Life in the Danger Zone

by Patricia B Tighe

  “I don’t think so.”

  He tugged me forward, and I yelped, looking over my shoulder wildly for someone I knew. Even Nick. Surely Nick wouldn’t sit still while this man dragged me away. But there was no one. Just the tourists, who were all in their own little worlds. I had to get to Alexis. I jammed my heels into the stones under my feet, but my flimsy sandals just slipped. One leg went out, and I started to fall, but the man hauled me back up, patting me on the back. To anyone paying attention, it would seem like he was helping me.

  He shook his head and threw out a sentence in what was probably Croatian. A few people chuckled. They must have thought I was drunk or something. I inhaled sharply to scream, but he jabbed his elbow into my side, and my breath went out in a grunting whoosh. I stumbled forward as he pulled me on. I had to get away from him. No matter what. No matter if I looked like a raving lunatic. I had to do it.

  My heartbeat thundered in my throat. I took in a shallow breath and then evened out my steps as if I were cooperating, working hard to relax my muscles. He nodded like I’d made the right decision and looked away. Now. I had to do it now. I bent over abruptly so that his arm across my shoulders had nothing to hold onto, and then wrenched myself out of his grasp. Stumbling sideways, I put about three yards between us before I ran into a couple of tourists.

  “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” I gasped, making my way behind them, Clio’s cousin stalking toward me.

  The couple grumbled in French and moved off like I had the plague. I sped around clumps of people toward the convenience store where Alexis and Clio were. But right in front, with his arms folded across his chest, was the man who’d switched bags with Nick. My heart in my throat, I did the only thing I could think of. I ran.

  Twenty-Five

  Rose

  All I could see were people. Masses of them everywhere. I bumped my way through and around, ignoring the exclamations my haphazard movement was causing. Fingers slid across my elbow. I cut sideways. It might or might not have been Clio’s cousin making a grab for me. Or it might’ve been the other guy. But there was no way I was stopping to look back.

  “Fire!” I yelled, trying to get people’s attention. But my voice was too breathy, and only a few heads turned my way. I zigzagged through the tourists until I saw an opening and then raced ahead. Back down the street we’d taken to get here, which was practically deserted. My second mistake. The first, of course, was not sticking to Alexis like glue. I ran on, half sliding on my sandaled feet, every step against the stone pavement a bone-jolting fire up my legs.

  Running footsteps rang out behind me. A woman up ahead glanced back at the noise and then plastered herself against the side of a building to get out of the way. I ran past her. Thanks for nothing. It didn’t matter, though. I wasn’t going to stop anyway. Clio’s cousin could probably talk his way out of any suspicion.

  No, I couldn’t stop. Not until I found the rest of our group. I had to get off this street. With my panting breaths roaring in my ears, I swung into a narrow street to the left, sliding into the rough stones on the side of a building. I shoved off and rushed forward. This wasn’t the alley we’d taken earlier, but signs hung out over doorways and shop windows.

  Something crashed behind me. I glanced back. Clio’s cousin had knocked into a stack of empty milk crates about twenty feet back. I put on speed. Bright sunlight beckoned ahead. A man and a woman stepped out of a store. I leaped to the side and kept going, the woman’s squeak of surprise gone as quickly as it came.

  Clio’s cousin yelled words I didn’t understand. Probably trying to get someone to stop me. I reached the main thoroughfare, and by some instinct, turned right—not the direction where our group was supposed to meet.

  Five steps later I ducked into a busy souvenir shop, shutting the door gently behind me. I took off my sunglasses and edged away from the picture window, ending up behind a group of three tourists chatting in Japanese and examining Croatian flags. Everything in me still thrumming like a live wire, I rested a shaky hand on a table and tried to slow my breathing while I waited. Would he pass by? Or would he come into the store? If he did, there was nowhere I could hide.

  Through the window, people strolled, took pictures, and gazed up at buildings. Still no sign of him. The cashier laughed along with a customer and then handed a shopping bag over a counter.

