Chapter 4
Kara
I stepped into the hall first, keeping my body between Sabine and any angle from the corridor. Clear line both ways. The silence was good, but too much quiet could be an ambush as easily as nothing at all.
“Stay close,” I told her without turning. It was not a request, and not something I’d repeat.
Ellie took the suitcase before Sabine could argue, freeing her hands and keeping her dominant side clear. Her eyes moved past me to the stairwell.
We moved in a three-person column, my pace slow enough to control Sabine's position, fast enough to keep us from lingering in the open. I checked each doorway we passed, noting the ones that had changed since I’d walked in: a mat that was shifted slightly from its former position, a door ajar an inch farther.
At the stairwell, I gave Ellie a two-finger sweep signal. She nodded, eyes narrowing. Sabine started forward, impatient. My hand went to her hip, holding her back. Not rough, just final.
“Wait,” I said.
Below us, the stairwell was quiet. No footsteps, no echo of movement. Ellie leaned forward, scanning the lower landing. She gave me a chin lift, the go-ahead.
We descended. The air smelled faintly of old paint and cleaning chemicals. Sabine's heels were too loud on the concrete, but there was nothing to be done about that. Every corner and landing got a quick glance before I moved on.
The Bellantes liked choke points like this. Two men at the bottom, one above to drive you down into them. I’d seen them do it in Philadelphia with a politician’s son. That boy had thought his name would protect him. It hadn’t.
At the last landing, I stopped again, listening. Traffic outside, a delivery truck idling, nothing moving too close. I signaled Ellie.
She adjusted her grip on the suitcase, her other hand near her jacket hem. Clear.
I pushed the door open and stepped into the lobby. Afternoon light flooded through the glass front doors. The street outside looked normal, which meant nothing. The Bellantes’ strength was hiding the threat until it was already on top of you.
I checked left and right before holding the door for them. Ellie brought her through, her hand brushing Sabine's arm to guide her angle toward the curb. I followed them out into the bright afternoon, the shift from dim hallway to open street forcing my eyes to adjust fast.
First scan was wide: storefronts, parked cars, both ends of the block.
Second scan was tighter, looking for movement that didn’t fit the pace of the street.
A delivery truck idled ten yards down, driver leaning against the door with a phone in his hand.
Across the street, a woman wrestled with a dog on a short leash, her voice carrying as she spoke into a headset.
Normal on the surface. I still kept them in my peripheral vision.
“Move,” I said, low but clear.
Ellie stayed close to Sabine’s side. I took point toward the SUV, adjusting my angle to keep her behind my shoulder and in the shadow of the vehicle when possible.
A car door slammed somewhere down the block. I turned my head just enough to catch the source: a man getting out of a compact sedan, no visible interest in us. I looked forward again.
We reached the SUV without slowing. Ellie opened the back hatch and set the suitcase inside. I stood near the driver’s side mirror, watching the street and the roof. No one was closing distance. No one loitered at the corners.
Sabine slid into the rear seat from the far side, out of view from most of the block. Ellie closed the hatch and moved to the passenger seat. I got into the driver’s seat, started the engine, and checked the mirrors, then turned halfway to look over my shoulder. “Phone.”
She frowned. “You already—”
“Killing the SIM, snagging the battery. Otherwise they track us.”
She dug it out of her bag. I popped the back, slid the card and battery into my pocket.
“That’s my number.”
“Not anymore.” I handed it to Ellie. “You’ll get it when it’s safe.”
She muttered something under her breath, but sat back.
A dark sedan turned onto the street. Mid-size, tinted windows, slow enough to read as cautious without drawing attention. I caught the make, the color, and most of the plate before it passed the first parked car. The passenger’s head turned slightly toward us.
The locks engaged with a muted click as I pulled away from the curb, taking the first left before the sedan reached our position. Two more quick turns put another layer between us and her street.
The next turn put us on a narrow two-lane with heavier traffic. I kept my speed even, using the cars around us as cover. If they were after Sabine, they’d have to get through me first. I wasn’t letting anyone else take a shot.
“Unit three, status?” Ellie said into her comm.
