Less than a foot to go-

The book tipped. Leather rubbed against her face, then the cold edge of its frame. And gone.

It fell, the chain snaking past her head just as she grabbed the edge of the passage with her right hand. Her fingers closed around metal. The sudden weight of the book wrenched her left hand from the pipe-

Her grip on the frame held. Just. Stifling a scream, Nina stretched out one leg and managed to get a toehold on the edge of the low tunnel. The book swung below her like a pendulum. It banged against the side of the shaft, the clasp that held it shut breaking. Every muscle on fire, she hauled herself onto the solid floor of the tunnel entrance, dragging the book with her.

One of the gunmen appeared at the end of the passage opposite, raised his weapon, and pulled the trigger-

Click.

Nothing happened. The Asian man tried again, then pulled out the magazine to examine it and shouted what she was certain was an obscenity. Out of ammo.

The ponytailed man appeared behind him. He snapped out an order. The first man gave him a dubious look, then reached up to grab the overhead pipe.

Nina turned to run. The man swung out over the shaft-

The end of the pipe sheared off from the wall.

With a piercing scream, he plunged down the shaft and disappeared into the darkness, the pipe breaking loose at its other end and falling after him. The splash from below took longer to arrive than Nina expected.

She looked back at the ponytailed man, who seemed more annoyed than shocked by the death of his associate. His eyes locked on to hers. Apparently he too was out of ammo. With no way across the shaft, the chase was over.

“Say hi to the C.H.U.D.s for me!” said Nina, slamming the book closed and hurrying down the passage.

She got about ten feet before hearing movement behind her.

She looked around to see the man leap across the shaft, coat billowing like a cape. Arms outstretched, he slammed against the lip of the passage, grunting at the impact before gripping the metal frame and pulling himself up.

“Oh, shit!” She ran again, more terrified than ever. The dim maintenance lights whipped past just overhead. This passage, while more confined than the last, was at least dry, and she could hear something else ahead, a familiar sound-the rumble and clatter of a passing train. She was rejoining the subway tunnels.

The lights brightened, the cold blue of fluorescents shining on concrete walls. She emerged in a rectangular chamber, more tunnels leading off in different directions. After the darkness of the passage, the glare was almost blinding. Bare walls, service access for the subway-with an open elevator.

Nina threw herself into the cramped car and hammered at the topmost button on the control panel, waiting for the doors to close. It took her a moment to realize that she had to close the old-fashioned cage gates herself. She grabbed the handles of the outer doors and dragged them together, the concertina-like metal framework clashing shut.

Fang burst out of the tunnel and ran straight at her. He had something in his hands, a black cane, one hand whipping back-

She slammed the inner gate. A motor whined.

He thrust his hand at Nina, a silver line stabbing between the bars of the gate. She instinctively raised the book like a shield-

Tchink!

The sword blade went right through the book, effortlessly piercing leather and metal and glass and parchment.

And clothing.

And flesh.

Nina was slammed against the back wall of the little elevator, the book pressed against her chest. She let out an almost silent gasp, mouth open in a stunned O as she looked down.

The pointed tip of the sword blade was stuck in her chest, right over her heart…

But only the tip. The book had taken the brunt of the blow, only a centimeter of sharpened metal making it all the way through to bury itself in her left breast.

Nina forced the book away from her body. The sword’s tip slid free. A circle of blood swelled around the cut in her blouse, pain now searing through her shock.

Fang drew his sword hand back sharply, almost tearing the book from Nina’s grip. The text dropped heavily to the floor, more glass cracking. With the clasp broken, the book swung open as the blade withdrew.

The elevator started to ascend.

Fang snatched his sword clear and grasped the near edge of the open book with his free hand, standing the whole thing on its end and pulling it towards him. The two halves of the outer gate sprang apart, forced open by the book as it rose between them.

The chain around Nina’s wrist pulled tight. Fang only needed to bring the book a few inches closer before it dropped over the edge of the elevator’s floor and the chain was severed by the approaching ceiling-

Despite her pain, Nina grabbed the chain with both hands and hauled with all her strength. “Screw-you!”

Still on its end, the book slid back just as it reached the ceiling-

The elevator continued relentlessly upwards, the edge of the ceiling slicing downwards through the metal spine of the book like a guillotine blade. With a crunch, the volume was ripped in two. Nina fell back and banged her head as her half broke free. The chamber below, and her enemy, disappeared from view.

Dizzy, she shoved herself into a sitting position. The patch of blood on her chest was about the size of her palm, slowly spreading through the sodden material. She pressed a hand against it, wincing. The wound hurt like hell, but didn’t seem to be life-threatening.

Other things were, however. She might have briefly escaped her pursuer, but she still wasn’t safe. There was a flight of stairs alongside the elevator-he was probably running up them already.

Nina scooped up the loose pieces of the book, then dragged herself to her feet as the upper floor slid into view. The elevator came to a stop. She threw the doors open and rushed out, hearing the ponytailed man pounding up the stairs.

She spotted a door along the corridor, a fire exit, and burst through it to find herself at the end of a subway platform. Canal Street, one stop north of Brooklyn Bridge station. She’d run much farther than she realized, several blocks.

But she didn’t care, because all that mattered was the train at the platform, doors open-

She ran into the nearest car, looking back at the fire door. Her attacker could appear at any moment.

The doors began to groan shut.

The fire exit flew open. The ponytailed man barreled onto the platform and ran at the train. His sword flashed again-

The doors slammed closed.

Nina jumped back with a shriek as the sword sliced through the rubber seal between the doors. The train started moving. Fang ran alongside, glaring at Nina, then was forced to admit defeat and pull out his blade before the accelerating train tore it from his grip. A few seconds later, he vanished from sight as the train entered the tunnel.

She let out a long breath of relief, then turned to see that she had an audience. The other occupants of the car were staring at her. Even by the blasé standards of New Yorkers, a soaking, bloodied, slime-covered woman being chased on to a train by a man wielding a sword was hard to ignore.

“Hi,” Nina said wearily, holding up the book. “Overdue. The guy didn’t want to pay his fine.” A couple of people chuckled. She slumped into a seat, belatedly realizing that the man next to her was her erstwhile Good Samaritan from the street near the Brotherhood’s safe house. “Oh, hey, you again,” she said to him, shaking something out from inside the sleeve of her ruined Armani jacket. “Can you hold this for me?”

He looked at the cockroach she’d just deposited in his hands with utter horror, then threw it onto the floor and hurriedly found a new seat as far away from her as possible. Nina shot him a tired, sarcastic smile, then examined what was left of the book.