  And then his balding head came into view. My breath caught in my throat. Walk on, just keep going. He paused and shielded his eyes against the sun. For a full five seconds. Then, finally, he lowered his hand and strode on.

  I sucked in a raggedy breath, and then wound my way to the front window. I caught just a glimpse of his back before a tall man walking by blocked the view. I counted to thirty and then left the store. I couldn’t wait longer. As soon as he realized I wasn’t ahead of him, he’d surely come back this way.

  I slipped in among the largest group of tourists I could find and forced myself to stroll.

  Twenty-Six

  Sam

  I drummed my fingers against the café table. When would Alexis and Rose get back? Every minute they’d been gone felt like an hour. I took a swig from the bottle of water I’d bought, and then put the cap back on. Relax. They’re fine. Both of them. Alexis wouldn’t let anything go wrong.

  I glanced back at the door of the café where Sophie, Jacques, and Marie had gone to order a couple of pizzas. We’d made an executive decision about food when Clio’s group hadn’t shown up at the scheduled time. And now, with the break from Marie’s constant flirting, worry about the others had taken top billing.

  The afternoon crowd of tourists on the main avenue hadn’t let up one bit, and I squinted among the people, scanning for Alexis’s brown curls or Rose’s dark blond head. Nothing. Well, there were plenty of blonds, just not the right one.

  A woman at the next table looked over and frowned in the direction of my hand. Crap. Drumming again. I made my hand go still, gave her an apologetic smile, and she smiled back before turning away. I lifted Sophie’s blue sunhat off the heavy white plastic surface and fingered the brim. They’re fine. They’ll be here soon.

  I really didn’t know what I was so afraid of. It wasn’t like Clio was about to go postal or that Rose and Alexis would be abducted in broad daylight. But a sense that something wasn’t right ricocheted around my mind. The worst part was not being able to do anything about it. Just sit there and wait. That’s all I could do. I tossed the hat back down.

  I rubbed the back of my neck, mostly to keep my hand away from the table.

  Tourists wandered along, some stopping to lift their phones to take a pic, others using real cameras. An erratic movement occurred among the people about fifty yards ahead. I stood halfway up, leaning on my palms. A girl race-walked, or make that race-limped, through the crowd, jerking her head from side to side like she was looking for someone. And she had blond hair.

  I left my seat so fast the chair almost toppled. I strode out from under the café’s awning and raised an arm. “Rose!”

  Her attention fastened on me, and she picked up speed. I moved forward a couple of steps, but I couldn’t leave the café. I was supposed to be saving our table. I clenched my teeth, waiting for her to get closer. Something was definitely wrong. She held a shopping bag against her stomach like it was holding her guts in, and half her hair straggled down from its bun. I scanned the crowd behind her—no sign of Alexis.

  My chest tightened. What had happened? Rose limped around a young couple staring at the roofs, and four steps later, I had her by the shoulders. “What’s wrong? Where’s Alexis?”

  Rose inhaled a shuddering breath. “I had to leave her. I have to hide.” She looked over her shoulder, her whole body trembling under my hands. “Lost my sunglasses,” she mumbled.

  “Come on.” I guided her to our table, but she shook her head.

  “No, I have to get inside somewhere. I have to hide.” Her words gushed out, and she kept twisting to look behind her.
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  I took hold of her shoulders again. “Rose, it’s okay. You’re safe. Just tell—”

  She grabbed a fistful of my T-shirt from the middle of my chest and yanked me closer. “You don’t understand,” she hissed. “Clio’s cousin tried to take me, and I ran and ran, and he’s still after me. I have to hide.”

  I pulled her into a hug, wrapping her up tight. “Okay, I’ll hide you,” I said. She relaxed against me just a fraction. Where should we go? I could take her into the restaurant, but it was crammed with people, and she really wasn’t in any shape to deal with that.

  She lifted her face. “Hurry,” she whispered. “He could be here any second.”

  “Right.” I grabbed Sophie’s hat and plopped it onto her head.

  She scowled. “What’re you doing?”

  “Hiding you in plain sight. Come sit down.”

  “A single hat is not going to hide me,” she said, raising a hand to the sunhat.

