Samantha winced at the now familiar sensation of the metal gun barrel poking her spine.
“Just keep moving.” Agent Brown’s voice was filled with venom.
The crowd whirled around her. If she cried out for help, would he shoot her in public? In the chaos that followed her falling to the ground, he might be able to slip away. She couldn’t risk it. He’d escape and she’d be dead.
“How did you find us? I thought we shook you in the train yard.”
“I have a police scanner. When that cop picked you up, he called it in. Two men, one woman—the men wet and muddy.”
He pushed the gun deeper into her back. Agent Brown stopped, tilting his head. Samantha looked up, as well. The building next to them looked as if it had a floor that was under construction.
“Go into that building and up the stairs.”
He must be looking for a place to kill her where there were no people. If he succeeded, it would be over for her. Her mind raced. She had to do something.
She turned suddenly and faced Agent Brown.
“Stop it,” she screamed and pushed him on his shoulders. “How dare you touch me there.”
A stunned looked flashed across Agent Brown’s face. He shoved his gun in his waistband to hide it as several people stopped and looked at them.
Agent Brown shook his head. “What are you talking about?”
“The cop station is just around the corner, buddy. I could have you arrested.” She injected as much righteous indignation as she could muster.
Agent Brown’s face turned red. “You’re lying.”
Several people continued to observe the fight on the street.
She pointed at him. “You’d better keep your hands off women you don’t know.” Lifting her chin, she whirled around and stalked away, increasing her pace. She needed to get away. He would make a rush for her as soon as the attention was no longer on him.
She hurried up the block. She breathed a sigh of relief when Diego appeared, running toward her through the crowd.
“He’s behind us,” she said.
They quickened their pace. “I’m sorry I didn’t believe you.”
She glanced over her shoulder but didn’t see their pursuer. She surveyed the side streets. No doubt he had some trick up his sleeve.
Diego pointed toward the tall brick building. They sprinted up the sidewalk where the crowds were much thinner. By the time they stepped into the lobby, they were both out of breath.
“Why do you suppose he didn’t follow us?”
“If he shows his face in this building, the agents could take him in once we point him out,” Diego said.
Samantha wanted to believe they were finally safe. “I hope Gabriel made it. We don’t have a lot of clout without him.”
“I hope the rumors Agent Brown spread about me haven’t reached this far.” He walked over to a wall and studied the directory. “They’re on the fourth floor.”
As they stepped into the elevator, she could feel the tension coiling around her torso. Agent Brown wouldn’t give up easily. They couldn’t let their guard down until they were at that safe house.
She reached for Diego’s hand and gave it a little squeeze.
“Almost safe,” he said.
She watched the numbers on the elevator tick by. With each passing floor, the tension fell away.
“That was brilliant, by the way, back there on the street—calling Agent Brown out like that so you could get away.”
“Thank you,” she said.
“You may have missed your calling.”
“You mean you can make a living falsely accusing men of harassment?”
He laughed. “No, I just meant you keep your head in dangerous situations. You could do what I do. Or what the agents do.”
She loved the admiration she detected in his voice, but knew she couldn’t have her nerves hammered to pieces on a regular basis. “I don’t know about that, but thanks.” Then she wondered if Diego was trying to picture a life where they could be together.
The doors swung open. She half expected Agent Brown to be standing there with a gun aimed at them. Instead, she had a clear view of the watercooler. The stiffness through her shoulders subsided.
Diego placed his palm lightly on her back. “I know. I was expecting to see him there, too.”
She was amazed at how tuned in to her thoughts and feelings he was. Had the trauma and the danger bonded them or was it something deeper, an affection and understanding that would survive after this was all over? Hard to say.
They stepped out into a hallway that had a series of closed doors, but no reception area.
He knocked on the first door. A man opened it and looked at them from head to toe.
“Diego Cruz and his witness,” said the man.
Diego nodded. “Has Gabriel Tovar shown up?”
The man stepped outside his office. “This way.” The agent made his way down the hall and pushed open a door where Gabriel and another man waited at a table.
Gabriel’s face lit up, and he ran and hugged his friend, slapping him loudly on the back. “I lost you in the shuffle.”
“I always come through. You know that, bro.”
Gabriel gestured toward the other man. “This is Agent Klark.”
Agent Klark nodded at both of them. “We need the two of you to make your statements separately.”
Gabriel cupped both of Diego’s shoulders. “This is the end of the line for me. I do have a real job I need to get back to. One of the agents is giving me a ride back to Seattle. I’m going to be probing around that office but keeping it under the radar.”
Diego placed a hand over Gabriel’s. “Thanks for everything, brother.” Then he pulled his friend into another hug.
Gabriel pulled free of the hug and looked at Samantha. “Take care of him.”
Her throat went tight. His words, though spoken softly, had the force of emotion behind them. She nodded. “I’ll do my best.”
Gabriel must have recognized the growing affection between them. Gabriel left the room and headed down the hallway.
Agent Klark tugged on his tie. “Mr. Cruz, you stay in this room. Miss... What is your last name?”
“James, Samantha James.”
“Two doors down, there is a waiting room of sorts.”
Samantha offered Diego a quick glance. She knew she was safe now, but something about being away from him made her uneasy. “Okay.”
She stepped back out into the hallway. A female agent came toward her holding a stack of folded clothes that she handed to Samantha. “Gabriel said you were in need of some fresh clothes, and we appear to be around the same size. They’re what I wear when I have to testify in court. You’ll look like you’re ready for a business meeting, but they are clean.”
“Thank you. Where can I change?”
“The bathroom is at the end of the hall.” The agent held out her hand. “I’m Agent Blakely, by the way. You can call me Pam.”
