Page 104 of Sinner's Salvation

A bunch of police rushed down the stairs.

Headphone girl spoke again.

“We still have a couple of our people down in the subway station,” the woman said. “Lady Anna is in danger. She was gravely wounded, lost a lot of blood, and has disappeared into the subway tunnel system. About a dozen Homeland Security agents are trying to find her.” She paused as the headphone girl told her something else. “They want to capture her.”

“Of course they do.” Evan considered his options.

He could go back to the station they just left, but it was full of Homeland Security agents who were finding out just how hard it was to kill an immortal.

Or he could go to the next station and work his way back via the subway tunnels. The latter idea had more merit.

“Can you take Brian with you? Keep him safe? I need to get into the subway system.”

The lady nodded.

“Thank you.”

“Evan, don’t forget,” Brian said.

“Don’t forget what?”

“You’renotimmortal.”

Their group stopped at the closest corner and parted ways with him.

He kept the scarf on, flashed his photo op sign, and smiled at every person who passed him on the street.

He reached the next subway station and made his way down to the turnstiles. There, the police were telling people that the trains weren’t running due to a maintenance crew performing critical work. Everyone was to use street-level transit or ferries.

A cop came up to him, his hand on his weapon.

Evan showed him hisphotograph with a soldiersign with a shrug and a grin.

The cop rolled his eyes. “You must get stopped a lot.”

“I do, but that just tells the tourists I look authentic, so it’s worth the hassle. I’ve got about five hundred dollars in my pockets right now, and the day isn’t over yet.”

The cop shook his head. “The subway isn’t running right now. Power outage.”

“Well, shit,” Evan said. “I guess I’m walking.” He stepped back and angled his body as if about to turn around.

The cop nodded, then returned to his post, blocking access to the platform.

Evan pulled out the phone he was using and pretended to be completely mesmerized by what was on it. All he needed was a small distraction.

A guy in a suit rushed up to the police line and tried to pass through. They wouldn’t let him, and he quickly devolved into a two-year-old temper tantrum. Insisting he had a right to use the subway.

He kicked up so much fuss that more than one cop became engaged in calming him down. Fortunately for Evan, other people started complaining and shouting and it pulled all the police out of position.

Evan moved until he was out of the way, his back to the far side of the stairs leading down to the platform. When someone shoved one of the cops, he let it push him down a couple of the stairs.

No one noticed, so he kept going down the stairs. Once he was out of sight of the entrance, he kept moving down, watching and listening for more police or security.

The hum of several voices told him there were a bunch of people ahead of him. He glanced at himself. The flashy scarf and photo op sign wasn’t going to cut it anymore.

He dropped it all on the stairs, then pulled out his Army Intelligence ID and held it up as the people he could hear came into view.

Several of the police and security personnel told him to stop and go back.

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