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“You want to get off the train?”
“Yup. We can catch another one if we are wrong. But if she is watching us, I don’t want to lead her to Copenhagen.” I have to trust Callie. She has the experience and I trust her gut completely.
We sit and wait for the train to stop. Callie holds my arm, signalling I should wait. Suddenly, she squeezes me hard and I shoot out of my seat. I don’t look back, I just head for the door which is about to close. I understand that Callie had us wait until the last second before getting off. I leap onto the platform and run. The adrenaline is surging through my body and I pray to any and all goddesses that Callie is behind me.
I can’t stand the not knowing any longer, I slow and turn around. My heart bursts in my chest as I see Callie weaving in and out of people on the platform. She has our bags. I look at the train that is now pulling out of the station.
“Run, Daisy.” Callie is mouthing. “Run.” I look past Callie’s shoulder and my stomach rolls. The woman from the train is chasing Callie. She’s chasing me. I turn and sprint. I have no idea where we are or where we should go.
Chapter 21
Callie
My feet are slapping the concrete of the train station platform loudly. Daisy is ahead of me. She keeps turning her head, making sure I’m still behind her. I do the same, but for me it’s to check if the woman is still chasing us. She is. I need to do something. We can’t outrun her forever.
Impulsively, I stretch out my stride and catch up to Daisy with ease. Thank god I keep up a good level of fitness. Adrenaline is surging through every muscle fibre. My heart is pumping strongly, pushing me on. I feel like I could outrun anyone in the world right now.
I look ahead. There’s a building coming up. I think it’s the platform’s coffee shop. I reach for Daisy and steer her around the corner of the building. I then stop, lean against the wall, and count to three. I stick my arm out to the side and pray. The sickening thud of a body hitting the floor confirms I have successfully clotheslined our pursuer. Eat your heart out, Brodie Lee. That’s a wrestler, FYI.
Splayed out on the floor, the woman is completely dazed. She hit the floor hard. I take advantage and roll her over to her front. On her belt is a set of handcuffs. Shit, she came prepared. Have I just taken out a member of law enforcement? With my knee pressing her hands to her back, I search her pockets. No ID, but there is a phone. I hand it to a very stunned looking Daisy.
The woman has unwittingly given me the very thing I need to restrain her. I pull the cuffs out of their sheath, wrapping one around her wrist. I shift backwards and in a feat of great effort, I wrangle her leg up so her ankle can be cuffed. She’s hogtied. Now I can take a breath. We can’t stop, though. The scuffle has no doubt earned the interest of the station security team.
Daisy is shaking when I reach for her. I wish I could take her in my arms and comfort her, but we don’t have time. My experience and instincts have kicked in. We must get off the street now. I grab her shoulders and steer her to the stairs that lead to the exit. She’s moving willingly, but I don’t think she’s completely with it.
So far there have been no police or security guards, maybe we avoided them by coming this way. The street is busy when we exit. I have never been to Hamburg, so I’m like a fish out of water. We start walking, just needing to get some distance.
Finally, I spot an InterCity Hotel. This will do. Daisy is still letting me steer her and I’m getting worried she’s gone into shock. I sit her carefully down in one of the reception area’s chairs. I book a room for the night and order lunch for us both.
The room is nice, located at the front of the hotel so we can look down to the main street. I look Daisy in the eye, trying to get her to focus on my face and hands. “Daisy?” She’s looking pale and her eyes are fixed forward. “Daisy, honey, look at me, look, we’re safe.” I take her hand and kneel in front of her. She deposited herself on the edge of the bed when we entered the room. She blinks a few times and then launches herself at me.
We stay locked together for a while. Daisy is crying on my shoulder and all I can do is grit my teeth. I can’t break down now, she needs me to be strong. Hell, I need me to be strong. This is the first time that someone has chased me like that. I’ve never let anyone get that close to me in all the time I’ve been running. Daisy was the only exception and now this woman.
“Are you hurt?” I ask Daisy. She shakes her head.
“Just shaken. That was insane, Callie, who the hell was that?” That’s the million pound question, isn’t it? A knock on the door startles me, but then I calm down. It’s just our lunch. I paid extra to have it sent up. I don’t think sitting in a restaurant or dining room is something that either of us wants to do right now.
Daisy spends ten minutes pushing her sandwich around the plate. “Daisy, you need to eat.” Reluctantly she takes a bite. I tuck in because I’m suddenly starving. Once I’ve finished, I take out the phone the woman had on her and put it on the bed. I then take Daisy’s bag and remove her phone and laptop. I knew they looked the same.
Whoever is after us is using the same type of hardware that Daisy uses. “You have to get rid of your laptop, Daisy.” She looks at me as if I’ve just asked her to give up her firstborn.
“I can’t, Cal—”
“You must. Daisy, look at this, they’re the same model. It’s not me they’re tracking, it’s you.”
“That’s not possible Callie.”
“Well, it is. I have the burner phone and that’s it. I dumped my original phone in Florence.” Daisy rakes her hands through her hair.
“If that’s the case, we have a big problem, Callie. No one and I really do mean no one should be able to hack my phone or laptop. Which indicates that someone from my work life is tracking me. It’s not Gary. He was booted after what he did.”
“Daisy, what do you do?” I think the time for secrets is over. I’ve been nothing but open and honest with Daisy.
“I can’t tell you, Callie.”
“Well, that’s fucking fabulous.” My anger is rising. It’s probably due to the panic I felt earlier. I’m not sure, but either way I’m pissed. “I’ve trusted you from the start. You show up out of the blue, spouting a story that I gladly accepted. Now people are catching up to me left, right and centre. The only common denominator is you!”
“Are you accusing me of something, Callie, because if you are, spit it out.”
