Page 4 of Hidden Ascent

“Hi,” she said sharply.

He looked at her with a lopsided grin. “Good evening. What can I do for you?”

“I’m looking for a map,” she said, lifting her hands to show she was unarmed. “I like Batman.”

“What?”

She was an expert on tactical missions, but she would never make a good undercover operative. She was a terrible liar. “Your T-shirt.”

“What about it?” His voice was slow, like he was getting a high off the smell. It gave Isla a headache.

“Never mind. Do you have any maps in here?”

“You mean like real ones?”

“As opposed to fake ones? Yes.” Her tone was as clipped as his was drawn out.

“No. We only have the touristy ones. If you need to know where you are, they don’t do you much good. You should try the convenience store down the road.”

She pressed her lips together to keep herself composed. Her adrenaline was dropping and sapping her energy with it. Playing the damsel in distress role wouldn’t work for her. She may have a small bone structure, but she knew the hard look she wore on her face. Couple that with what was left of her tactical gear and her poor acting skills, and she’d only make things worse. She’d have to go for a reasonable middle ground that she could sell even to herself.

“I had my backpack stolen with my phone in it,” she said matter-of-factly. “I chased the guy, lost him, then found him again. By that time, he’d ditched my bag.”

Batman’s mouth had dropped open slightly. “What’d you do to him when you found him?” She couldn’t tell if his wide-eyed look was concern or intrigue.

“You don’t want to know. The problem is, I chased him so far, I’m not sure what part of town I’m in.”

“Why don’t you call an Uber?”

“My phone was in my bag, remember?”

“Oh, yeah.”

“My money too.”

“So you couldn’t have bought the map even if we had one?”

“No. But all I need to do is get my bearings.”

“I can show you the map on my phone if that would help.”

“Yes. It would.”

He shrugged. “Sure. Just don’t steal it.”

“Okay.”

He pulled out his phone and brought up the map app for her, then handed it to her.

Once she identified her position, she noted a large office complex she recognized.

“Thanks. You’ve been a big help. I appreciate it.”

“Any time.”

Chapter2

“Jay, bring the kid over.”The man who spoke had spiderweb tattoos coving his neck.

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