Page 70 of Turn the Tide
Chapter 4
Berlin, Germany
Saturday, March 5, 11:42 p.m. CET
Logan clambered out of the freezing, wet blackness, crawled up the embankment, and dropped beside Ash. She was a stronger swimmer and had beaten him but lay panting against the rocks.
His chest heaved. He gasped and gasped, coughing up rank water. How much pollution had splashed into his straining lungs?
The bone-deep chill in the air paled in comparison to the icy water. The merciless cold had settled into his marrow and numbed his brain.
Hypothermia was the most pressing enemy. If they didn’t get warm, it’d kill them.
Ash sat up, shuddering. Her blond hair was plastered to her head, brown eyes weary, teeth chattering, lips pale blue.
Logan couldn’t stop shaking, no matter how hard he tried. Rolling to his knees, he hauled himself upright. He extended a hand and tugged Ash to her feet. Vapor shot from their mouths in cadence with their ragged breaths. He looked around, getting his bearings.
No sign of the son of a bitch who’d chased them.Glasses, Ashley had called him.
“We’ve got to get out of the cold,” Logan stuttered, his words slurred. “Get warm. Dry.”
“Need a car,” she said. “Go to crash pad.”
For a green agent on the run twenty-four hours, the fact that she had a crash pad was impressive. Smarter than hiding out with relatives she’d endanger.
They made their way to a wide road. His clothes, heavy with frigid water, clamped to his skin. Ashley clung to him as if her body were leaden. He bore her added weigh without a second thought. If his strength hadn’t been sapped, fatigue repossessing him, he would’ve carried her.
The TV tower—a tall spindle with a disco ball at the top—seemed to follow them.
“Get a car,” she said, pulling away, her voice barely audible.
“Where are you going?”
She pointed to a convenience store, Boxi-Kiosk.
“I’ll go with you,” he said. “Best if we stick together.” In truth, he was terrified to let her leave his sight for a heartbeat, fearing she’d disappear or, worse, that Glasses would materialize.
“Smarter to divide and conquer before we freeze to death. You’ll have the heat running in a car by the time I get back?”
What was wrong with him, thinking she might leave him? No, she wasn’t going to vanish. She’d been relieved to see him. And thus far, she’d taken care of herself with Glasses and a security team from BioGenApex hot on her ass.
With a scowl, he nodded. She was right, but that didn’t mean he had to like it.
Logan searched the street for an older car with no alarm, easy to hot-wire. Passing buildings covered with graffiti that straddled a fine line between grunge and trendy, each footstep grew heavier. Each breath pricked his chest as though icicles laced the air.
A topaz Opel looked ripe for the plucking. He found a large rock and broke the back driver-side window. Sticking his arm through the hole, he unlocked the front door.
His hands had a terrible shake, fingers numb, making it difficult to manipulate the wires.
By the time he’d gotten the sedan running, she was back with a white plastic shopping bag dangling from her wrist and two Styrofoam cups with steam rising from the tops.
She handed him a warm cup and the bag. “Faster if I drive.”
After occupational therapy, including a driver rehabilitation program, Logan was capable of driving and fending for himself, but since she knew where they were headed, he didn’t argue. He trudged to the passenger’s side, sipping the salty, hot liquid, and gagged.
Mushroom instant Cup-a-Soup. He hated mushrooms.
“Drink up,” she said. “Cost a hundred euros to get the owner to make it and forget he saw me. Sorry it’s mushroom.” She pulled into the street, driving with one hand while drinking from her cup. “The other option was tomato.”
