Reflex by Steven Gould

the side, his nose a sudden red fountain, and Sojee, cursing loudly, emptied the last of her pepper spray into his face. The man rolled over, clutching his eyes and wheezing.
    One of the men who'd come from the store had dropped to his knees, his breath coming in wheezes, but his partner was rushing back at Millie, his red-streaked face contorted with rage, blinking water from his eyes. He came at a rush, to propel her toward the open door of the van, but suddenly dropped to the pavement.
    Sojee had hooked his ankle and held it now with both hands. He hit the pavement hard, only partially breaking his fall with his arms. Sojee, screaming and cursing, pulled her way up the back of his legs. He tried to get back up, but she grabbed his belt at the small of his back and heaved him down again. He balanced on one hand and raised the other, to swing a hammer fist back at Sojee, so Millie slammed her boot down on the outspread fingers of his supporting hand.
    He screamed and Millie felt bones crunch under her boot.
    Millie heard racing engines and screeching tires followed by the sound of pounding feet.
    Not more of them?
    In the van, the Monk looked wildly around, then accelerated the vehicle into the alley, disappearing between the buildings.
    The running figures wore FBI baseball caps and windbreakers. They focused on their attackers, instead of the two women.
    Not more of them.
    Sojee was pounding her opponent with the empty pepper spray container, punctuating each blow with, "You! Got! My! Coat! Dirty!"
    Millie caught her hand. "That'll do, girlfriend. That'll do."
    Sojee stared up at Millie, her eyes wide. Then her face twisted and her tongue stuck out of her mouth to the side and she had a blepharospasm, a prolonged blink. "Oh. Right." She pushed off the back of her opponent and stood awkwardly. Millie pulled her to the side, out of the way of the large and healthy-looking men with the shotguns.
    There was the sound of distant screeching tires from the alleyway followed immediately by a loud crash. Millie, seeing that the four men in her immediate vicinity were under control, poked her head cautiously around the corner.
    The florist van was twisted at the far end of the alley, the windshield starred with bullet holes. A large cloud of steam was billowing from its front end. There seemed to be another car across the far alley.
    "Don't do that."
    It was Anders, standing on the sidewalk on the other side of the alleyway. Becca was right behind him.
    Millie pulled her head back. "Why?"
    Three rapid gunshots suddenly boomed down the alleyway and Millie jumped back. "Oh."
    Anders, not taking his own advice, was looking down the alley. "Hmmm. Okay." He stepped across the alleyway, moving briskly. He looked at the four men who were now handcuffed and being frisked. "This isn't exactly what we had in mind, you know. We thought we'd actually let them start the snatch before we moved in."
    "I wasn't going to resist. I didn't have time to warn Ms. Johnson."
    Anders tried to frown, but he couldn't. He covered his mouth, then laughed outright. "I can tell I'm going to need a personal copy of this videotape."
    Millie stared at him. "You videotaped it?" She looked around, wondering where the camera was. "Of course you taped it."
    Becca was looking around the corner, then squeezed her coat lapel and said, "Roger that." Millie noticed the earplug. Then the FBI agent jerked, her eyes going wide. "Agent down!" she said loudly, and tore down the alley, drawing her gun as she went. Three agents followed her.
    Anders, his eyes narrowed, gestured for them to cross the alleyway. He drew them further down the sidewalk.
    "You and Ms. Johnson will find Curtis at the end of the block in the same White Cab. He'll take you to The Burro for your appointment."
    "We don't have to make statements?"
    "Later. The video will do for now."
    Sojee was staring around her, her lips smacking, her cheek twitching. At the mention of her name, she stared at Anders