Chapter 11
Nick
IFOUND NADYA JUSTinside the main entrance to the train station, waiting with a battered canvas duffel and a very Nadya-esque backpack patched with art-school buttons.
“Fancy meeting you here,” I said as I grabbed both bags.
“Don’t you have your own bags to carry?”Nadya asked, but she didn’t try to take her luggage back.
I shrugged the shoulder where my duffel hung.“It’s not so heavy that I won’t manage.Besides, you can’t run off on me if I got your bags.”
“I only run off after...”She trailed off, then cleared her throat and said, “After.”
After sex.Yeah, I could see why she’d feel the need to escape, considering her trauma.I never blamed her for leaving, no matter how much I wished she’d stayed.
“Well, I wouldn’t want anyone to snatch you up, then,” I added quickly to avoid the awkwardness.
“You think someone’s going to snatch me between the tracks and the platform?”she asked, then eyed my biceps.“Or are you just flexing for the whole city?”
“From the whole city?No.For you?Definitely.”I really shouldn’t be flirting with her.She was no longer that hot girl I had hooked up with and couldn’t get out of my head.She was a witness now.But she also was that girl, and I still couldn’t get her out of my mind, no matter how much I knew I should keep a professional distance.
We cut through the crowd, Nadya barely having to duck or dodge.Every time we entered a crowd, she simply moved to walk behind me while I parted the Red Sea for her.
I scanned each new patch of crowd before we hit it, running threat assessments out of habit.Middle-aged guy in tech company fleece, low to mid-level threat.Old lady with a walker— the least likely to attempt kidnapping Nadya.
The ticket check was barely a blip; I held both passes up, the conductor nodded, and we were funneled down the train cart.
Nadya eyed the long and narrow corridor with a suspicious glare.“This is not the Hogwarts Express.Remind me again, why are we riding the train?Because I’m pretty sure your average prison transport has better snacks.”
I grinned.“You want to be strip-searched before we board?I can call ahead.”
She grinned back, tension in her jaw relaxing a little.She was nervous, I could tell, but she hid it under sarcasm better than anyone I’d ever met.
We found our roomette, and I ducked my head in first.Damn.It looked like a closet and a dollhouse had a baby, but at least it looked nothing like driving a car, so that was a win.
Two seats faced each other, maybe two feet apart, and a fold-down shelf was supposed to count as a table.There were also a tiny sink and a toilet.Literally next to one of the seats.It was so close and so small you could use the toilet lid as a coaster.
“You pick the seat,” I said as I let Nadya walk in.She paused on the threshold, turned, and looked at me like she was about to call me on my bluff.Instead, she stepped inside, looked left, looked right, and then doubled over laughing.
“You booked us a phone booth with luxury accommodations, Agent Santana?”she said, plopping onto the nearest seat.
“I wanted to avoid any car-related triggers, and I figured this is as uncar-like as I could get.”
