LITMIR.BIZ

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strolled to her table, pulled her compact and lipstick from her tiny beaded pocketbook and carefully reapplied the vivid color. Jake Greco and the girl were halfway to the door. Allie fluffed her hair, gave her body a little shake and walked directly into Greco’s path.

      “Why in such a hurry, handsome?”

      He stopped, briefly startled by her abrupt appearance. “Allie Chase,” he said, digging his fingers into the girl’s tender skin. “What do you want?”

      Allie examined her nails. “Oh, nothing. I was just wondering why you always go after half-grown schoolgirls who can’t fight back.”

      A look of pure fury crossed his face, and then his mouth twisted in a smirk. “Why would any girl want to fight me?” He yanked Miss Yellow-Dress around to face him. “They all love me. Ain’t that true, doll?”

      The girl averted her eyes, every muscle in her thin frame straining against him. “Let me go,” she whispered.

      Greco laughed. “They always say that. It don’t mean nothing.” He fixed Allie with a hard stare. “Get outta my way, bitch.”

      “Give me one good reason why I should.”

      He raised his fist. “I’ll give you five.”

      She lifted her hand to her forehead and feigned a swoon. “Oh, deah. Whatevah shall Ah do?”

      Greco swore and barreled forward, shoving Allie aside. She spun around and seized the back of his collar, jerking him to a halt.

      “Come on, Jake,” she said. “You can do better than that, even if you do like to rape little girls.”

      In one motion he released Miss Yellow-Dress and swung on Allie, his fist slicing the air like a meat cleaver. Allie moved lightly out of the way, grabbed Jake’s arm and twisted. With a cry of pain, Jake fell to his knees. Allie held his arm behind his back and kicked him in his posterior.

      “Want to try again?” she asked.

      He snorted like a bull, his face beet red. “I’ll kill you, bitch.”

      “No, you won’t.” Bruce came to stand beside Allie, Nathan at his back. “Allie’s got too many friends, and you’ve got too many enemies.”

      “That is right,” Kolya said, his heavy-lidded eyes flat with hostility. “You had best find another place to do your hunting, svoloch.”

      “And remember you ain’t the only one who carries protection,” Jimmy said, patting his coat suggestively. “Them that live by the sword die by the sword, so they say.”

      Allie’s heart warmed at her friends’ support. She didn’t need their help, but it meant something that they were willing to give it.

      “You heard them, Jakey,” she said, blowing her breath into his ear. “You can get up and walk out of here…alone. If you pull your gun, you’ll never make it to the door.” She glanced up. “Pepper?”

      “I’m here, darlin’.”

      “Look after the girl, will you?”

      “I’ll do that little thing. Come on, sugar.”

      Allie heard the tap of two pairs of pumps moving away. When she was certain the girl was out of harm’s reach, she released Jake. He scrambled to his feet and thrust his hand inside his coat. Allie struck him across the face so hard that he crashed into the nearest table.

      “One last chance,” she said. “Get out.”

      Jake pawed at the broken table and hauled himself up, swaying like a drunken bear. Allie could see the thoughts plodding through his head as he weighed his chances. In the end he must have decided that Allie Chase was too strange a creature to fight. He staggered out the door.

      Allie brushed at her dress and muttered a curse when she noticed the run in her left stocking.

      “Send Jake the bill,” Bruce suggested. His eyes twinkled with appreciation. “That was quite a show, honey. Hard to believe a little thing like you can fight so well.”

      “You did it for the girl,” Nathan said, glancing toward the table where Pepper sat with Miss Yellow-Dress.

      Allie smoothed her hair. “Jake needed taking down a peg, that’s all.” She kicked off her pump and removed the ruined stocking. “Get me a drink, Kolya, would you?”

      Kolya sauntered off, and Allie went to join Pepper and Miss Yellow-Dress. It was obvious that the girl had been crying, and Pepper was doing her best to comfort her. The girl’s long hair had fallen out of its pins, and her rouge was smeared. A fresh drink sat on the table before her.

      “It’s all over now, sugar,” Pepper was saying. “That bad man won’t hurt you again. Allie made sure of that.” She looked up with a smile. “And here she is now.”

      Allie slid into a chair opposite the girl, pushing aside the empty glasses. “You mind giving us a little privacy, Pep?”

      “Sure thing, darlin’.” Pepper went off to join a friend at a nearby table, leaving Allie alone with the girl.

      “Are you all right?” Allie asked.

      Miss Yellow-Dress met her gaze, and for the first time Alley saw that her eyes were a rich combination of brown, gold and green, large and expressive and filled with confusion.

      “I…” She swallowed. “Thank you so much for what you did.” Her voice held the slight trace of an accent, made somewhat indistinct by the lingering effects of alcohol.

      But Allie barely heard her. She was struck by a realization that had utterly escaped her until this moment, an awareness that made her skin prickle in a way it hadn’t done since a certain meeting in an alley off East Forty-second Street.

      “What’s your name?” she asked.

      The girl hesitated. “Ruby.”

      “Ruby what?”

      “Du…Dubois. Ruby Dubois.”

      Kolya arrived with Allie’s drink, and she took a fortifying mouthful before she spoke again. “This is your first time at a speak, isn’t it?”

      “Y-yes.”

      “How old are you, Ruby?”

      “Six…almost seventeen.”

      “Do you understand the risks you took tonight?”

      The girl stared at Allie’s glass. “Yes.”

      “Does your family know where you are?”

      “No.”

      “Then hadn’t you better call them and let them know?”

      “No! I mean…” Ruby hunched her shoulders. “I don’t want him to find out. Anyway, I’ll be home before he knows I was gone.”

      “He?”

      “My brother. He’d kill me if he knewI’d come here.”

      I’ll just bet he would, Allie thought. “Why didn’t you fight harder when Jake tried to take you out? You could have overpowered him, just as I did.”

      “I beg your—”

      “I know what you are, Ruby.”

      The girl’s eyes widened. “You do?”

      “Sure. Amazing how easy it is to tell once you’ve got the knack.”

      “Then you…you’re one of us?”

      “Try again.”

      “Oh.” Ruby flushed with mingled fear and excitement. “You’re a—”

      Allie pressed her finger to Ruby’s lips. “You’re the only person here who knows.”

      “Not

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