Blowback by L. T. Ryan

Author:L. T. Ryan [Ryan, L. T.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Liquid Mind Media, LLC
Published: 2018-09-17T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nineteen

Paranoia is contagious. This fact is lost on most people. Not Bear. He knew. He felt it. He became drenched with it. The more Maria mumbled about how they were going to find her and kill her, the more Bear looked over his shoulder. He only made it a couple blocks before he pulled over and ditched his burner phone. Then he drove another few minutes and stopped to pick up two more just in case. He was mindful of the cameras on the street and in the store, never giving them a good angle.

He half-expected Maria to be gone by the time he made it back to the car, but she was still there. Sweat glistened her heaving body. It soaked through her clothing. Looked like she’d dove into the ocean. She looked paler than she had an hour ago, and her hair more disheveled and soaked in perspiration.

He called a taxi from inside the car and waited in silence with Maria until the driver pulled up alongside them. If the man thought it was strange they were getting out of a perfectly good car to get into his vehicle, he didn’t say anything. Take the money and ask no questions. Bear said it. The guy obliged.

Maria’s condition worsened by the minute. She looked half-dead. There was nothing he could do to help her blend in. He gave her his jacket. It was at least four sizes too big for her, but it did the job of hiding her stained clothing. He realized for the first time that she wasn’t wearing any shoes as she walked across the narrow stretch of asphalt and slipped into the back of the taxi. Nothing he could do about that now.

Bear instructed the driver to take them to the outskirts of Hong Kong Island. When they reached the area, he picked a corner at random and handed the driver a wad of bills. The man sped off without a word. Bear hoped he wouldn’t remember their faces. But that was unlikely. It wasn’t so much they were two Americans in the middle of Hong Kong. They were two very distinct Americans in Hong Kong. Between Bear’s hulking frame and Maria’s zombie-like condition, they were bound to leave an impression.

That was the least of his worries. He looked down at Maria. She stared at the pavement beneath her feet. Sweat dripped from her nose and splashed between her big toes.

“Are you okay to walk?”

She looked up at him. She had bright blue eyes the size of quarters. Red scratched like lightning in the whites of her eyes. She was attractive beneath all the sweat and dirt. Her frame was thin but lean like an athlete’s. She seemed sharp too. Despite her condition, her gaze rarely remained still after he snapped her out of the trance. She scanned the street. Somehow Bear didn’t think it was just the paranoia. It was a habit.

As he stared into her eyes he wondered again who she was and where she had come from.

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