Page 58 of Silent Comrade
Every time his head lifted and turned toscan the car, she felt his muscles shift and bunch. He neverstopped monitoring. His hand rested on his thigh, gun hiddenbeneath his palm.
The train pulled away from the station in asmooth whoosh and gentle rocking rumble.
Maybe they had lost the guys followingthem.
“Shit,” Al muttered, his head whippingup.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Red had sent instructions to his teammate atthe club. If he could safely leave Tachi, then Rodeo was to meet atBritt’s apartment, ready to support.
Red was going to need support.
Three men in varying shades ofblack-and-gray nondescript clothing stood in the last train car,their exact appearance through the safety glass obscured by themovements of the two cars. His hearing ability was superior, butthe dull rattle and faint squeaks of the moving MARTA train maskedany conversation. When the men took three strolling steps towardRed’s car, he didn’t need a second invitation.
“We need to move. Now.”
The electric-blue fear in Britt’s wide eyesmade him feel a million feet tall and miniscule at the same time.Her gasp of air brushed against him like velvet, but rubbingagainst the fabric’s nap. Rapidly, he calculated exfil options,distances, steps. He forced his racing thoughts to slow long enoughto methodically evaluate plans.
Got it. He brushed an ankle against theother one to verify the gun and knife stashed there. Gripped thegun in his hand. Weapons ready. Now, to buy some time.
The overhead voice alerted the next stopcoming up. He checked his watch. One minute to the next station.Their stop. He leaned away from Britt, pulled his phone from apocket, flipped open an app, and hit a few buttons.
A sudden fifteen-second period of darknessboth outside and inside caused a few passengers to murmur. Hetugged Britt through the doors connecting cars, then stayed low andrushed through the next two train cars. Still dark. They enteredanother car and kept moving forward.
Trying to disappear like his teammate Curly,Red pretended that the passengers ignored their behavior. If onlyhe could be that lucky. As it stood, Stumpy would have to scrub theMARTA security system until it didn’t know what day of the week itwas recording.
The lights came back on.
Reaching the first car, they sat down rightas the train pulled into the Midtown MARTA station. Doors whooshedopen. A few passengers exited and hurried away. Red peered behindhim, counting the seconds. He spied the men working their waythrough the car behind them. Checking seats. They hadn’t seen Redand Britt yet.
Go out. The doors are closing. Sureenough, the men rushed out in a group and scanned the platform.
Twenty seconds.
Hand pressed against her neck, he keptBritt’s and his head bowed, like two lovers whisperingtogether.
The doors stood open, tempting him with thegasoline-scented scratches and squeaks of street noise coming fromabove the platform.
Stay or go? He tapped his foot,counting.
Muffled conversation and scuffs laseredsound into his ears. One footstep clicked, crisp, like bacon. Ahard leather-soled shoe. Another footfall made a grinding,gritty-tasting crunch of gravel embedded in lug soles thatprotested the heavier weight placed on them.
A mutter.
Then a matchstick-scented laugh.
Ten seconds. Red glanced through the windowbetween trains.
The three men stepped back into the car,facing in his direction. Two moved toward the doors connecting thecars. The doors in front of Red started to slide closed. His pulsespiked.
In one fluid movement, he grabbed Britt tohim with one arm nearly lifting her off the ground, stayed low, andin three steps, turned sideways and slid them both out of theclosing train doors. Two furious faces filled the window of the caras the train pulled away from the empty platform.
That left … one very angry bald, white dude.With a gun. Ah, the fellow from sportswear at JT Armstrong. He’drecovered well. Too well.
“Get behind me,” Red said, gripping his owngun as the train disappeared down the track.
Yep. Good luck to Stumpy with erasing andreplacing the MARTA security camera files, because this scene wasabout to become must-see TV.