Samantha shook Pam’s hand and then hurried down the hall. She slipped into a bathroom stall. Even though the clothes, a button-down shirt and dress slacks, were a little stiff, it felt good to get out of the dirty clothes she’d been wearing. She threw the pink shirt and jeans in the trash and stopped for a moment to catch a glimpse of herself in the mirror. She’d have to ask the female agent if she could borrow a comb. She leaned over and splashed water on her face. When she raised her head, Agent Brown was standing behind her in the mirror dressed in a janitor’s uniform.
He grinned at her. “You didn’t think I’d give up that easy, did you? Couldn’t figure out why you left Seattle until I saw you headed this way.”
She opened her mouth to scream. He jumped toward her, slapping a hand over her mouth.
“You try it. Just try it.” The gun barrel pressed in her side.
She inhaled his rotten egg–smelling breath.
“Now we’re going to get out of here real fast. Move toward the stairwell, not the elevator.”
She nodded her head. Her whole body trembled with fear as she tried to collect her thoughts. Would he just shoot her in the stairwell? Probably, if there were no people.
They moved out into the empty hallway. He pushed her toward the exit door. He used one hand to cover her mouth and the other to poke the gun in her side. Voices from behind a closed office door grew louder.
Agent Brown’s attention was momentarily drawn away from her. The pressure of the gun in her side lightened up a little. She took advantage of the moment, reached back and grabbed the gun thinking she would turn it on him. She didn’t know how to use a gun, but Agent Brown didn’t know that.
When she grabbed the gun, it went flying, hitting the side of a metal trash can. Agent Brown grabbed her again, twisting her arm behind her at a painful angle.
He inched toward where the gun had fallen. The voices on the other side of the door grew louder. The door clicked open.
Agent Brown dragged her toward the exit door. She caught a glimpse of one of the agents stepping out into the hallway just as the door sealed shut.
* * *
Diego watched while Agent Klark typed on his computer, the tapping of the keys the only sound in the room.
“Almost done here,” said Agent Klark.
He heard a noise, a sort of tinny sound like metal hitting metal. Without knowing why, the noise caused his heart to beat faster. Diego pushed his chair back from the table. “Can you give me a minute? I want to go check on Samantha.”
“Sure.”
The noise was probably just the other agent dropping something. All the same, he felt an urgency to make sure Samantha was doing okay. He pushed open the door to the room where she was supposed to be waiting, finding only a sofa and a table piled with magazines.
He hurried down the hall where two of the other agents were talking.
“I can’t find Samantha.” His voice remained steady despite the thunderstorm brewing in his mind.
The female agent pushed her glasses back on her face. “She stepped into the bathroom to change, but she should be done by now.”
Agent Klark came out of the conference room. “Everything okay?”
Diego looked at him. “Samantha is gone. Is there anywhere else she could go in this office?”
Agent Klark shook his head. “It’s a small office.” He turned to face the female agent. “Agent Blakely, did you notice anything?”
Agent Blakely shook her head. “I went back to the office after I spoke to her. I’ll go check the bathroom.”
“She wouldn’t leave here by herself, not unless she had to. She’s smart. She wouldn’t put herself in danger by going back out there alone.” Danger must have come to her.
The female agent emerged from the bathroom shaking her head. “There’s just a janitor’s bucket in there.”
Diego scanned the hallway and the closed doors, and then he saw the gun by the trash can. He ran over and picked it up.
“He’s got her. Brown must have taken her.” Diego’s hands tightened into fists. “Is there a back way out of here?”
“Down the stairs and through the parking garage.” The female agent hurried back to her office and emerged a second later, snapping her holster around her waist. “We’ll go with you.”
He only hoped they weren’t too late.
* * *
Agent Brown had forced her down one flight of stairs when she heard a door open and voices above them. They were coming for her.
After he heard the people coming down the stairs, Agent Brown dragged her out of the stairwell and onto another floor. Some people were in the hall. She caught a glimpse of a florist shop across the hall before he shoved her into a room. She heard the door click shut behind her.
They were in some sort of storage room with shelves of boxes filled with office supplies. He took his hand off her mouth. She screamed and ran back toward the door.
He grabbed her from behind and pulled her back, pushing her against a wall. She reached out for the shelving as she fell backward, and it shook. Her spine impacted with the wall and she slid to the floor, stunned. The shelving continued to sway and vibrate.
Agent Brown pushed a heavy desk in front of the door. He stalked toward her.
Still stunned from her fall, she braced herself by placing her palm on the floor. “They’ll know it was you who killed me.”
His lip curled back. “I have connections. I’ll be out of the country by then.”
Why didn’t he just get on a plane right away? Why stay around to kill them? Still wobbly, she pushed herself to her feet. He lunged toward her. She darted away, slipping behind the high shelving. He raced around and grabbed her again. This time he wrapped his hands around her neck and squeezed. He sneered. She reached up to his ear and twisted it. He yowled and let go of her.
She ran past two rows of metal shelving and slipped behind the shelf that was close to the wall. Agent Brown was bulkier than she was. He wouldn’t be able to get behind there easily.
“You can’t hide from me,” he said. He yanked the boxes of stuff off the middle shelf and reached for her. She slipped toward the corner of the room. He pulled another box off and threw it on the floor. Now she was trapped. She looked up. Maybe not. With all her strength, she pushed on the shelf. It toppled over, burying Agent Brown in boxes.
She raced toward the door and pushed on the desk. Agent Brown struggled to get out from underneath the shelving and boxes.
The desk was too heavy. She had only seconds to escape. She ran toward the far end of the room, flung open a window and climbed out.
She dropped to the ground and took off running, knowing that Agent Brown would be only seconds behind her.