by Kaylea Cross
“Affirmative,” Tyler answered. “The couple’s heading to a different building. I’m coming to you from the west side.”
Cracking the door open to check the alley, she spotted two people entering a building up the alley. She slipped outside, immediately spotting Tyler’s shadow as he appeared around the side of the house to the west.
She shut the door behind her, locked it using her tools, then met him as he reached the side of the house. He curved a hand around her upper arm and drew her into his body as they walked, giving the appearance that they were a couple to anyone watching.
“What did you find?” he whispered, scanning the street before leading her back toward their waiting vehicle.
“Show you later.” The image in that photo was turning around and around in her brain. How could someone look so familiar, and yet she couldn’t place them? It was going to drive her crazy.
Tyler reached into his jacket pocket for the keys, shooting her a surprised look when he realized she’d already snagged them without him noticing.
“I’m driving,” she announced and pulled free of his hand, heading for the driver’s side.
Just as she reached for the handle, Trinity’s voice came through her earpiece. “You’ve got company approaching. Single female on foot a half-block to the south.”
Megan’s scalp prickled as she swung her head around to check behind her and reached for the grip of her weapon. She scanned the opposite side of the street for the woman, ready to end this here and now.
****
The rubber soles of Amber’s riding boots were quiet on the sidewalk as she walked the two blocks from where she’d left her bike, using the shadows to help conceal her. As she reached the next street, a warning tingle flared up at the base of her spine.
She was being watched. She just wasn’t sure by whom, or from where. But the warning quiver in the pit of her stomach told her there were eyes on her right now and there had been for at least the last minute, maybe more.
She wouldn’t go to the house until she was certain she was clear. The picture she had a digital backup of, but the bracelet and blanket were irreplaceable. So she would stay on this side of the street and walk past the rental house before doubling back later, waiting to see if anyone followed. If they did, she’d take them out.
Hands in the pockets of her leather riding jacket, she curled her fingers around the grip of her pistol, pausing when she spotted two people approaching a car parked at the curb across the street, a few hundred yards south of the house. A man and a woman.
The woman had a sleek build and she wore dark, formfitting clothing. She rounded the front of the vehicle and reached for the door handle, then stopped. A second later she straightened and turned her head, her gaze unerringly finding Amber.
Even though the woman wouldn’t be able to see her clearly, a shot of alarm punched through her.
They stared at each other, both of them frozen as the second stretched out. And Amber knew.
The woman was here for her.
She spun on her heel and took off, racing back to where she’d parked her bike. No running footsteps came from behind her. Then the sound of a car engine reached her. Coming up fast. Too fast.
She leapt over the hood of a parked car in her way, sliding across the surface before landing back on her feet and continued running. Fifty yards up she darted left down an alleyway and cut over to where she’d parked her bike, watching and listening for signs of her pursuers. They would be coming around the block, either from the left or right.
Amber hopped on her bike, yanked her helmet on and started the engine. She shot out into the street just as a squeal of tires sounded around the corner behind her. Closer than the vehicle that had been chasing her should have been.
She risked a glance over her shoulder as she sped down the darkened street. A different car veered out behind her, its lights off.
Two pursuers.
Shots rang out. She instinctively ducked and turned the bike, sucking in a breath as fire streaked across the bottom of her left ribcage.
Gritting her teeth, she drew her weapon and looked over her shoulder to fire. Both bullets penetrated the windshield.
The driver swerved, the squeal of scraping metal filling the night, but didn’t slow. Didn’t stop. Coming closer with every heartbeat.
Amber swung back around to face forward and opened up the throttle. She tore down the quiet street, tearing past parked vehicles and darkened homes as blood trickled hot and sticky down her side.
She wasn’t sure how bad she was hit. The wound burned but she wasn’t going into shock yet and her vision was still clear.
I can make it.
She had to make it.
She made a sharp right turn around the next corner, dragging her inside foot across the ground as the back tire skidded, then gunned it again. She kept her eyes pinned to the road ahead of her, mapping out an escape route in her mind.
The chase was on, and this was a race she would win. She wasn’t fucking dying tonight.
Chapter Ten
Their hitter from yesterday was back. Or someone connected to him.
“Buckle up,” Megan said to Tyler, then hit the gas.
“Shit,” he blurted from the passenger seat, frantically grabbing for his seatbelt as she wrenched the wheel to the left and peeled after the Audi.
Megan kept her eyes pinned to the back of the hitter’s car as a metallic click signaled the fastening of Tyler’s seatbelt and Trinity’s calm voice came through her earpiece announced that she would track them via GPS. With the other vehicle’s lights off Megan had to stay close enough to maintain visual contact.
On either side of the street the still houses and cars whipped past as she sped after the Audi, the woman on the bike a half block ahead of it. A hand appeared out of the Audi’s driver-side window. Two muzzle flashes and pops came as the driver fired at the woman.
“Look out,” Tyler warned as the woman swiveled to return fire.
Megan swerved to dodge the bullets. So did the Audi, catching its bumper on a parked car. Sparks lit up the darkened street.
