Page 26 of Shadowing You

“Two and a half,” Michael said. “Go.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

The drowsiness that had been pulling at Mei Lin since she’d woken up began fading as Ethan’s expression shifted from curious to confused to worried.

“Three minutes?” he asked whoever had called.

Until…what? She was already pushing back from the table.

Ethan ended the call. “We have to go. Now.” He crossed to the counter in two strides, grabbed a box, and shoved it into a plastic bag. “Get everything from the bathroom.”

She scurried down the hall and shoved toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap, and shampoo into a zipper bag he’d left on the counter, then went to the bedroom, where he was already putting stuff into his backpack.

“Here.” She held out the toiletries, and he added them to an outside pocket while she sat to lace her sneakers. They ran to the living room and shrugged into their coats. He swung the backpack onto his shoulders and held out his hand. “Ready?”

She took it. “Let’s go.”

He opened the apartment door and peeked out, then headed away from the stairs at the front of the building where they’d come up the day before. He pulled her along the second-story outdoor corridor, past countless closed doors, to the far end of the apartment building.

They hurried down a staircase and out the back of the complex, through a small parking lot to a two-lane road. They crossed, and Ethan aimed for an alley.

It was narrow, barely wide enough for a scooter.

Just as they dipped into the darkness, noise erupted behind them. Brakes squeaking, doors slamming.

She looked back.

There were two black cars. Men were already out of the first one, moving toward the apartment building’s back entrance. They weren’t in uniform, but they walked like guards or soldiers.

One of them shouted orders.

Lu Feng. She’d have known his voice anywhere.

Ethan tugged on her arm, and she realized she’d stopped.

“Come on.” He pulled her down the alley.

“How did he find me?”

“Not now.” At the next block, Ethan checked for traffic, then crossed again. He wasn’t running, but he was so much taller than she was, and she had to jog to keep pace.

They ran to the right, then slipped into the mouth of another alley.

Ethan didn’t seem to have a destination in mind, just wanted to get as far away from the apartment as possible—and maybe stay off cameras.

Her legs burned, but Ethan didn’t let up his grip or his pace.

“I can carry you.”

“I’m fine.”

She wasn’t, but she was upright and she was moving.

Another alley. Another street. Another alley. Ethan wove through the city’s back channels like he’d been there before. Or maybe like he cared a lot less about reaching what was ahead than escaping what was behind.

She stumbled on a crack in the pavement.

Her hand flew out to steady herself, but there was nothing.