Page 101 of Shadowing You

“They know we’re here.” She backed down the alley, tugging Ethan with her. When they were out of sight of the police officer and the boys, they turned and ran.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Ethan’s shoes pounded the concrete. Mei Lin was half a step ahead, hair flying, her grip on his hand bruising.

The alley dumped them out at a cross street. She glanced both ways and pulled him right.

His phone vibrated against his thigh. He ignored it.

The new street was busier—a knot of pedestrians, a tricycle truck rumbling past, a woman selling steamed buns from a cart. Cameras, two on a light post aiming opposite directions. There were probably more he couldn’t see.

Mei Lin slowed, and they walked, heads down, hands locked.

His phone vibrated again.

She turned down an alley and exited onto another street, this one even busier than the last.

His phone was still vibrating.

Michael, maybe. Or Gavin. Maybe one of them had a way to pull them out of this. He yanked it out of his pocket and answered without looking. “This isn’t a good time.”

“Ethan?” It was a woman’s voice. “It’s Alyssa.”

His brain caught the name of his half sister, the pretty blonde who looked so much like her elegant mother despite the horror on her face when she’d learned who he was. The one with the mad hacking skills.

“You’re being surveilled.”

“We’re aware. We’re running.”

“There’s a clothing store ahead on your right with a green awning. It has a back exit. Don’t ask permission, just run through.”

He saw it and pulled Mei Lin with him. “Going in.”

He pushed between racks of dresses and T-shirts, parkas and sweaters. Two women looked up from a counter running along one side. They said something in Mandarin.

Mei Lin stopped.

“Come on.” He tugged her hand. The back exit was right there, beyond a rack of children’s coats. “Alyssa says⁠—”

“Wait.”

Mei Lin was looking at the women and at something on the wall behind them. She said something low in Mandarin. The older woman answered, just as low.

“Mei Lin.” He kept his voice down. “We need to go.”

She shot him a look. “Wait.”

The older woman came around the counter, jerked her chin, and beckoned them toward the opposite side of the store. They went past a curtain, down a short hall, and into a windowless storeroom stacked floor-to-ceiling with boxes. The woman pulled the door shut behind them and turned a key in the lock.

They were trapped in the dark.

Through the phone pressed to his ear, Alyssa was speaking. “…are you doing? You need to hurry. They’re closing in.”

“Hold on.” He silenced the volume. The room was so small that he and Mei Lin were pressed against each other. He leaned down and spoke into her ear. “What’s happening?”

“They’re Christians.” Her voice was a breath. “They’re helping.”

A bell rang at the front of the shop, followed by a man’s voice. Ethan couldn’t understand his words, but he was loud and demanding.