Page 71 of Zimyra

He rubs his mustache out of angst before looking at the man again like he’s ready to pummel him some more.

The police show up, guns drawn. I explain what happened, why the man is on the floor, and how Axel came to my rescue. They get the man up off the floor, take him to the stretcher, and cuff him to it. Then they tell me to come outside so I can get checked out.

I step out with Axel behind me like my bodyguard. He walks with me over to the ambulance while the paramedic touches my jaw. She says she doesn’t think there’s anything broken, but they can take me in for an X-ray to confirm that. I don’t want to go. Axel thinks I should.

“What the heck happened?” Zander asks, approaching me and grabbing my face.

“Ow,” I say, moving from his grasp.

“Zander, what are you doing here?”

“I heard the call on the scanner. What happened, Zimyra?”

“This guy—he assaulted me when I was…when I was giving him a tour.”

“What guy! Where is he?” he asks with balled fists.

“Zander—”

“Where is he?”

“I don’t know. Zander, please calm down, okay? Please? It’s handled. Axel beat the crap out of him already.”

“Who’s Axel?”

“I’mAxel.” Axel steps closer to us.

Zander glares at him. “And who are you exactly?”

“One of the maintenance workers out here.”

“Tell me what happened?” he requests.

Axel says, “I don’t know exactly. I saw Zimyra going into the building with that guy, and I just had a bad feeling, so I went up and that’s when I saw the man on the floor, trying to get up. I guess Zimyra had got him down somehow.”

“He grabbed me by the neck after the tour was over,” I explained. “I broke away from him, and then he punched me in the face. I fell and when he tried to grab me again, I kicked him in the nuts. Then he went down. That’s when I called 911.”

I watch the two men standing before me seethe with anger. They both have flared nostrils. They both frown when I recount the story. They both look like they have murder on their minds.

“What are the paramedics saying?” Zander asks.

“They want me to go to the hospital to get checked out, but I told them I wasn’t going.”

“Youaregoing,” Zander and Axel say in tandem, then look at each other.

Zander tells him, “I got this, my guy. Why don’t you get your hand looked at?”

“Ain’t nothing wrong with my hand, man.”

“Sure about that,” Zander replies. “From the look of all that dried-up blood, you used the dude’s face for a punching bag. You may not feel it now because your adrenaline is high, but you’ll feel it in the morning.”

“Then I’ll just feel it in the morning.” Axel looks at me and says, “Please, go and get checked out.”

“Okay.”

“I’ll meet you up there,” Zander says.

“I’ll lock everything up here after I finish up with the police,” Axel says.

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