Unibrow kept his fists up to defend his head, so Heinrich’s counterattack was a swift jab to the ribs.

It connected, but instead of making Unibrow curl up on the ground into a moaning ball of agony, the guy only let out a grunt and kicked Heinrich in the shin.

Heinrich hadn’t been expecting that, and it put him off balance. Unibrow’s next attack was a right cross that could have broken Heinrich’s jaw. However, his boxer reflexes got his fists up in time so that the man’s fist slammed hard into his own. Heinrich rolled with the force of the blow and stumbled to the side, his shoulder smacking onto the concrete wall.

Heinrich lashed out with his left as the murderer drove in for the kill. The guy ducked back with a quarter of a second to spare.

Heinrich used that window of opportunity to retreat farther and get back into a fighting stance. His opponent did the same. Unibrow darted a glance over Heinrich’s shoulder, reminding Heinrich that he had seen an exit sign in the moment before he’d gotten into a fight with a complete stranger.

“Tick-tick,” Heinrich said with a grin. “Security is coming soon.”

The guy swung out with a roundhouse kick. Heinrich backed off. He didn’t know how to deal with that in any other way. He did boxing, not kickboxing. Unibrow tried again. As soon as he finished, Heinrich darted forward to swing at him, only to get his punch blocked.

This asshole’s military, Heinrich realized. But which military?

He gave the guy a quick jab to the face. It landed but didn’t do much damage. Heinrich got one in return.

Then came another of those roundhouse kicks. Heinrich backed off plenty this time, buying himself enough space to spare a glance over his shoulder. Yes, the hallway ran another twenty feet before ending in an emergency exit. There was no other way out except for back into the convention center, where a whole crowd must have been wondering who had murdered someone with an ancient statue.

Unibrow paused, sizing up Heinrich and no doubt thinking what Heinrich was thinking—that they were evenly matched, and that this fight could go on long enough to keep him from making a getaway. They heard shouts and commotion coming from the convention hall. The whole place must have been in an uproar by now.

Where the hell was security?

It came a couple of seconds later in the form of a pot-bellied middle-aged man with a bad comb-over and a brown polyester uniform. At least the idiot had the wits to come huffing down the hallway with his nightstick in hand.

“Stop right there!” he wheezed.

Unibrow spun on him, blocked a weak swing with the nightstick by hitting the guy hard in the forearm, and buried his other fist in the loser’s paunch. The security guy folded like he’d eaten a poisoned donut.

Unibrow spun back to face Heinrich before he had a chance to move in. Now he held the security man’s nightstick.

“Aw, shit.”

Heinrich ducked just in time to avoid getting his brains spilled onto the floor. The nightstick clacked against the concrete wall. Heinrich punched his opponent in the ribs, but it was a weak strike because he was too busy getting the hell out of the reach of a back swing that would have knocked him out cold.

They ended up facing each other from several paces away. This time, it was Unibrow who was closer to the emergency exit.

The murderer grinned, turned, and bolted for the exit. Heinrich followed, but not so close as to get tagged in an ambush. They went through the emergency door, setting off the alarm, and ran down a staircase and out a back exit. Unibrow sprinted to an idling car parked next to a service dock.