Ch 32

Amy turned the knob of the servant's quarters and stopped short. A middle-aged man with thinning hair, muscles and bronzed skin held a gun pointed directly at her.

"Shut the door." He said. Amy complied. She was caught off guard, she wasn't expecting anything like this. It only took her a moment to put all of the puzzle pieces together.

"You're Antonio Marcellius" she said raising her hands in surrender, knowing she had to relay as much info as possible to the others on their comms.

"Move to the end of the hallway," he said waving the gun at Amy, ignoring her statement. She complied again.

Her mind was spinning. If both Antonio and Marcus were here, then they had to be close. The added element of a loaded gun made her think that the art must be close too. Or was it? She had to get him talking.

As he flattened himself against the wall so she could walk in front of him, he gave her a prolonged sniff which sent a repulsive shiver down her spine.

Jake had to be close. She only needed a few moments to stall before he got there. Then, gun or no gun, they'd take him down as a team.

"You've moved it, haven't you?" Amy questioned. "You wouldn't have left it here tonight with all of these people around. Too risky."

"Sounds like you've already answered your own question." Marcus said, pulling a pair of zip cuffs from his own pocket. "Put your hands together above your head."

"No," Amy replied, knowing if her hands were out of the fight she'd be in trouble.

"I'll shoot you!" he growled, pressing the gun into her back.

Amy turned around. "No, you won't. You're an art historian, not a murderer. You've lovingly watched over your pieces for decades. You got away with it. No jail time awaits you, the statute of limitations has long past. You won't kill me now because it would be foolish."

"Oh, is that right?" Antonio Marcellius questioned. He lowered the gun but stepped right up to Amy now. "Then maybe I'll do something else to you then."

Amy tasted bile in her throat. She started backing away from him toward the balcony window at the end of the hall. Where was Jake? Hurry up! Amy made to kick the gun out of Antonio's hand, but he was anticipating this move from her and he dodged it. He planted his own kick directly to her stomach. It knocked her backward into the window which sprang open and she stumbled out onto the small balcony surrounding each of the mansion's windows.

"You know, it took me a long time to figure out where I'd seen you before. You're all dressed up tonight, like you're going to Cinderella's ball but that's not your normal look. Normally, you're wearing jeans and sweatshirts and poking around museums after hours with your little brother, aren't you?"

Amy's face hardened, "You ordered that attack on us."

Antonio had his own hardened look, "No, that's a little below my pay grade, but I did hear about it. I've been keeping tabs on you, Amy Cahill and I have to say, I'm impressed. No wonder that boyfriend of yours likes you so much." At these words, his eyes traveled over her body as he stepped closer to her.

His gaze made her skin crawl. She was not in a good position. The balcony at her back and nowhere to go. She'd just have to fight her way out of this one. She crouched into her fighting stance.

"You gonna kick me again?" Antonio asked, "You think you're the only trained fighter? Bring it on, little girl."

Amy kicked out hard, catching him in the chest, but she didn't have the momentum she needed because of the space, and, the dress was getting in the way. As a result, he only took a single step backward and then lunged at her. He grabbed her right arm and twisted it painfully behind her back, rendering her useless. He leaned her forward over the railing, trapping her.

He leaned forward over her back so he could whisper in her ear. She could feel him pressing his whole weight on her and the revolting sensation roiled through her. He made to kick her legs apart wider, but she resisted as hard as possible, but failed.

"You're going to listen to me now. I've worked too hard to make my dream a reality to have some, Veronica Mars, take down my world." He was sniffing her neck as he said this. The pain of her right arm wrenched so far out of join was making her see stars. "You and your little friends are going to—"

But what they were 'to do' never came. A nearby door crashed open, Amy could feel Antonio go flying and her arm was released, numb tingling making its way down to her fingers. She turned to see Jake go flying across the hallway, slamming Antonio into the wall. He hauled the man up to his feet and began to pummel him across the face with his fists. Antonio was stunned and blood was gushing down his nose.

"DON'T—"

"YOU—"

"EVER—"

"TOUCH—"

"HER—"

"AGAIN!" Jake spat throwing a punch in between each word.

Antonio slumped to the floor, dazed and bleeding all over his shirt. He glanced down at his now broken nose and tried to make sense of things.

Jake rushed over to Amy, but she was just getting started. Far from scared and needing comfort, she had her own justice to dole out to the man who was going to—well, Amy didn't want to think about what would have happened if Jake hadn't been there. She methodically rifled through the known attack stances she had learned from her Sensei and picked two that would inflict the most pain. She was shaking with fury; a steely determination overcame her. Jake had never seen Amy look like this. She was out for revenge.

She walked over to Antonio, squatted down in front of him and with lightning-quick reactions, she brought the butt of her hand up and smashed into her attacker's nose. The sound that emanated from Antonio was unlike anything Jake had ever heard before.

"That, was for my brother. And this," Amy stood, raised her right foot and brought it down hard on Antonio's crotch, "is for me!"

The pain was apparently more than a human could endure because Antonio slumped, unconscious down to the floor and lay in a pool of his own blood.

"Is-, is he-?" Jake questioned, feeling for a pulse on the thief's neck.

"No, he's not dead, but he'll wish he was," Amy said.

Several things happened at once, Jake rose, turned to Amy and they threw themselves together in a deep embrace. The gravity of how close she'd come to being assaulted hit them both. Dan came through on their ear pieces frantically shouting for an update and Ian and Cara showed up in the doorway out of breath from running. In the distance, they could hear the wail of police sirens coming closer.