She pumped the brakes and steered to the right to avoid a collision as the Audi slid left on the narrow street. The driver managed to recover and race after the motorcycle.
A second later the woman made a hard, tight turn to the right and disappeared up a side street.
The Audi slammed on its brakes, coming to an abrupt halt. Megan did the same, narrowly avoiding plowing into the back of it. Before she or Tyler could lower their windows to fire at it, the Audi tore away, the back end fishtailing on the damp cobbles.
In a split second, Megan made the decision to let him go and chase down the woman on the bike. They needed to get to her before the hitter did, because they had to take her alive.
“Hold on,” she said to Tyler, who grabbed his door handle to steady himself, then shoved the transmission into reverse and gunned it, using the side mirrors to steer.
The little car shot backward down the main street. At the side street that the motorcycle had turned up she took her foot off the gas and cranked the wheel hard to turn them ninety degrees in a tight J-turn.
Tyler’s chuckle was almost lost beneath the sound of the engine as she yanked the wheel back to straight, threw the transmission into drive and stomped down on the gas to continue the pursuit like a goddamn boss.
“Holy shit, I think I love you,” Tyler said, still laughing.
Megan’s lips quirked but didn’t she respond, busy searching for the woman on the motorcycle. The bike was smaller and way more maneuverable than their car. If they were going to have a shot at stopping her, Megan had to find her damn quick.
“Do you see her?” She had to focus on driving and not killing them in an accident.
“Not yet. She’s gotta be close, though.”
Well, she’d better be real close, or this takedown wasn’t happening. With the shots just fired people would have called the cops by now. Megan wante
d to avoid tangling with them at all cost.
“There, ten o’clock,” he said, pointing to the left.
Megan glanced over and spotted the bike as it whipped up the street a block over. She took her foot off the gas and made a sharp left, heading toward it.
“Look out!” Tyler said.
The Audi careened out of a side alley into the street in front of them.
Megan hammered the brake and swerved to miss it, narrowly avoiding being sideswiped. “Son of a bitch,” she muttered, and gave chase. This asshole was between her and her target. He might still pose a threat to them, and needed to be taken out or he’d just continue to get in the way.
“We have to take him out.”
“Roger that,” Tyler responded.
Tires squealed as the Audi skidded to the right around the next corner. She followed, the little car’s engine racing, the sound growing higher in pitch as she pinned the accelerator to the floor.
This asshole was going down. She’d ram him, take the Audi out of commission and finish this.
He veered to the left all of a sudden, barely making the turn.
She cursed and hit the brakes as she sped past the street, forced to throw it into reverse to back up half a block so she could follow. Thankfully there was still no other traffic. “You see the bike?”
Tyler was looking out the passenger window. “She’s still heading east toward the river.”
If she crossed the Danube, it was pretty much over. “I can’t get to her without going through this jackass.” Her lips thinned as she sped after the Audi. God, this guy was a pain in the ass.
The driver’s window lowered.
“He’s gonna fire,” Tyler warned. “I don’t have an angle.”
“I do.” She was already lowering her own window to take a shot. She reached her weapon through with her left hand and fired before he could. One shot hit the driver’s side mirror. The hand jerked back inside, then the Audi lurched right.
She fired again, hitting the back window on the driver’s side. This time the Audi skidded slightly. Had she hit him? He wasn’t slowing down yet. She moved left to give Tyler room.
“I’ll get the tires.” Tyler was already taking aim out his open window. Wind whistled through the interior as he leaned out of it, aimed at the back right tire and fired twice.
The tire exploded. The car veered around the next corner, back end fishtailing wildly. But the driver didn’t stop. He was still heading for the river, in pursuit of the female.
His hand appeared out the window again. She ducked when he fired back at them. Two bullets punched through the center of the windshield, inches from her face, cracking the glass.
She and Tyler both ducked but she didn’t let up on the gas. “Asshole,” she growled.
“I’ve got him.” Tyler leaned out of his window and fired again.
The vehicle skidded a bit, slowed, and Megan seized her moment.
“Brace,” she warned, then rammed into the Audi’s back bumper. They both grunted at the impact, the seatbelts snapping taut across their chests and shoulders. The Audi jerked forward and kept going, the steering erratic.
Megan steered at the right back bumper this time. A metallic crunch sounded as she rammed it. She hit the brakes and turned the wheel to avoid the Audi as it spun.
This time the driver lost control, the vehicle spinning around in a tight circle across the quiet street. It slammed into a parked minivan along the curb of the empty sidewalk with a bone-jarring bang.
Weapon in hand, Megan threw the transmission into park and jumped out of the car to go after the driver, ducking when a hand flashed out of the driver’s side door to fire at them.
Cursing under her breath she ducked back behind her open door while the bullets pinged off the hood inches from her.
Tyler returned fire from behind his own open door. “He’s already through the other side,” he told her.
Sure enough, the driver had managed to scramble out of the window and use the vehicles parked along the curb for cover. Every second he cost them was another second the suspect had to get away.
“Don’t lose him.” Megan caught a glimpse of his silhouette as he darted around the corner on foot.
