One of the guards extended a fat finger at a sign on the wall. Directions were given in Mandarin and English, as well as the international symbols for male and female. Chase squinted at it. “Oh, it is in English! Bloody ‘ell, must be more pissed than I thought. Thanks, lads.” He gave the two men a bleary-eyed smile. They grinned back-and Chase drove his fist into the nearest man’s face.

He fell backwards, out cold, a spray of blood radiating from his crushed nose. The other man gawped, then fumbled at his jacket. He barked a word in Chinese-

Chase leaped at him and body-slammed him against the wall. He clawed at the man’s jacket, snagging the transmitter under his lapel and tearing it loose. A wire popped free as he threw it onto the polished floor, at the same time delivering a crunching kidney punch with his other fist. The guard’s face contorted in pain.

But that didn’t stop him from smashing his fist against the side of Chase’s skull.

Chase staggered, this time for real. Filled with sudden fury, he threw himself shoulder-first against the guard’s chest, plowing him back against the wall with such force that it drove all the air from his lungs.

Before the man could even begin to catch his breath, Chase seized him in a headlock and hauled him back across the corridor. The guard’s head hit the reel of the fire hose with a bong! that left a dent in the metal. He instantly collapsed, unconscious.

But he’d gotten off a warning, however brief. Yuen’s other goons would burst out of the private box at any moment.

Chase grabbed the heavy brass nozzle of the fire hose and yanked it free of the reel, several feet of fabric-covered rubber playing out behind it. He swung it around his head, faster and faster, letting out more of the hose through his hand with each turn.

The door opened-

And the first of Yuen’s goons to emerge took the full force of the nozzle across his jaw. It hit so hard that he flipped over backwards in an involuntary somersault, blood and teeth arcing across the corridor.

Shouts from the lobby. Chase glanced back towards it. He could hear footsteps clattering up the stairs: more of Yuen’s bodyguards on the way.

And one more guy in the box.

Chase tilted his raised arm, still whirling the hose like a lasso but now bringing it down closer to floor level as the other guard vaulted over his fallen comrade, pulling a gun from his jacket-

The hose whipped around his ankles.

The man stumbled, throwing his arms out to keep his balance. Before he had a chance to bring up the gun, Chase charged at him, bending to ram into him at waist height and scoop him off his feet. Without slowing, he ran into the darkened box, seeing the surprised faces of Yuen and Sophia as he shot past them and threw the guard over the edge of the balcony.

The hose snaked past him at frightening speed, the bodyguard letting out a high-pitched shriek of fear…

The shriek was cut off abruptly as the hose snapped taut, vibrating like a plucked guitar string. Chase looked over the balcony. The bodyguard’s fall had been brought to a stop with his head inches above the auditorium’s main aisle. The opera continued, the performers and musicians unable to see what had happened through the glare of the lights-though Chase did hear a chorus of “Shhhh!” over the singing.

He turned to the occupants of the box. Sophia stared at him in amazement, while Yuen’s expression was one of disbelief and growing rage.

“Sophia, get up,” Chase ordered. She did. He hoisted her over his left shoulder in a fireman’s lift, realizing she still had her high heels on. Muttering a curse, he backed to the edge of the balcony. “Hold on to me, and whatever you do, don’t let go.”

She clung to him. “What are you going to-”

He wrapped the hose around his right arm, lifted it clear of the balcony railing-then vaulted over the edge.

The hose hissed as he slid down it, feeling the sharp heat of friction through his sleeve. Sophia yelped in shock as they dropped towards the floor, the bodyguard still dangling below-

Chase tightened his legs around the hose, using the guard’s upturned soles as a landing pad for his feet. He bent his knees to absorb the impact, then said, “Brace yourself!” as he unraveled his arm and jumped the last few feet to the ground. He felt Sophia’s stomach muscles tense against him just before the impact, body heat against his cheek.

Old memories…

They hit the floor. Sophia gasped. Chase looked up the aisle towards the rear exit, aware that the audience was gawking at him. Someone shouted from above. Yuen leaned over the balcony, pointing down at them. Chase gave him a cheeky salute, then ran up the aisle, Sophia still over his shoulder. Little coils of smoke wafted from his right sleeve. The black cloth had been scorched brown. He hoped Mei hadn’t paid a deposit on the tuxedo, as she wasn’t going to get it back.

“You okay?” he asked Sophia.

“I’m fine!” she replied, somewhat winded. “That was… that kind of reminded me of how we first met!”

“Yeah, but I had a machine gun then, and there weren’t any civvies around to worry about. Mind your head!” He turned sideways to slam open the double doors with his right shoulder, emerging in the brightly lit lobby. Sophia’s legs waved in front of him, her spike heels glinting. “I told you to take off your bloody shoes!”

“I didn’t realize you were going to burst in like some crazed rhino halfway through the opera!” Sophia objected as he hurried for the exit. “I was expecting something more subtle!”

“You really didn’t know me at all, did you?” More shouts came from above. He looked up to see Yuen’s two remaining bodyguards hurrying back down the stairs, guns in their hands. The handful of people in the lobby screamed when they saw the weapons and ran for the exits. “Hellfire! Will these guys shoot at me if I’ve got you?”

“I certainly hope not!”

“Then make sure and tell them not to!” He looked back as Sophia shouted commands in Mandarin. He was only halfway across the lobby, and the two bodyguards were almost on him-

“Put down Lady Sophia!” one of the men yelled in heavily accented English. Whatever Sophia said had worked; neither guard had put away his gun, but nor were they aiming them at him. “Put her down now!”

“Come and get her!” Chase called as he turned to face them, right arm outstretched to counterbalance Sophia’s weight over his shoulder. They were moving to flank him, one on each side. “You keep up with the fight training?” he asked her.

She was puzzled. “Yes?”

“Good, because you just became my weapon! Get ready-”

One of the bodyguards rushed at them. Chase whirled around and hit him square in the face with Sophia’s feet as she kicked out, the heavy platform soles cracking into his jaw. The man’s head snapped to one side and he dropped to the floor, dazed and bloodied.

“Nice one!” Chase told her, spinning to look for the second guard. He had been closing from the other side but had now stopped abruptly, realization spreading across his face that Sophia was helping her kidnapper. He brought up his gun.

Chase turned faster, hoping Sophia still thought as quickly as she used to. She did, lashing out with one expensively shod foot-

The gun flew out of the bodyguard’s hand and clattered away across the lobby’s marble floor. He stared in surprise at the tip of the spike heel protruding through his palm. Sophia pulled her leg back, a little spout of blood jetting from the hole in the man’s hand as her heel withdrew. He howled-only for the cry of pain to stop abruptly as Chase punched him in the face and knocked him flat on his back.

“Aren’t you glad I kept my shoes on now?” Sophia said.

“Okay, I’ll give you that one,” Chase replied, jogging for the exit.