Confrontation

" If you want to ask her why does she want to meet, it's useless she will not answer... I've tried already, " Matteo said to avert them.

But he knew that it wouldn't discourage Lina, and that was especially why he brought Dana to them.

" That is the problem with most men, you are way too brutal and hasty. You have to be courteous and find the best way to obtain answers without pushing her, " she explained to him. She grabbed Dana's hand and led her to the sofa, after sitting down she said to her " from which town do you come? "

Matteo was wondering how would she react and he was surprised to see that it was with her serious side she responded to Lina " Short-river " with her serious tone. Lately, he made the theory that her personality changed depending on the situation she was in, for example when she was confronted by too stressful circumstances she tended to wear her emotional face. But, here, she was in the middle of an interrogatory, facing two women she didn't even know yet it was her serene side which was talking. [ What the meaning of that? Does this mean that my supposition was wrong? If it's that, so how does it work ]

Matteo's brain was struggling as hard as he could in his corner to try to decipher the secret of her changes of personality as referring to what she affirmed earlier, she was not, in any way, suffering from schizophrenia or any kind of psychological disease and Matteo believed her.

Meanwhile, Lina was keeping on with her questions. " What is your full name? " Dana bit her lip before she responded letting her know it was a sensible question, what could also be noticed could be noted in her voice as it was low and raw, " My name is Dana, only Dana, " she said.

" So you are an orphan, " Lina replied, ignoring the fact it could somehow hurt her feelings, but Natasha had the time to notice her mistake so she quickly came to save the ball before Dana turned mad. She added, " she meant that you are an orphan too just like Matteo and... " she suddenly smothered the end of her sentence. It seemed that Dana didn't care about it. She turned to Matteo, " so you're then an orphan as well? "

" You noticed it when I introduced myself to you, right? "

" Yeah, that's right, it was back from there I started to be suspicious about it, " she acknowledged.

" All the members of your gang are in the same case as you? " Matteo asked.

" You have a gang? " Lina asked completely astonished, she looked at Dana then at Matteo, and once again at Dana. " Wait! Did someone hire you to come to kill Jamal? " Natasha said a little bit worried. Lina, suddenly turned an angry look at Matteo " you little ingrate, did you dare to betray us? "

As both Natasha and Lina went on their accusations Dana started to panic, stuttering wildly to try expressing herself and Matteo knew that he didn't have other choices but to intervene. He clapped repeatedly on his hands while shouting at the girls to cool down, after many seconds the silence finally came back in the office. They all turned to him, Natasha crossed her arms, Dana tied her fists and tensed her shoulders and even though she didn't gaze at him with a bad look, on her eyes Matteo could sense that she was a little angry at him, [ what is comprehensible ] he acknowledged.

" I need an explanation, " Lina said with her hands on each side of her hips.

" It's not a real gang of bandits, " Matteo cleared up the misunderstanding, " in my ex-home city it was not unusual to see people gathering and forming some bands like hers ".

" Yeah, that's true, when the wave of crimes rose it was the only way we found to protect ourselves. Everybody knows that the more we are, the stronger we will be, " Dana added.

Lina nodded as she was satisfied by the answer, but at that moment a question popped up in her mind, she asked Matteo, " you were in a... gang as well? ".

The latter chuckled and said, " I was smart enough to survive by myself ".

" snooty brat, " Natasha muttered between her teeth.

" Well, " Lina sighed and turned her sight to Dana, " I think we have played enough, I will ask you a question and you will answer otherwise there will be a big problem ".

Just by looking at her eyes, Matteo understood that she was not joking anymore.

He stepped forward toward her to try to calm the situation a bit, " well, let's relax, I already told you that she was clean there is no need to take such drastic measures, " he said to her. He saw her hands loosen and he thought that at least he achieved to avoid the situation being too serious.

However, when he got enough close to her, Lina reached the base of his neck on his right side with her hand, in a quick move, so fast that he didn't get the time to react even for a jiffy, she pinched him hard on a specific point of his neck and he fell on his butt. He lost, in first, the control of his legs, then his arms when he was on the floor and a few seconds later he realized that he couldn't even talk, he could just attend to what would happen in this room his back leaning on the foot of the sofa.

