That wouldn’t do.
Time for a clean getaway.
Just as Dick was demanding where the food was, she heard the sound of him being unceremoniously pushed aside, but Anna was already through the open window and down the fire escape, heading into the alley to lose herself in the shadows.
Her plan was to catch a cab as she walked briskly away from the hotel. But then she realized minutes later that she was being followed. In an effort to lose her tail, she broke into a run in her two-inch heels pell-mell toward the opening to the street. Several someones, in fact, were after her. This wasn’t part of the plan. She couldn’t afford to have the USB fall into anyone’s hands or for her to get snagged.
She had done plenty of recon in this city to know it very well. She didn’t like to get caught flat-footed. She was always prepared.
She reached for the knife concealed in the top of the left boot, close to her inner thigh, pulled it out and palmed it. Someone stepped out of the shadows, a hulking man at the head of the alley cutting her off. She ducked into a doorway, breathing hard, her heart pounding loud enough for someone to hear it. She was trapped.
The fact that they hadn’t pulled their weapons meant they wanted her alive. She wasn’t sure who they were, but they weren’t taking her without a fight.
She ducked down and hid behind a dumpster, spying a two-by-four that would work nicely. She slipped the knife back into her boot, keeping her eyes on their silhouettes as she reached for and grabbed the wooden club. She really, really didn’t need any dead bodies connected to her. Best to incapacitate them and be on her way.
Worst case scenario—she’d be forced to kill someone.
No one was supposed to know who she was, and she was uneasy as she waited in the dark for the four figures to converge. When they did, they talked to each other in quick, angry Czech, wondering where she could be and agreeing to spread out to find her. She hadn’t come out the other end of the alley, so that meant she had to still be here.
These weren’t the usual dumb henchmen. But the fact they knew about her clandestine op meant they were tipped off, which had even more dire ramifications, not only to her, but to the reason she was sent here in the first place.
This was bad.
She couldn’t compound this shit-hitting-the-fan moment by being caught, especially for the intel, but her life could be measured in hours, maybe days. She stayed low, hanging onto her weapon. They separated, and as a lone figure passed her hiding spot, she waited for the opportune moment, reared up, and with one hefty swing of the wood cracked him a stunning blow to the back of his head. He went down like a ton of bricks. The bigger they are, the harder they fall.
Moving on the balls of her feet, she ghosted down to the end of the alley toward freedom, anonymity, and safety.
Someone lunged out at her, wrapping beefy hands around her waist, scaring the crap out of her and making her heart catch, then beat a mile a minute. She swung the board and connected with his shin and he howled. Dammit, that would bring the rest of them. No help for it now. She was committed. But the ox wouldn’t let her go. Holding her with one arm, he stripped the board out of her hands, trying to grab her wrists to immobilize her.
She elbowed him in the ribs, getting no purchase being held with her feet off the ground. He still didn’t let her go, and she could hear footsteps pounding the pavement toward her.
She reached for her knife, and with a slash at his arm, struggled to get free. When he cried out and dropped her, she went into a crouch, swung around with her leg and knocked the behemoth off his feet. He flipped up into the air and crashed down, unmoving. She rose up and started running to the end of the alley.
But the last two thugs had gained on her and one of them caught her ponytail, wrenching her neck and pulling her off balance. Using the momentum to her favor, she came around and used the heel of her hand to smash a blow to his nose, sending him reeling back and hitting the wall, then sliding down.
She turned, already