It had been a damned good night for Isabela at the tables; two and a half thousand euros put her total bankroll at twelve thousand nine hundred. There had been a few grumbles, but she hadn't cheated, and they couldn't prove she had. She'd been paid and settled out, and now she was on her way back to Gypsy to change out of her long dress and go home.

To her credit, she did hear a noise as she passed the side of the newsstand on the waterfront. She heard a huge noise, as if someone had fired a cannon in her ear, and her leg suddenly felt like it had been set alight. She heard a screeching noise from her own throat, but thankfully, her old instincts were there.

There were two of them, one holding what she assumed was a gun - a small black boxy thing. The other held a blade, but the real threat was obvious. Isabela reared back on her good leg and sent the dead one flying, feeling the connection as the weapon flew out into the street. The man yelped in a language Isabela didn't recognize, grabbing her around the waist and pinning her arms, as his mate came around front. Isabela threw her head backward as hard as she could, hearing the satisfying crunch of the man's nose as his arms fell away.

The man with the blade seemed momentarily stunned, but managed to get a swipe in across her shoulder before she ducked, slicing through the strap of her dress and damned near the collar bone. Isabela howled and reacted the only way she knew how; a quick shot to his gut and groin before sending all her weight downward onto the man's shoe via her spike heel.

They left her on the pavement, purse gone, missing one shoe and in pain, but alive and able to think. Passers-by had apparently seen something, because she heard shouts and a woman's voice very near. The woman knelt and offered her a hand, which she took. "A phone," she murmured, quiet at first, then more insistent when no one seemed to notice. "A telephone, please, damn it!"

Someone handed her a phone at long last, and she dialed Aaron's number. At least, she figured, she had the presence of mind to not dial the flat and perhaps get Jack.