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Chapter Fourteen
Two large men were approaching at a run, their black suits making it hard to see them in the dark. It was their faces that showed in the moonlight, and the grim looks they wore let Sophia know they weren’t happy to see her with the girl.
Too bloody bad. She grabbed the girl’s hand and pulled her to her feet, running away from their pursuers in the opposite direction. “Come. Quickly. We can get away.”
Obviously terrified, the girl followed, but she warned, her breath catching. “They have guns. You run. If I go back, they don’t shoot me.” As if overcome by her own words, she tried to pull her hand from Sophia’s grasp, but Sophia wouldn’t allow it.
“No. We’ll both run. Hurry. On the street. I have a bike.”
Suddenly, a third man joined the chase, and he was much closer. He cut them off and forced Sophia to stop. She pushed Stasia away from her and turned to meet him. He slowed, coming at her with a strange grin on his face. He seemed to be enjoying the fact that she intended to stand up to him.
His voice was rough with conviction. “The girl. She’s with me.”
Sophia saw the other two stop to catch their breath, as if they expected buddy here to look after things. Good! She didn’t want to have to fight them all, but she would if forced to. “Yet she doesn’t want to be with you, does she?”
First, he looked at the girl who stood trembling to the side of them and gave her an order. “Stasia, go back to the hotel. You won’t be punished if you do as I tell you.”
“Will you leave this lady alone?”
“Of course. Once you’re across the street, I’ll walk away.”
Anastasia started in the direction of the hotel; her last words were for Sophia. “Thank you for caring.”
Once Stasia had put a good distance between them, he rushed Sophia, his fist just catching the side of her face. Slipping, as if losing her balance in the sand, she sneakily gathered a handful of it and waited to see the prick’s next move.
Sophia didn’t take her eyes off the assailant. Instead, she moved toward him so quickly, he didn’t expect her attack. Using the handful of sand she’d gathered while his attention had slipped to make sure Anastasia was behaving; she rushed him and threw the sand into his face.
He grabbed at his eyes, bending over to brush away the antagonizing particles. A foot in his privates gave her payback for having let him near enough to leave a mark. Then a karate chop to his neck rendered him useless long enough for her to rush after Stasia, grab her hand and run to where the bike sat waiting by the street. Here there was traffic and people and witnesses. They couldn’t be attacked here without drawing a lot of attention.
Sure enough, the two men who’d taken up the chase once again came only so close before they slowed to a quick walk in their direction, one calling for Stasia to come back. “Think hard before you do anything stupid, Stasia. We’ll find you. Don’t make any more trouble for you and your friend.”
Ignoring their threats, Sophia rushed to the bike and started it. Stasia climbed on the seat behind, and they whirled away from the street. In no time, Sophia saw the headlights of the car their attackers had climbed into following them up the highway. On the left side, the brake light wasn’t working. Good. Now she’d know for sure which car to watch out for.
Angry at her decision for wearing the one dress that would glow in the moonlight like a white truce-flag, she made herself as small as possible and gathered her skirts under her so as not to give them too much evidence they had the right motorcycle.
She purposely headed in the direction where she knew a lot of bikes traveled and wove between them easily, wanting to lose their pursuers.
Grinning, she next headed in the one direction a four-wheeled vehicle couldn’t go. Off-road riding had been a favorite with her Yaya, and she’d taught Sophia all the better trails close to the city. Within ten minutes, watching for the broken light and seeing no vehicle like it, she again cruised the streets.
Making sure they’d lost the creeps, she headed in the direction where she knew there’d be hell to pay. It was time to return to the probable wrath of the man whose bike she’d borrowed without permission.
What bothered her… How the hell was she going to explain Stasia’s appearance?
