“Mmm,” she said.
It didn’t matter what the others held. She wouldn’t hoard food. There were others who needed to eat. One meal was more than enough for her. In fact, she might only eat half of it and save the rest for the morning.
But then a thought hit her: the man she’d given the dollar to sure looked hungry. Did he know about this spot? Maybe she should take one of the cartons to him, so he could eat, too.
Before she could make good on that, though, she heard the closing of a car door. She looked to her right, deeper into the concrete space that zig-zagged behind the unique shapes and patterns of the buildings, and saw two men stepping away from a black sedan. Something about them seemed off.
They were dressed in slacks and dress shirts—one white and the other blue. Both had their sleeves rolled up past their wrists. The expensive-looking watches they wore shimmered under the two nearby, bright streetlamps.
Annika’s first thought was to hide. These men looked rich, from the clothes they wore to the car they’d arrived in. A lot of rich people didn’t like seeing the homeless around. Sometimesthey’d give money. But sometimes they’d griped at Annika. Or taunted. Her heart couldn’t take either right now.
She could tell these two weren’t friendly. It made her feel guilty to judge like that. There she was, hoping they didn’t judge her and she’d already made up her mind about them. Not all people with money were mean, she reminded herself. There were tons of kind people out there. Who funded the shelters and missions she frequented, after all?
But there was something about these guys. It went beyond her just believing they were snobby.
An aura of danger hung about them. Annika couldn’t explain it. But alarm bells were going off inside her brain.
For the first time, she realized there was another vehicle parked back there. This one was concealed by the shadows coming off one of the buildings. Squinting, she saw that it was a SUV so dark it blended in with the night.
Two more men who’d also been concealed stepped out, coming into the light to greet the others.
Annika couldn’t tell which one of the four was speaking, but one of them said, “We going to do this?”
Go now, Annika! Get out of there! Fast.
The voice inside her head was right. She had to run. Whatever they were doing wasn’t any of her business and she didn’t want any part of it.
Reaching out, she took hold of another carton of food, wanting to help the man she’d encountered earlier.
Big mistake.
The Styrofoam carton was loud as the top and bottom smushed together in her hand. All four men looked her direction. Unfortunately, there was enough light near the loading dock to reveal her. She might as well stand up straight and get ready to run, she realized, because there was no denying she was there.
“Hey!” one of the guys in the nice clothes said. “I know you.” He looked at the other man he’d arrived with. “We know her! That’s the girl! What’s her name?”
What the second one said chilled Annika to her bones.
“Annika.”
Oh crap! I’ve got to move!
Annika dropped the food and ran as fast as she could. A few yards away, she felt her foot slide out from under her and she realized she’d run through a puddle of beer. A broken bottle lay nearby.
She almost went down, but thankfully managed to right herself, though her legs hurt from the awkward position they’d just been in.
Should she stay, grab some of the broken bottle for a weapon and fight?
Her brain quickly calculated the odds. That wasn’t really a viable option. Four men were a lot stronger than she was. Even if she had a weapon. Plus, she might just as easily cut herself on the glass as she did them.
Not to mention the fact that she wasn’t sure she could actually hurt anyone. Even if it was their life or hers.
So she ran. Her legs still hurt after the near fall. Had she hyperextended her left one? There wasn’t time to worry about that. Moving was all that mattered.
Gritting her teeth, she pumped her legs as fast as possible, all while cursing her bad luck.
In a city of over eighteen million residents, somehow,theymanaged to find her.
Things just kept getting worse for Annika Voss.
