“Should we take a cab? Would that be safer?” I ask.
“Yeah.”
We walk down the block, looking for an empty cab, but they’re all full.
“Let’s head toward the hotel and hopefully we can catch a cab at the next block. Keep your eyes open, though.”
I link my hand with Teeny’s and we start walking. All three of us are breaking our necks as we scope out everything that happens in front of us, behind us, and to each side.
“There are some really weird people here,” Teeny says.
“Yep,” I answer her absently. Is Agent Hammond out hunting us down for Thomas? I could see the excitement in his eyes the moment he saw us.
“And stinky people, too. Did you smell that guy we just passed?”
Ethan runs a hand over her head, teasing her hair. “Teeny, you need to be on the lookout for Hammond. Or Thomas. Or Mateo.”
Good grief, could the list get any bigger?
We go another block with no empty cab. We’re walking at a good pace and may actually get to the hotel before we find a ride.
Until Teeny stops in her tracks. Ethan and I stop shortly after her and look back.
“What’s wrong?” I ask. All the color drains from her face and her bottom lip quivers. I take the few steps back until I’m at her side, Ethan right next to me.
She pulls both of us inside a souvenir shop and all but hides in a rack of T-shirts.
“Teeny, what’s wrong?” Ethan asks.
“There’s a man out there. He’s looking down at his phone and I saw a bunch of small crosses tattooed on his neck. Isn’t that who Tyler said was after us?”
Ethan moves to the window in front of the store to look outside then ducks down just below the window.
I slip in next to Teeny and glance out the window. Stopped on the sidewalk is a man with long dark hair pulled back into a ponytail. And plain as day is a chain of crosses that almost circle his neck. They aren’t big but there are a lot of them. This has to be Mateo.
He looks at his phone, then taps the screen. Waits. Then taps some more. He’s communicating with someone.
While he waits, Mateo reaches in his coat pocket and pulls out a pack of cigarettes. Shaking the pack, he realizes he’s out. And then he glances to the store where we’re hiding.
Ethan, seeing the assassin walk toward the door of the store, pushes Teeny and me all the way behind the T-shirts but there’s not enough room for all three of us. “Stay there,” he mumbles and then moves to the rack across from us, diving behind a row of hoodies.
The bell on the door chimes as Mateo walks inside. He goes to the counter and asks for a pack of Marlboros.
I hold Teeny close and keep her head down.
From my view between the hangers, the clerk, Mateo, and we are the only people in the store.
He takes the cigarettes from the old woman behind the counter. She’s looking around the store, though. She knows we’re in here and seems suspicious now that we’ve disappeared.
Mateo turns to leave when the woman calls out, “Where you kids at? You better not be stealing my stuff.”
He stops and looks back into the store. “Who are you looking for?” His accent has a thick twang to it. Maybe Texas?
She leans over the counter, trying to get a better look through the small store, and says, “Three kids. They ran in here a minute ago and now—poof—they gone.”
He lets the door close and walks slowly back to the counter. “What did they look like?”
The woman swishes her hand in front of her face. “A mess. Street kids for sure. And one of the girls, so young.”
