A strangled yelp resounded from outside. Val wrenched her dagger from the wall and sprinted to the door.

A cacophony of bike engines greeted her as the gang scrambled to their rides. Three bikes peeled out to the alley, their tires smoking.

“No!” Blair growled, clinging to a fourth biker. The guy was huge and burly, and as Blair strove to choke him, he landed punch after punch on the dwarf’s unprotected skull.

Genevieve thundered, ready to go after them, and flung her driver’s door open.

“Gennie, stay!” Val ordered.

Blair’s growl became a roar. He released the biker’s neck. The guy whirled to face him as Val threw her dagger. It lanced through the biker’s arm, and he stumbled back with a cry as blood sprayed his skin.

A bike snarled in the brewery. Its rider was the guy who’d thrown the Molotov cocktail, and he leaned over the handlebars as it shot through the door, heading straight for Blair as the dwarf seized the other biker by the arm.

“Blair!” Val roared.

He was closer than the bike. The scarlet fog blazed, and Val knew she only had one choice. She tackled Blair.

“No!” he growled.

They hit the deck together, Val curling her body around the smaller dwarf to protect him from the impact. Rough asphalt scraped her bare arms as she slid. The bike’s tires zipped past inches from her boots. Its rider held out a hand to the wounded biker, and he scrambled on board.

“They’re getting away!” Blair screamed.

Val rolled to her feet as the bike sped into the alley, its engine shrieking under the weight of both bikers.

“Go after them!” Blair yelled, rising.

Genevieve revved her engine to an eager shriek.

“No. I’m here to protect you,” Val snapped. “We need to make sure everyone’s safe. Get back inside!”

Blair blanched. “Yuka,” he whispered, then turned on his heel and ran into the brewery.

Genevieve flashed her headlights and honked.

“Not this time, Gennie.” Val pointed at the last biker—Gold Tooth—who lay on the asphalt outside. “Make sure he doesn’t get away.”

Her engine’s roar faded to a sullen rumble, but Genevieve trundled closer to the unconscious biker and parked across the alley.

Val jogged into the brewery. Smoke and steam hung in the air, but she saw no flames.

“Is everyone okay?” she called.

Blair was hugging Yuka. She patted his back, then twisted out of his embrace. “I’m fine. Hamish? You guys? Are you hurt?”

“Nothing a bag of frozen peas won’t fix.” Hamish grinned beneath a black eye.

“That was a good fight!” Yuka punched her fist into her palm. “We should go after those guys.”

“No,” Val snapped. “You should have stayed in the brewery like I said.”

“C’mon, Val.” Blair grinned, slinging an arm around Yuka’s shoulders. “I’m starting to see that my girl is a badass.”

“We couldn’t let you have all the fun,” Yuka told her. “Besides, you can’t deny that we’re good backup.”

Val ran a hand over her amulet, which had cooled to body temperature. “You’re not bad,” she teased, her grin returning.

“Not bad?” Hamish spluttered.

“How bad is the damage?” Val asked, nodding at the smoking ceiling.

“Hardly anything.” Blair tilted his chin up, arms akimbo. “A few scorched rafters and singed spots. That’s all.”

“It would have been much worse if you hadn’t stopped that guy.” Yuka’s smile faded. “I can’t believe they were going to burn our brewery down.”

A murmur of horror ran through their employees.

“What’s to stop them from burning the place to the ground tonight?” Hamish wondered aloud.

Val gritted her teeth. “I am.”

Gold Tooth moaned, exposing teeth that no longer flashed. Blood tinged them.

“Oh, quit whining,” Val grumbled, “and don’t move. You might have a broken spine.”

Gold Tooth whimpered.

Val nudged him with a toe. “I’m serious. Quit wriggling, or you’ll hurt yourself.”

“My head,” he whined.

“Yeah, that’s called the consequences of your actions,” Val informed him.

The wailing sirens that had drawn her outside with the other dwarves grew close. A cruiser skidded into the alley.

“Hamish, can you move Genevieve?” Val asked, crouching beside Gold Tooth.

Hamish stared at her. “I can’t drive.”

Val jerked her head at the slowing cruiser. “Hamish, move Genevieve.”

The dwarf’s eyes widened in comprehension. “Oh! Sure.”

He got into the Mustang and made a show of holding the steering wheel as she backed out of the way. The cruiser halted on the curb, and Officer Harris hopped out, mustache twitching.

“Oh, hey, Officer!” Val chirped.