Burning Passion: Love Never Die

Debbie counted in her head. There were about thirty of them. Enough for a fight between rival gangs.

Only there was only one gang, or so it seemed. And she was their rival, with no gang to back her up. Just the driver.

"Who's..." She was going to ask who Eckerd was. Then she remembered.

'Carlos said he wasn't who I thought he was. That among others, he goes by a different name.'

She pieced it together. Decker... Eckerd... Eckerd must be an alias her brother used.

So these men were all there because of Decker. 'Awesome, dude! I'm going to get the crap beaten out of me in some godforsaken alley because of your dumb ass.'

Debbie's driver was also her bodyguard. He already let Carlos know what was going on before he got out as well.

"What did Eckerd do?" she asked the punks.

"Is it a money thing, or did he take one of you out?"

The middle-aged man set his mouth in a grim frown. He didn't answer her. Instead, he glared at her for a while and then ordered his men,

"Get her in the car."

"Wait! Didn't you know that I wasn't close to Eckerd? I'm his sister, but I haven't seen him in forever." That was true. Decker was secretive at best, and Debbie was too busy to waste energy or time on him.

"No biggie. Eckerd will come looking for you. We'll be waiting. And then, my saucy singer..." He left the threat unspoken, but a guttural laugh escaped his Lips.

"Haha! She is hot!"

"Delicious!"

The punks leered at Debbie.

Debbie was disgusted. She glanced at them, stretched her limbs, and dropped into a fighting stance.

"Think you can take me? Bring it!" she declared.

Her bodyguard used to be the principal of a martial arts school. He was a master of wing chun, having even been instructed in how to wield the traditional weapons of the art. He'd also learned the fundamentals of kickboxing, not to mention wrestling holds.

The sidekicks stepped back, allowing the henchmen to do their dirty work. They came at her, fists raised.

Debbie dodged the first few swings. Then she sidestepped one man's punch, used the energy of his punch against him, and threw him to the ground, using his momentum.

Seeing this, the middle-aged man took out his phone and said to someone on the other end of the line, "She knows tae kwon do. Send some black belts."

As soon as Debbie and her bodyguard took care of those bulky men, around six men with daggers rushed over at them.

Just then, some other cars turned into the alley and screeched into a halt behind them. Debbie had to focus on dealing with the immediate threat. She didn't turn her head to see who the newcomers were.

As she was busy fighting, someone forcefully yanked her away from the battle and pushed her into the door of the car she had come in.