A short burst of static answered before a voice crackled in my ear. “On site at the loft. Desktop located. We’ll sweep all electronics for trackers.”
Ellie glanced at me, her tone staying calm. “Copy. Secure and transport. Grab that bank box too.”
I took the next right without signaling, merging between a taxi and a panel van. The dark sedan reappeared in the rearview, two cars back. Not close enough to make a move, but not far enough to dismiss.
“Eyes on that gray?” I asked.
“Got it,” Ellie said.
I adjusted our route, weaving through a string of one-way streets, doubling back once to force a change in their position. They stayed with us through the turns, keeping a gap but holding the same lane whenever possible.
Sabine sat in the back, watching the buildings slide past. She hadn’t asked what was happening, but I could feel the questions building. Her reflection in the side mirror showed the crease between her brows, the way her gaze flicked from window to window.
I brought us onto a busier artery, using the heavier flow to mask our movements. The sedan got caught at a light, giving us an extra block of distance. I took it, cutting down a side street and back toward the main road from a different angle.
The city pressed in on all sides: crosswalks filling, horns blaring, delivery trucks double-parked. Good for losing someone, bad for keeping a steady pace. My hands stayed light on the wheel, but my eyes moved constantly between mirrors.
Another check behind us showed open space where the sedan had been. Not definitive, but enough to shift the tension in my shoulders.
Ellie stayed quiet, letting me work. I kept us moving for another fifteen minutes, changing streets twice more before I was satisfied we’d shaken them. The highway entrance opened ahead, the stream of traffic heading north.
I merged, letting the city drop behind us in the mirrors.
The hum of the tires settled into a steady rhythm as we merged fully onto the highway. City noise fell away, replaced by the low rush of air around the vehicle. I kept us in the middle lane, matching speed with the flow.
Sabine leaned forward slightly. “Where are we going?”
“A safe place,” I said, keeping my eyes on the road.
She didn’t answer right away. In the mirror, I saw her lean back again, crossing her arms. Ellie angled her head toward her. “Relax. Close your eyes if you need to. It’s a bit of a drive.”
The reporter's gaze stayed on the passing trees. The silence that followed wasn’t the same as in the city. There, it had been tight and watchful. Out here, it spread, leaving room for thoughts to creep in.
I let mine settle on the sedan we’d lost. If it was Bellante, they had my plate now. That meant they could potentially track where we were headed. They might get lucky with an intercept if we stopped before the safehouse. I adjusted my route in my head, adding another detour before the final leg.
Sabine shifted in her seat, the leather creaking. She looked at me in the mirror. “You’re not going to tell me, are you?”
“Not yet,” I said.
Her eyes narrowed, but she didn’t push. That restraint told me she understood more about her position than she’d admit out loud.
The miles rolled by. The highway curved north, and the late light slanted across the hood. Ellie adjusted the vent, settling in for the drive.
We were clear for now. I’d keep it that way.
Two hours passed without incident. The highway stretched ahead in a long ribbon of dark pavement, lit by the glow of our headlights and the red eyes of the traffic in front of us.
Sabine had fallen asleep an hour ago, her head turned toward the window, her breathing slow and even.
The hum of the tires and the steady sweep of the lane markers kept a rhythm I could measure against the time left to our destination.
Ellie shifted in her seat, her gaze locked on the side mirror. “You see that?”
I checked mine. A dark sedan had merged two cars behind us. Same shape and tint as the one we had shaken earlier.
“Yeah,” I said, keeping my voice low.
The sedan held its position for half a mile, not gaining, not dropping back. Too consistent to be a coincidence. I eased off the gas, let a delivery truck pass, then slipped in behind it. The sedan followed, holding the gap.
I weighed the options. No point in pushing speed; that would only confirm we’d noticed.
Instead, I took the next exit, guiding us onto a wide curve that fed into a frontage road.
The lights of a closed strip mall slid past on our right.
I kept turning, taking a series of side streets that doubled us back toward the highway from a different angle.
Ellie kept her eyes on the mirrors, occasionally glancing out into the cross streets. The sedan shadowed us through the turns, even when a semi slid between us.
“Still there,” she said.
