Page 97 of Sinner's Salvation

They kept walking down the stairs. And walking, and walking. The subway system was quite deep below street level.Do they ever have trouble with flooding.

Finally, their entire island of people reached the bottom. Someone shoved a ticket into her hand and another put one in Brian’s pocket.

Where the hell did they get all these tickets?

They reached the bottom and walked down a wide hall. Traffic continued to move in both directions, and no one seemed to be too curious about them or the group of tourists they were with.

The ladies had surrounded Evan now too, and as she watched, one of them tossed one of their brightly colored rain jackets over his shoulder as if he were a coat tree. Someone else popped open an umbrella, so it mostly blocked oncoming foot traffic from seeing him.

Evan glanced back at her and winked.

They rounded a long corner. The turnstiles to get onto the train platform were just out of sight. Once they were through there, they would be able to slip away into the subway tunnel system.

Hope flared her chest, and for a moment she walked lighter, but as they continued around the corner, hope died. A line of people in dark suits with identical black jackets over top, stood about five feet in front of the turnstiles.

The first few members of their group made excited noises and began taking pictures and videos of the agents waiting for them like their lives depended on it.

Maybe they did.

One of the agents made a hand signal.

Out of a corridor to the right came a group of six people wearing tactical gear and carrying some heavy weaponry.

They expertly cut a group of twelve away from their vanguard of tourists, as if the six were a shepherd’s pack of herd dogs.

But their Chinese tourists weren’t any kind of sheep.

One particularly elderly lady grabbed hold of one gunman’s arm and refused to let go. She smiled at him and told him loudly in Mandarin how handsome he was and was he looking for a nice girl to settle down with?

Despite their cackling, photo-taking silliness, they did end up in a small group off to the right after a minute. That’s when another group of armed soldiers came out like the first and repeated the process.

Homeland had analyzed their tactics and were neutralizing it by removing the cover the group provided.

In a few seconds, maybe as much as a minute, Evan, Brian, and herself would be exposed and vulnerable. They’d be restrained and removed to be interrogated.

Brian couldn’t take much more. He’d break.

Evan...Evan had thrown his whole life away to help her. He’d sacrificed his career, his safety, and his freedom for her.

She wasdamnedif she would let that happen.

Resolve punched adrenaline into her system.

The subway was a relatively enclosed space. Homeland had chosen their ambush site well, but there were almost as many agents as there were Chinese tourists, and she was about the same height as the ladies who were helping her. Wearing her borrowed jacket and the floppy hat, she blended in.

The agents probably hadn’t spotted her yet.

She could fix that.

She elbowed Brian in the gut. “Wake up.”

He folded over her arm and grunted. “Ow. What was that for?”

“To make sure you’re awake.” She tugged on the back of Evan’s vest. “Here, hold this.” She passed him Brian, not letting go until she was sure Evan had a good grip on the young agent.

“Is something wrong?”

“Several things, but hopefully, not for long.”

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