  I caught her wrist. “Trust me. Please.” She looked at the street again but let her hand fall to her side. I pulled out a chair and turned it so that it faced the restaurant, not the street. “Sit.” She did but was looking more skeptical by the second. I turned my chair toward hers, and then fished my new Croatia T-shirt out of my own shopping bag and handed it over. “Put this on.”

  She looked down at her tank top. “I can’t. I’m a sweaty mess. You don’t—”

  “Trust me. He’s looking for a girl in a white shirt.” I pulled the hat off her head and pointed to the black T-shirt in her lap. Half a second of indecision crossed her face and then she was wiggling her head and arms through the appropriate holes. That done, she stared up at me expectantly. Why did this girl have to look so freaking cute while wearing my clothes? Yes, it was a new shirt, but it was still mine and the next best thing to holding her. I reached for her hair but stopped. “Take the rest of your hair down. If I do it, I’ll probably hurt you.”

  A smirk crossed her lips, but she wrangled the hair tie out, and right away I brought all her hair forward over her shoulder. “Those blue and purple tips are easy to identify.”

  She swiveled to watch the crowd again. “I think I see him coming.”

  “Look at me,” I whispered. She did, her eyes still wide, her breathing fast. I set the hat back on her head, adjusting it upward so the brim made a big enough circle for me to hide behind if I needed to. “Now, unless he walks right up to this table, you are effectively hidden.”

  She pressed her lips together. “Can you see him?”

  “Not yet.” The crowded street seemed almost identical to the way it had five minutes ago. But then he appeared. One man, walking slowly through the crowd, sweeping his gaze everywhere. “Got him. Green shirt?”

  “Yes.” She started to turn, but I put a hand on her cheek.

  “I know it’s hard, but don’t look. It’ll ruin the disguise.”

  She swallowed visibly. “I can’t do this.”

  “Just stay focused on me, okay? I’ll watch out for him.” I didn’t want to, but I let my hand leave her face.

  “But what if he comes over here?”

  “Then he comes over. There’s nothing he can do to you. There are people all around. Jacques and Sophie and Marie are inside ordering.” I motioned with my thumb over my shoulder. “They’ll be out any minute.”

  “Oh.”

  I handed her my bottle of water. “Here. Take a drink.”

  She gulped down a long swallow and then pressed the back of her hand to her lips. “Didn’t know I was so thirsty.” She tried to recap the bottle, but her fingers were shaking, so I took it away from her.

  “Tell me what happened.”

  She launched into a story about waiting for Alexis and Clio who’d gone to an Internet café. About a guy switching out Nick’s shopping bag. About Clio’s cousin grabbing her. And while she talked, the asshole made his deliberate way up the street. He was taking his time about it, letting his stare linger on practically everyone he passed. Another ten yards and he’d be turning his head our way.

  I scooted my chair as close to Rose’s as possible, my knees outside of hers. “I’m gonna kill Alexis for not taking you into the Internet café with her.”

  “It wasn’t her fault.”

  “But it could’ve been avoided.” The man now stood right in front of the café, looking at the opposite side of the street. I leaned in close to Rose. So close that my lips were millimeters from hers. Do not think about that. Not the time.

  “What’re you—”

  I shook my head at her, and she frowned. I moved my mouth to her ear. “I’m hiding,” I whispered. “He can recognize me too.”

  “Okay,” she said, her breath fluttering across my jaw. “You sure he can’t see you?”

  “No, but I can’t check yet.” Her cheek grazed mine. My pulse started banging in my neck, my thought processes turning to muck. It would be so easy to move my lips along that soft skin until I found her mouth. Too easy. Totally not the right time. I’d missed that chance last night. And despite her breath getting faster, I couldn’t assume it was because of me. She’d just been through a traumatic experience, which wasn’t even over yet. I lifted my head and peeked over the brim of the sunhat. Clio’s cousin had moved on. I let out a long exhale.

  “Is he gone?” she asked.

  “He’s past us. Still walking.”