I kept my hands light on the wheel, but my focus stayed tight. One more set of turns, then I’d make a call on where to drop out of sight. Sabine shifted in the back seat but didn’t wake. I didn’t want her waking to the sight of me running hard from a tail. Better to keep it measured.
When the next intersection cleared, I turned left, speeding toward a stretch of road I knew passed near a grocery store lot. That would be dark enough to work without drawing attention.
The grocery store lot sat on the far side of a two-lane road, its single row of streetlights casting weak yellow pools across empty asphalt.
One light near the back corner was out, leaving a wedge of deep shadow between a dumpster enclosure and the side wall of the building.
I steered us toward it, letting the SUV roll to a stop with the nose angled toward the exit.
Ellie scanned the perimeter without moving much, her eyes flicking between the mirrors and the lot’s only entrance. Her hand rested near her thigh, not on her weapon but close enough for speed.
I killed the headlights but left the engine running. For a few seconds, the quiet was heavy, broken only by the low idle and the faint click under the hood.
In the rearview mirror, Sabine shifted, blinking against the gloom. “Why are we stopping?”
“We’re making a security check,” I said.
Her brows drew together as she glanced out her window at the empty lot. “Here?”
“Here’s fine.” I pushed my door open and stepped out into the cool air.
My boots made a muted scrape against the pavement as I circled toward her side. Ellie stayed put, her gaze tracking a passing set of headlights on the street.
Sabine straightened in her seat when I came into view. She still looked half-asleep, but there was an edge of wariness in the way her fingers gripped the strap of her bag.
I opened her door. “Step out. We’re doing a sweep.”
Her mouth opened like she might argue, but she shut it again, watching me instead. A beat later, she swung her legs toward the open door.
“Stand here,” I said, stepping back just enough to give her room.
She stopped in front of me, chin slightly lifted, hands at her sides.
My hands skimmed down the seams of her jacket.
No irregular weight, no weapons, just the slow rise and fall of her breathing, steady until my thumb brushed the inside of her wrist. The faint jump wasn’t fear.
“Why?” she asked, voice low.
“To make sure you’re not carrying anything someone could use to find you.
” I crouched to check her legs, one at a time.
My hand skimmed the outside of her calf before sweeping under the cuff of her pants to check her ankle.
She shifted her weight, just slightly, when my fingers brushed the side of her shoe.
“Arms up,” I said.
She lifted them slowly, watching me as I checked along her ribs, then her waist. My hand rested briefly at her hip to steady her while I leaned in to check the line of her collar.
A faint trace of her shampoo cut through the cool night air.
Her chin tilted, daring me to stay there.
I let it hang for a second longer than necessary before stepping back.
When I straightened, her crystal green eyes locked on mine.
“All clear,” I said, keeping my voice even.
Behind me, Ellie opened the back hatch of the SUV and ran the scanner across Sabine's bag in slow sweeps. She finished with the bag and moved on to her laptop. The soft chirp of the scanner cut through the still air. A final pass over the keyboard, then the back panel, and she shook her head.
“Nothing,” she said.
Sabine’s eyes flicked between us, her stance still set like she was waiting for the other shoe to drop. I stepped back to give her space to get into the SUV. She climbed in without comment, settling into the seat and pulling the belt across her chest.
I closed her door firmly and circled to the driver’s side. I kept my gaze working the perimeter until I was in my seat.
Ellie loaded her bag in the back, then slid in beside me. “Switched the plates,” she said quietly.
I eased us toward the exit, headlights staying off until we were close to the street. A right turn took us back toward the highway, the lanes opening ahead in dark stretches between passing vehicles.
The sedan was gone. No sign of it merging back into view. I kept the pace steady for another few miles before settling into the northbound lane that would take us the rest of the way.
In the rearview, Sabine watched the road ahead, her face unreadable in the dim light. She didn’t ask any more questions, and I didn’t offer anything. Ellie adjusted in her seat, one hand resting on her knee, her focus still split between the mirrors and the road.
The safehouse wasn’t far now. I’d get her behind the gates. And if the Bellantes wanted her after that, they’d have to go through me, and I wasn’t feeling generous.