He saw Natasha slowly walking toward Dana like a lion walking toward its prey with the confidence that it couldn't escape. But it seemed like, in this situation, the prey had more guts than it could be thought. Dana stood straight before the two women, her fists tied and her eyes completely focused on her opponents, she didn't intend to fell without fighting. [ She told me that she knows fighting since her young age ] Matteo recalled, [ but it won't be enough to face Natasha though, she is Jamal's best student, it's as to say that she will be facing a real monster ].

Matteo couldn't warn her and from where she was, she couldn't get it as she was all confident in her own capacity to defeat the two girls who were facing her. He tried with all his willpower to move but it was in vain, even the effort he put to stir his tongue or just screaming to stop was unsuccessful. He was totally paralyzed. [ What the heck has she done to me? ] he asked desperately to himself while the spectacle was still going on.

" Don't try to resist, we just need an answer. Give it to us and we will gladly let you go, refuse and what will follow this interrogation will be less friendly, " Lina said by making little gestures with her hands.

" And if my answer doesn't please you? " Dana asked. Lina noticed that from time to time she was glancing at Matteo, she took a look at him and said " don't worry he is totally fine, he just won't be able to move anymore for the thirty next minutes. And about your previous question, it's simple... " she lifted toward the little girl cold eyes, so scary that she was petrified for a few seconds, and when she was able to feel back her body she was shaking, Lina finished her menace by saying, " you will not leave this place ".

In her panic, Dana didn't wait for her to ask her question, she directly ran as fast as she could in her direction. She jumped and threw a high kick toward her face [ I will knock her out first and then I will take down the other girl ] she said to herself, she thought she was fast enough to do it, however, her attack didn't reach her target.

Lina didn't even wink, even though she saw clear through her onslaught she didn't make a move to dodge it or just countering it because she knew that it would never hit her.

Indeed, Dana's foot was blocked, when it was at a few centimeters of Lina's face, by Natasha's heel. She quickly jumped back and raised her guard high, [ I was too fast to be caught, only a master in martial art could stop my kick so easily ] she thought while she was staring now at Natasha [ I couldn't even see her coming, how did she do that ].

The latter walked to stand in front of Lina between her and Dana.

" Looks like you chose to die without even giving yourself a chance to survive by answering one simple question, " Natasha said to her, " got it, then let's offer you a proper death ".

Dana was now reluctant to charge in first, she thought that it would be wiser to wait for her to come like that she would be able to observe very well her moves and then prepared a counterattack. Natasha understood that Dana didn't want to make the first move so she took the lead and walked toward her, she faked a punch with his right hand and when she squatted to try to dodge it she lifted her leg and violently kicked the poor girl, who fell on her back.

Dana saw the young woman looking down as if she was waiting for her to stand up, the girl turned mad and charged her. She used against Natasha all the techniques she knew; jab, hook, overhand, cross, she even made some combinations of front kicks, back, and side kicks. She put all her strength in those attacks and combinations, however, they far to be enough to wound Natasha. She dodged every single punch and blocked all the kicks thrown at her and at the end she was remaining straight in front of Dana who was bowing, leaning her hands on her knees to catch her breath as she was completely tired and breathless after this intense series of attacks.

" How can... it be... possible? " she asked between the respirations

Natasha reached her, she waited a minute for the rhythm of her breathing to become a little normal and when she stood up to try to choke Natasha's neck, the latter grabbed her tightly by her wrist, put one leg before her, turned around and with a judo technique, she threw her on the floor. She then went to sit on her, blocked her left arm with her left hand, her right arm with her right leg by stepping on it and she grabbed tightly her neck with her right hand, making her unable to move. She struggled and resisted with the rest of her strength before giving up [ it's in vain, I can't move, they won ] she acknowledged.

Then Lina stepped toward her while clapping her hands, " well, it was a great fight even though from the beginning you didn't have a slight chance to win, " she stopped and looked straight into her eyes, " I will give you your last chance before she decides to kill you. If you agree, try to nod and don't forget it's your last chance ".

Tears started to flow out from Dana's eyes and running down her cheeks, Dana realized that she lost and had no other choice but to accept the conditions of her two jailers. She slowly nodded, hoping that she could be able to satisfy them to spare her life " Well so I will now ask you the question you refuse to listen to, lately, ready? "