  Her eyes drifted shut and stayed that way for a long moment. When she finally opened them, they were all watery. She gave me a wobbly smile. “Thanks.” A couple of tears escaped, trailing down her cheeks.

  Uh-oh. I took her face in my hands, wiping tears away with my thumbs. “Nope. Not allowed. Later, sure. But right now you’re a victorious warrior who spits on tears. Right?”

  Rose sniffed. “I never spit.”

  “Never is a long time.”

  “Still don’t spit.”

  I let go of her and smiled. And maybe because I had a case of muck-brain or maybe because I wanted to keep her mind off Clio’s cousin, I stupidly said, “Yup. The guy walked right by the warriors disguised as a couple making out.”

  She straightened. “What? Is that what we looked like?”

  Um, why would that be so bad? “To be honest, I don’t know what we looked like, but that’s what I was going for.”

  “Why? Why would we be doing that out here in front of everybody in the middle of the afternoon?”

  I ran a hand through my hair, trying not to smile. I kept forgetting how shy Rose could be. “A couple of reasons. What do you usually do if you see people kissing?”

  “Look away.”

  “Exactly. If people thought we were making out, most of them would look away—even Clio’s stupid cousin. The other reason is that—” I leaned closer “—people kiss all the time. No one cares. No one is paying any attention to us.”

  She glanced around the café. “Are you sure?”

  I sat back and laughed. I couldn’t hold it in any longer. “Even if they are, they’ll still look away.”

  “I don’t even know how someone pretends to make out, anyway,” she said with a frown.

  I reached over and tugged on a blue-tipped length of hair. “Hello? By doing what we were just doing.” Before I could stop myself, I slid a hand into the silky hair at the back of her neck. “I come in close—” I paused in front of her lips— “I angle my head—” I waited two more seconds— “and people will assume we’re kissing. And even if we did kiss, it wouldn’t mean anything, because … pretending.” I relaxed back into my chair, lifting a hand like voilà.

  What was I thinking? Could I be any worse of a liar? Because I was absolutely sure that kissing Rose would mean everything.

  She stared at me as if I’d lost my mind. “Sam, you know that’s not true. Every kiss means something. Even a kiss on the cheek from a parent means something.”

  She was right. Of course, she was right. Time to quit screwing around and straight up tell
her how I felt. Forget about my father and my uncle and about how she and I had no future. Forget about never seeing her again after tomorrow. All we had was right now. My insides clinched into a knot.

  “Are you okay?” she asked. “You’ve got a strange look on your face.”

  “I’m fine. Listen, Rose, I need to—” I bolted upright. Clio’s cousin was sauntering back our way from the direction he’d gone. Great. Would the dude not give up? I cussed. “He’s back.”

  Rose gasped and started to twist around, but I grabbed her arms. “Don’t.”

  She nodded twice. “Right, right. You need to hide again.”

  Yup. And I knew how, too. Before I could change my mind, I leaned forward and cradled Rose’s face in my hands. “Let’s pretend again.” I brushed my lips across hers. She sucked in a sharp breath. I paused, giving her time to pull away if she wanted. Because this was Rose, and I had to take it super slow. She didn’t back away, so I kissed her softly, not even really moving my lips, but still a million bolts of lightning zapped through me. Why hadn’t I done this three days ago? When had I become such a complete and utter idiot?

  The whole world reduced to the two of us—the soft skin of her cheeks under my fingers, the warmth of her breath, the hand she’d raised to clutch my biceps. I adjusted my hold, sliding my hands to the back of her head, tracing the curve of her ear with my thumb.

  “This doesn’t feel like pretending,” she whispered against my mouth.

  I had to be honest. For once. “It’s not.”

  A light blush fanned out across her cheeks, and I followed the heat with my lips. “Sam,” she said through a sigh.

  I couldn’t help myself. I dove back to her mouth, kissing her more deeply, trying to give and not just take. Something I’d never even thought about before when I’d kissed someone. And it was all because of her. I couldn’t get close enough. These stupid chairs wouldn’t let me. There was no way she was ready for me to drag her onto my lap. So I settled for limited touch and focused on her sweet-tasting mouth.