Page 52 of Fox in Plain Sight

Tears welled in her eyes, and she didn’t even try to blink them back. Nobody would see them, nobody but her killer.

“Please,” she murmured, but he’d already opened the door to the women’s restroom and shoved her inside.

A single neon light flickered on the ceiling. Except for the dripping faucet it was quiet. There were three stalls, their doors open. The smell of human waste hit her immediately, making her nose twitch uncomfortably. A morbid thought came: at least she wouldn’t have to bear the stench for long.

For the first time since the assassin had caught her, he released her elbow and pushed her from him, toward one of the stalls. She whirled around, needing to watch him. As if seeing the gun would somehow help her stop him.

With a serenity only a professional killer could exhibit, he pulled a silencer from his jacket pocket. He placed the jacket over the waste bin, then slowly screwed the silencer onto the barrel of his pistol.

“It won’t hurt,” he promised.

“Please, just let me go. I promise I’ll disappear today. Nobody has to find out that you didn’t kill me. I’ll leave the country.”

The assassin shook his head. “Sorry, lady, but I always fulfill my duty.”

Instinctively, she shrank back, stepping deeper into the stall until her legs backed up against the toilet bowl.

The cocking of the gun echoed off the walls. The sound thundered in her ears and made her heart stop. This was it then. The end.

Another sound, that of creaking door hinges, reached her ears a split second later.

Her head veered in the direction of the door as it opened. Oh, no, another innocent woman would have to die because she was about to witness a murder.

“No! Run!” Michelle screamed at the person she couldn’t even see, because the assassin was blocking her view of the door.

He spun around, his back to her now, his gun hand outstretched.

The shot echoed louder than she would have expected. She’d always thought a silencer would dampen the sound of the gunshot to a dull rumble. But this was different, louder, deafening.

Paralyzed, she stared at the assassin’s back, expecting him to turn around to her now and finish her. But instead, his knees buckled and he collapsed onto the dirty floor. Her gaze flew to the door. Nick stood there, a gun in his hand.

“Are you all right?” he asked, rushing toward her.

She nodded, but couldn’t get a single word over her lips.

Nick sidestepped the dead body and reached for her, pulling her out of the stall. “We have to leave. Now. Before anybody sees us.”

She nodded numbly and clung to his hand as he dragged her out of the bathroom and around to the other side, away from the entrance.

The van, its engine running, was waiting for them. For a moment she wondered how that was possible, since she still felt the key to it in her pocket. But Yankee probably had a second one on him.

“Hop in, quickly!” Nick demanded, helping her into the van and jumping in behind her, then slamming the door shut.

The van was already in motion, making her stumble before she was able to sit on the bench.

“Get us outta here, Yankee!” Nick sat on the bench beside her and pulled her into his arms.

His erratic breathing and heaving chest mirrored her own.

“I thought I’d be too late.”

Michelle buried her head in his chest, still not being able to comprehend how she’d escaped certain death. “You came. You killed him before he could kill me.”

“Shame the guy’s dead. Would have loved to question him about this Smith character. Guess we blew our chance there,” Yankee threw in.

“Yeah, well, I had no choice,” Nick answered.

He put his hand under her chin and tipped her face up. His mouth was on hers a moment later, kissing her with a desperation she’d never felt from him before. When he released her moments later, he stroked his hand over her hair.

“You scared the shit out of me, Michelle.”

“I didn’t know he was gonna send an assassin. And I couldn’t know he’d be an hour early.” Then she looked at Yankee, who was driving fast. “Where are we going?”

Nick answered in his stead. “To a safe house.”

Relieved, Michelle exhaled. “What happened at Langley? Did you get the file?”

Nick grinned and patted his jacket pocket. “We got it, baby.”