Page 49 of Close Pursuit

“It’s a professional surveillance team. We’ll have to use tradecraft. Do exactly what I say. No questions, just do whatever I tell you, no matter how weird it sounds. Okay?”

She nodded, terrified. Tradecraft was the skill set spies used. Where in the hell did he learn—oh, wait. His father. Of course. Daddy must have taught his son the tools of the trade.

But Alex had been a child when he’d lived with Peter Koronov. Who would teach a young boy how to be a spy? Andwhy?

There was no more time to wonder, for the elevator door opened. Alex headed fast for an exit and she followed him outside. It was cold and her breath hung in the air in a great white cloud. Alex took off down the alley behind the hotel, sticking to the shadows.

She followed, doing her best to be quiet. Thankfully, she’d spent a lot of years skulking in the woods behind her parent’s house, playing hide and seek with her brothers. They always won, of course, but she considered herself reasonably stealthy. But Alex was dead silent in front of her.

He slipped around the corner into the street and she tried to mimic his fluid movement.

“Try to look normal,” he murmured.

Normal. Right. She linked her arm in his and smiled up at him. “Got it. Normal,” she replied under her breath.

They walked for maybe a block when Alex swore quietly. “No good. They’ve spotted us.”

Oh, crap. They walked another fifty feet or so and without warning, Alex, yanked her to the side by her arm. She all but fell over as he dragged her into a convenience store.

Once inside, he turned her loose and took off running for the rear of the store. She regained her balance and raced after him. A startled clerk stared at them. Alex called out something in Russian to the man and the guy pointed. Alex swerved in that direction and she veered after him.

They burst into a dim storeroom, tore through it, and popped out the back door into another alley. A sprint down this one and Alex darted out of the alley. His long legs stretched out as he crossed the street and sprinted into a park of some kind. She pushed hard to keep up with him, and the baby bag banged against her back uncomfortably.

She spared a glance over her shoulder and was dismayed to see two dark figures running behind them. And the tails were closing in on them. Alex sped up even more and she dug deep to keep up with him.

They burst out on the other side of the park and Alex turned left, tearing down a side street and ducking into a restaurant. He said something to the manager and this time threw a handful of cash at the guy, who pointed to the back of the deserted dining room. This time they raced frantically through a kitchen. Alex yelled something to the cooks who called something back to him.

Outside again, into the dark and cold.

“Not much farther,” he grunted at her as they took off running yet again.

Her lungs were starting to close up. Her respiratory tract didn’t like the hot to cold to hot to cold routine. Not to mention the whole mad sprinting thing. She worked out regularly, but not with bad guys chasing her who intended to do who knew what if they caught her.

Alex turned one more corner and they tore down a residential street. Row houses lined the block, maybe five stories tall, and old looking. He screeched to a stop without warning beside an ancient Volkswagen and bit out, “Keep watch.”

She was more than glad to stand there, huffing hard. Meanwhile, Alex shocked her by pulling out his pistol and bashing the VW window with its butt. He let himself into the car fast and gestured for her to get in. She raced around to the passenger side and climbed in. He thrust Dawn at her and bent down to hotwire the car. In under a minute, the engine sputtered to life and he pulled away from the curb.

It was viciously cold with the wind whipping through the car, and she tucked Dawn inside her coat and held her close. The baby kept sleeping, though, so Katie guessed she must be warm enough for now.

“We’ve got to ditch this car. The broken window is too obvious,” Alex said.

“Then why did you steal it?”

“You couldn’t run forever, and neither could I with the baby.”

“Where are we headed?”

“Airport. Lots of cars there.”

She frowned, not understanding.

“Watch behind us for any car that follows us for more than a few minutes.”

It was hard to track individual cars at night using only glimpses of vehicles as they passed under the sparse street lights. But as best she could tell, no one followed them.

When they arrived at the airport, Alex guided the car into the long term-parking lot like a normal traveler and took the ticket from the automatic dispenser. He parked at the back of the lot and they got out.

“Start trying door handles until you find an unlocked one,” he instructed under his breath. “If I tell you to get down, do it fast. I’ll be watching the exit gate attendant.”

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