She raced after him, Tyler right behind her. She could take this asshole out herself but she wouldn’t complain about having someone to watch her six as she chased the guy.
The hitter was a couple hundred feet away now. Too far to get off an accurate shot. But his gait was rough. Either the crash or Tyler had injured him.
Megan put on a burst of speed, quickly gaining on the guy, tracking him as he darted left and disappeared into another alley.
Shit, she was so tired of this asshole fucking up her op.
Breathing fast, she slowed, her back to the brick exterior of the house on the corner, eyes trained on the edge of it. Tyler did the same, stopping next to her.
Running footsteps echoed up the alley, moving away from them.
“Go,” Tyler whispered.
She whipped around the corner and dropped to one knee, searching for a target. Her heart seized for a second at the sight of the man’s silhouette standing so close. His weapon was aimed directly at her.
She braced for the thud of a bullet as she adjusted her aim, sucking in a breath as three rapid shots rang out simultaneously.
The hitter’s shot went wild, pinging off the brick building next to her. He staggered, then fell to the ground with a groan. Tyler stalked past her, pistol aimed right at the bastard.
She sucked in a gulp of air as her heart began beating again. Megan raced after him, her own weapon aimed at the man on the ground. He was crumpled on his side, his legs moving restlessly.
His eyes were still open when they got to him, and he was still breathing. Definitely the same guy from Prague.
But he wouldn’t be breathing for long given the wheezing, gurgling sounds coming from him and the amount of blood spilling onto the cobbles, glistening in the faint glow of the streetlights at the end of the alley. Tyler had hit him center mass with both shots.
She kicked the fallen weapon away from the man’s limp hand, then Tyler hauled the guy’s arms behind him. “Who sent you?” Megan growled as she knelt and began to frisk him.
She found a spare full mag in his pocket, a blade in his inner jacket pocket, and no ID. “Who sent you?” Voices were coming from the end of the alley. Concerned citizens checking out the situation. She and Tyler had to disappear.
The dying hitter stared up at her with a blank expression, a wet, gurgling sound rattling in his chest.
No time. She seized his hair and yanked his head back. “Answer me. Who sent you?” she snarled.
His eyes rolled. His face went slack. He sagged, a rattling sigh filling the quiet alley.
Shit. She let him go and quickly stood, relaying to Trinity that he was dead while Tyler used a device to take the guy’s fingerprints. “Let’s go,” she told him.
Together they ran up the alley and turned right at the next main street, their car a liability to them now. The cops would be on the way, and when they arrived, she and Tyler had better be as far away as possible.
There was no time to check for CCTVs or exterior security cameras that might catch them as they ran. No point worrying about it.
They veered their way through the next few blocks, turning left then right, heading for the river. Then, as they reached the next main street, the faint whine of a motorcycle engine floated on the warm night air.
Megan jerked her head around to the left in time to see the woman on the bike ride over a pedestrian bridge in the distance.
Dammit. They could easily steal a car to go after her but there was enough heat on them already with the chase and the dead hitter’s body lying back in that alley.
Trying to follow the woman was pointless now. They’d never catch up to her even in a vehicle, and since she appeared to be a pro, the woman would no doubt ditch the bike as soon as she was out of sight and take
a different vehicle anyway.
Megan stopped running and leaned over to rest her hands on her thighs to catch her breath. The female suspect was gone but at least the threat from that hitter was over. Still, damn.
“We’ve got what she was after,” Tyler said beside her, also breathing hard after the extended sprint.
He was good in the field, she’d give him that. She appreciated a man who could keep up with her. He’d been solid right through this whole thing and hadn’t pulled any alpha male bullshit or bitched about her driving. He’d actually seemed to get a kick out of it.
“Yeah, but she doesn’t know that,” she said.
Would their suspect come back for it a second time? Megan looked up at Tyler, struck all over again by how good-looking he was. And…how indebted to him she was. Not a comfortable realization, but there it was. This was why she preferred to work alone.
Yeah, and if you’d been alone, you might have been dead right now.
“By the way, thanks for back there,” she murmured, ignoring the squirming sense of vulnerability the verbal acknowledgment of her gratitude brought. He’d saved her from taking a bullet.
He met her gaze for a moment, then nodded once. “You’re welcome.” He reached for her hand and she didn’t pull away, part of her savoring the warmth and strength of his fingers as they curled around hers. Protective rather than controlling. Caring rather than authoritative. “Let’s get out of here, huh?”
“Yeah.” The thin box she’d hidden inside her jacket rubbed against her shirt as she walked. If their suspect had come out of hiding for it once, and she didn’t realize it was missing yet, then it stood to reason she might come back for it a second time.
If they were lucky.
Megan would bait the trap, cross her fingers and sit back to see what happened.
Chapter Eleven
Another muffled sneeze from the other side of the room had Ty’s tired eyes popping open.
Bathed in late afternoon light coming through the slats in the blinds, Megan sat in a chair in the corner, her e-reader beside her and the tablet in her lap. On screen, a live feed from five different camera angles captured the comings and goings around the target house.