Page 52 of Secret Agent Santa

When they reached the door, he pushed on the horizontal release bar. He held his breath, waiting for the alarm. If there was one, he couldn’t hear it above the drummer.

The cold air blasted his face, and he ducked his head against it, pulling Claire close to his body. She matched him stride for stride down the alley, although he could tell she was on autopilot.

They burst out onto the street and merged into the foot traffic, still heavy at almost eleven o’clock at night. People rushing home with their packages, filled with Christmas spirit, leaving no dead bodies behind in clubs. A curbside Santa rang his bell and they both jumped. Mike took a deep breath.

“You’re doing great, Claire. Just keep on moving.” He steered her toward the subway entrance and down the stairs, cranking his head over his shoulder.

He hadn’t noticed anyone following them, either from the bar or picking them up on the street, but there must’ve been someone in the bar. Someone had spiked Hamid’s drink. Maybe their own beers had been drugged. Someone had either followed Hamid to that location or they’d picked up on his communication with Claire.

Grabbing Claire’s hand, he kept her close as he jogged down the stairs. He fed money into the machine to buy two single-ride tickets, the blood pounding in his ears, lending urgency to his actions.

A man rounded the corner behind them, clutching something beneath his long black coat. Mike curled his hand around his own weapon in his pocket while yanking Claire in his wake. “We need to hurry, Claire.”

He nudged her through the turnstile and the clattering sound seemed to rouse her from her petrified state.

Her stride lengthened until it turned into a jog, and they ran together toward the train squealing to a stop. The doors flew open and they jumped on as one.

Mike continued moving, dragging Claire along with him, making a beeline for the next car as he kept one eye on the other passengers boarding. The man with the coat was not among them.

The train swayed into motion, and Claire grabbed on to the bar above her. She swung into a seat and closed her eyes.

Mike took the seat next to her, still assessing the other passengers.

He finally let out the breath trapped in his lungs and took Claire’s cold, stiff hand in both of his. She must’ve left her gloves in her pocket. He rubbed some warmth back into her flesh.

“I’m sorry, Claire.”

Her eyes clicked open like a doll’s and shifted sideways to his face. “We got him killed.”

“We don’t know that.” He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “They’d made Hamid. They knew just where to find him.”

She shook her head, dislodging the lock of hair again. “They couldn’t have known about that message board. No way.”

“If they tapped into his computer, they’d know his every keystroke, or maybe they put a tracker on his phone. I have a hunch they didn’t realize he’d be meeting you.”

“Why do you say that?” She finally turned her head and met his eyes.

“I could be wrong, but my guess is that his first drink was already drugged. They wouldn’t want him dead before we even got there.”

“Maybe our drinks were drugged, too. I didn’t even have a sip of mine, did you?”

“No, thank God.” He slipped an arm around her. “I just can’t believe they’d let us get away that easily if they’d still been there.”

“They drugged all our drinks and left.”

“There’s no way of knowing at this point.”

A tear rolled down her cheek and she made no move to catch it, so he brushed it away with the pad of his thumb.

“Don’t blame yourself, Claire. It’s the fault of those who dragged him into this, set him up and then murdered him. I’m not sure he would’ve come with us, anyway. He was too spooked.”

“H-he betrayed me. He’d been lying to me all this time.”

“You mean about the man who executed Shane?”

“He knew. He knew who he was all along, or he at least knew more than he was telling.” She pressed her fingertips against her temples. “I was so naive. Hamid was using me, probably to get into the US.”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself, Claire, or on Hamid.” He caressed her shoulder. “You two helped each other at the time. Maybe he protected you by keeping you away from the truth. He understands that world better than you do.”

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