “kidnapping,” “slavery,” and “valuable.” And the growls and mewls she heard seemed to be coming from a human child—girl, she thought, though she couldn’t see properly.
Human traffickers. And even though she was woefully unequipped to take them on, she would sooner cut out her own heart than walk away without trying to stop them. No child deserved something like this. No human for that matter.
Melissa took a deep breath and considered her options.
At 5’4” with an amply curvaceous figure and no athletic ability to speak of, she knew she wasn’t the best option for a hero. But she also knew with the slow response of police in the little town, the group could be gone and untraceable by the time they arrived.
She heard another yelp from outside and felt her heart thump hard inside her.
Despite her fear, her heart hammered in approval as she walked stubbornly to the door and opened it wide, drawing the men’s attention to her instead of their prey.
“You there,” she said, trying to figure out what one would say to human traffickers. “Stop what you’re doing.”
The man closest to her straightened to full height and stared at her with glowing yellow eyes. The rest of the men followed suit. Most were wearing dingy black leather and had longish, shaggy hair and unshaven faces. Their eyes gleamed as they stepped between her and their prey, blocking her view and eyeing her with thinly veiled rage and something a little more predatory.
She clenched her hands into fists at her side and tried to stay calm, despite being hopelessly outnumbered. “I’ve called the police,” she lied. “Just get out of here.”
“Not until we take what’s ours,” the leader said. “If I were you, I’d just turn around and go straight back into that library, little lady.” He flashed a sneering grin at her, his teeth looking more like fangs. She took a hesitant half step back but then held her ground, pointing a finger at them.
“No, you need to leave her alone and move on,” she said, still hearing little yelps and growls from whatever they were hiding.
The tallest one, the one in front, cracked his neck abruptly, keeping flashing yellow eyes on her as he approached. “Oh yeah?” He advanced on her menacingly. “And what are you going to do about it if I don’t?”
She took a step back but put her fists up defensively. This was going to be stupidly easy for them, but she would die knowing she’d done the right thing. She hoped the self-defense classes she’d taken at the community center helped her put up at least a token fight.
A few men stepped out from behind the others. Damn, there were more than she’d thought. Cold fear spiraled down her spine in icy lines, but she held her ground. She heard more whimpering and held firm.
“Don’t come any closer,” she said.
The lead eyed her lazily, like he was deciding how best to dispatch her without anyone knowing. The sad truth was it would be all too easy. Melissa had practically made a career of not having any connections in this small town, and she had no family to speak of.
No one would miss her. The thought was chilling.
“You should just move along, ma’am. This ain’t none of your business,” a man with scraggly blond hair said, stepping into the light. “You should just go back into that library where you’ll be safe.”
The dark-haired leader sent the blond man a silencing glance. “It’s too late for that now. She’s seen.”
“She ain’t seen much. Just us helping taking this wolf cub back to the forest,” the blond man said, moving aside to give her a view of what they’d been threatening.