Stella
DR. STELLA JAYNE WALSH FROZE, the hair on the back of her neck
rigid as her body reacted to the sense that someone was behind her. Relax, she thought. You know what to do. A creak in the floor
gave the person away and Stella whipped around, snatched the man’s fingers, and
bent them back on his hand. He cried out and fell back. She thrust her palm
into his chest and, as he coughed, she sent him to the ground by kicking his
legs out from under him. He grunted as he hit the floor, cringing from the
pain.
She pounced on top of
him and punched him in the chest again.
“Okay! Okay! Stop!” he
shouted.
“Stella,
that’s great, no, I think you, yes—” said another man behind her.
Her self-defense coach called to
her, and his hands touched her arms. “Wow! Great job, Stella,” Brian said, “but
what’s one thing we could have done differently here?” He turned to address the
rest of the class as they stood in a circle around Stella and Dan. Brian pulled
Dan up from the floor, and Dan shook his head as he massaged his sore
fingers. Stella was about to apologize
when her phone rang, calling to her from her bag on the bench next to the
sparring area. It was the special ringtone for the hospital, Mercy General.
“Hello,” Stella said. “Yeah, oh …
okay. I’ll be right there.” When she hung up, she felt a touch on her arm.
“It’s 2019, Stella. I
can’t believe you still have a flip phone,” said her friend Sarah.
“I know, but I only need
it for actual phone calls, and I hate texting,” Stella said. She zipped up her
winter jacket and brushed her hair out of her face.
“You okay?” Sarah asked.
“Yes, I’ve got to get into surgery,
but other than that—”
“No, I mean, you kind of pissed off
Dan, I think.”
They both glanced over their
shoulders to see Dan scowling at them from the other side of the room.
“He’ll be fine,” Stella said.
“Are you sure you’re all
right? It’s not been that long since the shooting.”
very nice cover, congrats on the release
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