Italian lessons. All to equip me for this day. I needed to find out the truth, and so I agreed to take another plunge into the rabbit hole. “Okay.”
“Have coffee with Nick,” he said. “Take your time. When you’re finished, meet me at the Athenæum. I’m going to lead those men on a wild chase, and I’ll meet you there as soon as I’m rid of them.”
“What about Afton?” I asked.
“She’s being retrieved and will be at the library.” He rose and dropped a couple of dollars on the table.
I wanted to tell him not to go, not to leave me. That I was scared. But he had to, for Nick and Afton’s sake. “Just be careful, okay?”
There was a long pause before he spoke. “Don’t do anything rash. I wouldn’t want you to lose that lovely head of yours.”
Our cell phone connection ended.
Despite my worry, I smiled. Did he just say I was lovely?
He ambled out the door as if there weren’t two scary men watching him. The men who came out of the shadows and followed him were definitely the type you’d cross the street to avoid. The lanky one zipped up his gray hoodie as he stepped off the curb. The stocky man, wearing a leather jacket, tossed a cigarette butt in the gutter and followed. Both had dark stringy hair and scruffy five o’clock shadows. They headed in the same direction as Arik. When they disappeared around a corner, I turned to Nick.
“Tell me everything… I mean everything. And why are you wearing those?”
“They’re Arik’s. We traded clothes to throw off my scent…to throw off any thing searching for me, so they’d follow him, not me.”
“How’s that supposed to work?”
“Apparently, his clothes will temporarily mask my smell. Confuse them. I don’t know. It all went down so fast. He rushed out and told me to meet him here—”
Erin put down a paper coffee cup with my skinny caramel latte on the table. “Hi, Nick.” Erin assessed him. “Wow, you’re a biker wannabe now. Vitaminwater, right?” She walked off before Nick had a chance to reply.
“She hates me.”
“What did you expect? You did break up with her after only one date.”
“Funny. It was three dates. Hurry up and drink that.” He stood. “I’ve got to get out of here.”
“What about your Vitaminwater?”
“I didn’t order it. She just assumed I wanted one.” Nick stalked outside.
After placing six dollars on the table, I grabbed the coffee cup and the rest of my things and then shuffled around tables to the door.
Nick paced the sidewalk. “Can you be any slower?”
“I paid good money for this coffee. Besides, Arik said to wait before we left.”
“I’m not hanging around for any of those…whatever they are to find me.”
I swung my backpack onto my right shoulder and slipped my hand through the strap of my umbrella as I scanned the area. We skirted around other pedestrians, hurrying along at a sort of trot-walk pace toward the Haymarket station, hoping something didn’t jump out from the shadows between the buildings. “Where’s your bag?”
“What?”
“Arik had me bring a change of clothes. Didn’t he ask you to pack one, too?”
“No.”
I pulled on the shoulder strap of my pack, hoisting it farther up my back.
“I wonder why he told me to and not you?”
“They know everything about us. He must know your pop works graveyard tonight. Maybe that’s why he called Afton. He probably wants you to stay with her so you won’t be alone.”
“Oh. Right. That makes sense.” I remembered Pop’s request that I be home to have dinner with him before he went to work, and I felt bad about ditching him. Because of his work schedule and my activities, dinners and Sunday night TV were our only alone time.
We shot down the steps to the subway platform and spotted Arik attempting to blend in at the edge of a group of kids. His eyes widened when he spotted us. He quickly turned his head to watch for the train.
I grabbed Nick’s elbow. “Crap. Nick. I knew we should’ve waited.”
“Shit. Just act normal.”
The two thugs were on the ledge waiting for the train. The taller one caught me watching them, and a sinister grin twitched his lips.
We were so screwed.
Chapter Six
I glanced up the tracks for any sign of the train. The tunnel was dark. The taller man watched me so intently I was sure he had caught me looking at Arik. Sweat trickled down my back, behind the pack, even though the platform was