Time for a clean getaway.
Just as Dick was demanding where the food was, she heard the sound of him being unceremoniously pushed aside, but Anna was already through the open window and down the fire escape, heading into the alley to lose herself in the shadows.
Her plan was to catch a cab as she walked briskly away from the hotel. But then she realized minutes later that she was being followed. In an effort to lose her tail, she broke into a run in her two-inch heels pell-mell toward the opening to the street. Several someones, in fact, were after her. This wasn’t part of the plan. She couldn’t afford to have the USB fall into anyone’s hands or for her to get snagged.
She had done plenty of recon in this city to know it very well. She didn’t like to get caught flat-footed. She was always prepared.
She reached for the knife concealed in the top of the left boot, close to her inner thigh, pulled it out and palmed it. Someone stepped out of the shadows, a hulking man at the head of the alley cutting her off. She ducked into a doorway, breathing hard, her heart pounding loud enough for someone to hear it. She was trapped.
The fact that they hadn’t pulled their weapons meant they wanted her alive. She wasn’t sure who they were, but they weren’t taking her without a fight.
She ducked down and hid behind a dumpster, spying a two-by-four that would work nicely. She slipped the knife back into her boot, keeping her eyes on their silhouettes as she reached for and grabbed the wooden club. She really, really didn’t need any dead bodies connected to her. Best to incapacitate them and be on her way.
Worst case scenario—she’d be forced to kill someone.
No one was supposed to know who she was, and she was uneasy as she waited in the dark for the four figures to converge. When they did, they talked to each other in quick, angry Czech, wondering where she could be and agreeing to spread out to find her. She hadn’t come out the other end of the alley, so that meant she had to still be here.
These weren’t the usual dumb henchmen. But the fact they knew about her clandestine op meant they were tipped off, which had even more dire ramifications, not only to her, but to the reason she was sent here in the first place.
This was bad.
She couldn’t compound this shit-hitting-the-fan moment by being caught, especially for the intel, but her life could be measured in hours, maybe days. She stayed low, hanging onto her weapon. They separated, and as a lone figure passed her hiding spot, she waited for the opportune moment, reared up, and with one hefty swing of the wood cracked him a stunning blow to the back of his head. He went down like a ton of bricks. The bigger they are, the harder they fall.
Moving on the balls of her feet, she ghosted down to the end of the alley toward freedom, anonymity, and safety.
Someone lunged out at her, wrapping beefy hands around her waist, scaring the crap out of her and making her heart catch, then beat a mile a minute. She swung the board and connected with his shin and he howled. Dammit, that would bring the rest of them. No help for it now. She was committed. But the ox wouldn’t let her go. Holding her with one arm, he stripped the board out of her hands, trying to grab her wrists to immobilize her.
She elbowed him in the ribs, getting no purchase being held with her feet off the ground. He still didn’t let her go, and she could hear footsteps pounding the pavement toward her.
She reached for her knife, and with a slash at his arm, struggled to get free. When he cried out and dropped her, she went into a crouch, swung around with her leg and knocked the behemoth off his feet. He flipped up into the air and crashed down, unmoving. She rose up and started running to the end of the alley.
But the last two thugs had gained on her and one of them caught her ponytail, wrenching her neck and pulling her off balance. Using the momentum to her favor, she came around and used the heel of her hand to smash a blow to his nose, sending him reeling back and hitting the wall, then sliding down.
She turned, already moving to strike the next assailant while the previous thug was too dazed to rise, only to be stunned by the man in front of her.
His face, illuminated under a dim light from a doorway, sent shockwaves through her. She couldn’t stop her forward momentum, and she smashed the heel of her palm into his face.
“Bollocks! It’s me, Anna!”
For the first time in her professional life, she was caught physically and mentally off guard. She stumbled and fell backwards. Sharp pains stabbed into her butt as she winced and swore, then looked up.
“Dodger? What are you doing here?”
The guy against the wall started to rise, and while Dodger was stemming the blood from his nose, he kicked back with the heel of his boot and caught the guy in the temple. He slumped to the side and lay still.
There was a shout from down the alley. Dodger reached down and grabbed her hand. “Time to go.”
She couldn’t argue with that, but this was mind-boggling. How the hell did Oliver get into the middle of her freaking business? At this point, getting away was the most important thing and the questions would have to wait. “This way,” she said as she navigated the path that would lead her back to her apartment.
Sirens blared in the distance, and her heart pounded as she led him down several alleys before they got to her home base.
She froze and her stomach squeezed. More thugs milling around where she lived. Yeah, not safe. Also, not good.
She swore softly, and Dodger whispered, “What’s going on?”
“I wish I knew,” she hissed, backtracking, her nerves pure titanium alloy. “I have a contingency plan.” She moved away from her home base, her feet protesting, taking back alleys until she got to her secondary location. She checked the front of the building from the alley across the street. Everything looked quiet. There was no one out front or in the vicinity.
She moved out of the shadows and started toward the apartment complex. Once they reached the front door, Anna entered with Dodger in tow. She moved up the staircase on the balls of her feet, her butt protesting every step of the way. Something was embedded in her skin and it hurt like hell.
When she got to the right apartment, she unlocked the door and slipped inside. Closing the door softly behind him, Dodger bumped into her in the dark.
“Sorry, luv,” he said.
For some reason that endearment set her off. She flipped on the light switch and rounded on him. “What are you freaking doing here?” she demanded, keeping her voice low and fierce.
He narrowed his eyes. There was blood on his upper lip and smeared on his right cheekbone and temple.
Anna stepped back. Wow. That must be his warrior face. It. Was. Scary.
“Bathroom,” he bit out.
She sighed. Suddenly, her attraction to Dodger wasn’t almost more than she could bear—it was way more than she could bear. “Down the hall to the right.”
She heard the water come on, and all of a sudden, she felt every ache and pain. Damn, her butt hurt.
Dodger splashed water on his face, his nose still throbbing. Luckily, it wasn’t broken. That woman was a bloody menace. He would be surprised if he didn’t end up with double black eyes. Yeah, the guys would have a field day with this one.
Right. The guys. In saving Anna and getting her safe, he’d totally forgotten. He’d been gone for a couple of hours. They would be wondering where the hell he was. He was part of an active op. But it was clear Anna was in trouble. He couldn’t leave her alone. He owed it to Max.