Free Matadora by Steve Perry Page A

Colin would get pounded if he tried to stop Brute, she was sure of that, but maybe she could get away while it was happening. But probably Colin wouldn't be stupid—
    "Bend off," Brute said. "Me 'n' dark meat here have business, isn't that right, dish?"
    Dirisha knew her eyes were wide, and she shook her head. "No, I—" Brute squeezed her arm so hard, Dirisha gasped. "Ah!"
    Colin reached out and laid his hand on Brute's shoulder. "Let her go!"
    The move was fast and savage: Brute released Dirisha and slammed his fist into Colin's belly; the younger man bent suddenly, trying to breathe, and before he could straighten, the freight handler clubbed downward with one thick forearm, catching Colin across the shoulders. The move flattened Colin onto the dirty floor.
    Dirisha tried to bolt, but Brute was faster. He blocked her path, arms stretched wide, grinning.
    Dirisha spun, looking for an exit. There was no place to go.
    The small woman who had been noselining kick-dust looked at Dirisha.
    The amphetaminic gleamed from the woman's eyes as she took in the scene.
    For a moment, Dirisha locked gazes with the woman, in a wordless plea for help.
    "C'mon, dish. Time to go make me feel good."
    Dirisha turned, and Brute grabbed at her. She lunged away, pulling her arms to her chest.
    "I said now, meat!"
    "Back out, friend," came a quiet voice from behind Dirisha. The girl turned, and saw the woman standing there, legs wide, arms held up, and her fingers spread into claws.
    The freight handler laughed. "Back out? Shit, I might— but with two dishes instead of one!" Brute grinned, but the grin faded as the small woman caught and held his gaze with her own. She looked... insolent, that was the word which came to Dirisha's mind. Not the least bit afraid.
    Brute's grin faded. "Bend off, cunt. This don't concern you."
    "Yes, it does," the woman said. "Let her go and back out."
    Behind the bar, the tender was coding in a call for the cools, but they wouldn't get here in time, Dirisha knew. She found herself holding her breath.
    The freight handler glanced around. Everyone was watching him, and Dirisha saw him set his teeth; muscles jumped in his face. "Remember, you asked for it," he said. He stepped toward the small woman, more swagger than anything else. His grin returned.
    Brute's smile vanished as if slapped from his face. His mouth gaped and he groaned. It happened so fast, Dirisha wasn't sure of what she had seen, but what it looked like was the little woman snapped her foot up and kicked Brute square between the legs. The noise of her foot smacking into his groin was loud in the silent pub.
    While the surprise still danced over his face, the little woman moved again.
    Once, when she'd been very young, Dirisha had gone to the offworld fauna exhibit at the Flat Town Fair. There had been a lizard there, from some far world, a reddish creature no bigger than her hand, as harmless looking as could be. While she watched, one of the zookeepers dropped a grain rat into the pen. The rat was a big one, almost three times the size of the poor lizard, and Dirisha gasped, afraid for the reptile. She had once seen a big dog driven off by a pair of such rats, an alley mutt hungry enough to attack a human child. The lizard was as good as dead.
    The rat spied the lizard and set to pounce; before he could, the lizard darted in, took a hunk of skin and flesh the size of a man's thumb out of the rat's throat, and was half a meter away before the rat realized he was hurt.
    Three times more the lizard whipped in and out, scoring deeply on the rat, before the stunned mammal fell over and died. Dirisha had been amazed, as had most of the other watchers.
    Now, ten years later, Dirisha watched this woman take out the freight handler, much as the lizard had taken the rat. Her hands and elbows slammed into the man's face and neck; her knees thudded into his crotch; her booted feet lanced across his legs and ankles. Brute tried to back away, but the woman stayed