Page 96 of Sinner's Salvation

He managed to move down the street a few feet between pictures, heading very slowly toward the nearest subway station.

Her little group of ladies found her, slipped her the hat and jacket again, and she was camouflaged. Brian was a bit more of a challenge.

He was trying to act normal, but the extreme sleep deprived state he was in meant he looked like he was drunk or high on drugs. Maybe both. He stumbled every other step and spoke too loudly to everyone.

Anna managed to keep him upright, but only because the ladies helped her by hemming him in and giving him no space to fall down.

Their progress was slow but steady. The entrance to the subway came into view, and she allowed herself some hope that they’d go down and slip into the subway tunnel without any problems or delays.

As they approached the stairs down into the subway, she counted three police cars parked along the curb. There were also a couple of black SUVs.

“Evan,” Anna called out, trying to find the right volume to catch his attention without attracting anyone else’s.

He turned to look at her. “I see them.”

“Should we keep going or go down?”

“Down,” he said.

Brian lurched against her, nearly falling to the ground. She had to grab hold of the waistband of his pants to hold him up.

“Brian,” she hissed. “Wake up.”

His head lolled and rolled, his eyes closed, and mouth open.

One of the ladies on his other side waved something that smelled sharp under his nose, and he came awake all at once.

“Oh my God, what is that?” he asked, trying to break free of her grip on him.

“It’s something to wake you up.”

“It’s going to make me puke, that’s what it’s going to do,” he mumbled, his eyes closing again.

She shook him. “Stay awake. We’re going down into the subway, but there are a lot of police cars around.”

“No police officers?” he asked, clutching her with both hands as if she were an anchor and he was in a storm.

“I don’t see any.”

“That’s bad,” he whispered. It was loud enough Evan could probably hear him, though he didn’t stop or slow down.

“They’re probably watching us, waiting for us to get in just the right place, then,bam. We get arrested. Or shot. Or both.” He gave her a brilliant grin. It died in a couple of seconds. “Actually, I’d like to avoid both, if possible.”

The leading edge of their group of people started going down the stairs into the subway station. Evan slowed a bit, so he ended up descending right in front of Anna and Brian.

“Have you got a good grip on him?” Evan asked.

“Yes.”

“Can you carry him? If you have to?”

“Yes, but Evan, we might be walking into an ambush.”

“The station hasn’t been shut down,” he said, looking at the people coming and going on the stairs. “This is our best bet.”

“We’re going to get caught,” Brian said, in a sing-song voice. “Or die.” He laughed. “I’m not sure which is worse.”

“Getting caught,” she said, her jaw clenched so tight she had to spit the words out between her teeth.

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