Page 93 of Jep

He fired at the window again as she put more weight on her legs and limped forward. “I can do it.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah.” She limped faster to prove the point.

He kept his arm around her, hating that he had to drag her faster, but she didn’t cry out in pain.

Once they were around the corner, he confirmed there were no hostiles in his line of sight and leaned her against the wall while he made a call.

“Agents in distress. We need backup now. Multiple assailants.” After giving them the address, he tucked his phone back into his pocket and pulled off the latex gloves that were torn to pieces. Em looked at her hands, suddenly remembering them.

“We need to find somewhere safe to hide you.”

“Can we go back to the car and get out of here?” She pulled off what was left of the rubber.

“They could be watching. And I’m not ready to leave yet. Can you keep walking?”

She took a few steps, scrunching her face in pain, but nodded.

“Stay low,” he said, pushing her in front of him while he watched behind them. After rounding a corner, he checked doors until he found one that was unlocked. “In here,” he said, checking the street before shutting them both inside.

“What if they find us in here?” she said, looking around the small foyer of what appeared to be a boutique suite of offices, but there was no one around.

An emerald daybed with gold buttons was in a small nook, and the tiled floor displayed some kind of star pattern whose rays reached out to the walls.

“They won’t. They weren’t following.”

“How’d they even know we were here?”

“Someone was either watching, or they were tipped off.”

“By who?”

“Your guess is as good as mine. For now, I won’t take any chances. We’ll need to find a hiding place for you until backup arrives.”

“Why just for me? You’re not going back out there, are you?”

His face crumpled in frustration. “We need the journal.”

She tipped her head toward the ceiling. “I forgot about the journal.”

“I must have dropped it when I dove for you back at the kitchen.”

“Then we can go back for it when the others arrive. It’s too dangerous to go get it now.”

“We can’t wait. It may already be too late, but I have to try.” His eyes pivoted across the room to a door with a gold nameplate that read “Janitor”.

“Over here,” he said, taking her hand.

“You want me to hide in a janitor’s closet?”

He opened the door, and the faint smell of bleach greeted them.

“There isn’t room,” Em said, nudging a bucket with her toe.

“You can climb on top of those boxes.”

She pursed her lips. “I’m not sitting on a pile of cardboard. I can come with you.”

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