Nighthawk (NUMA Files 14) - Page 20
“I’m still not sure why we left,” she said. “If you knew they were watching us, it might have been a good chance to plant some false information.”
“Not a bad idea,” he admitted, “but I’m more concerned with real information, some of which I’ve just received. And I’m not interested in letting them get their hands on it.”
“What kind of information?” she asked.
“The whereabouts of the Nighthawk,” Kurt said. “I know where it landed.”
She looked at him suspiciously. “Impossible.”
“Not the exact point. But I can narrow it down to less than a hundred square miles.”
“How?” she said.
He stopped in his tracks but didn’t say a word. At the end of the alley, a trio of men had suddenly appeared. They stood there implacably, waiting under a streetlight and blocking the path.
Emma eyed them. “Something tells me they’re not tourists.”
“I’d have to agree,” he said, looking around. “And they seem to have brought some backup.”
At the sound of a commotion, Emma turned around and glanced down the alley. The rear door of the restaurant had come flying open. The Chinese couple came rushing out, the man shouting something at the kitchen staff. The argument ended when he pulled out a gun and fired into the doorway. The staff scrambled to safety and the door was slammed shut.
“Didn’t count on them having backup,” Kurt said, “and probably shouldn’t have counted on a waiter keeping two armed agents from making it through the back of the house.”
“Are you armed?” Emma asked.
“Afraid not,” he said.
“Me neither,” she replied. “Not exactly an auspicious start to our relationship.”
In simultaneous precision, the two agents at the back of the restaurant and the three new arrivals began to close in on them from opposite sides.
8
Kurt held on to Emma’s hand—as he had since they’d left the restaurant. He’d hoped to outflank the Chinese and get back to the boulevard and hail a taxi. But the additional Chinese agents had cut them off.
“Now what?” Emma asked.
The two groups were closing in slowly, moving relentlessly toward their prey, as if they were afraid any quick action might offer a weakness or a break in their lines for Kurt and Emma to escape through.
“I almost wish they’d rush,” Kurt said. “At least we might be able to throw them off balance.”
“Think they’ll shoot us?”
Kurt shook his head. “Not to kill. More likely, they’d rather capture us and torture us until we reveal everything we know.”
“How comforting,” she said. “Tell me you have a plan?”
Kurt’s eyes darted around. He saw a thin gap between two of the buildings almost directly across from them, but it was so narrow that he’d have to squeeze through to make it. And even from this distance he could see obstructions and cables in the way. If they were held up, they’d be instant easy targets.
He glanced to the left, where a trash dumpster with a closed lid stood in the dark. The roof of the building behind was reachable. “Can you climb?”
“And run and punch, if I have to.”
“Perfect,” he said. “Follow me.”
Kurt raced to the dumpster with Emma right beside him. He gave her a boost and then climbed up beside her. Out in the alley, the Chinese agents delayed for a second and then started to charge.
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