Chapter 7 - A Name That Didn't Fit
“No,” Mara said. “That is not my name.”
Adrian studied the photograph as if staring longer might make it change. “My father had an affair. He could have—”
“Don't finish that sentence.”
“I'm trying to make sense of it.”
“So am I. And I don't want you turning me into your sister because somebody printed the wrong bracelet.”
He flinched, then nodded. “You're right. We verify it.”
The station loudspeaker announced a delayed train. A man across the concourse unfolded a newspaper without looking at it. Adrian noticed the earpiece hidden under his hair.
“Walk,” he told Mara.
They pushed through the morning crowd. Mara felt every glance. The man with the newspaper followed, joined by a woman in a gray coat.
At a ticket kiosk, Adrian bought two one-way fares at random and handed Mara the first. “Board the train to Hartford. Sit in car three. I'll meet you.”
“You're not leaving me.”
“I'm giving them two targets instead of one.”
“I am done being moved around like luggage.”
She grabbed his sleeve. “We do this together.”
He looked at her hand and then her face. “Together, then.”
They boarded with seconds to spare. The doors slid shut just as the watchers reached the platform. For a heartbeat, Mara felt victorious.
Then a voice came from the seat behind them. “Nice try.”
Daniel Cross sat beneath a baseball cap, one arm tucked inside his jacket.
Adrian rose slowly. “You're persistent.”
“It's a gift.” Cross smiled at Mara. “Give me the envelope.”
“You want it?” she said. “Catch.”
She threw her coffee directly into his face. Cross yelled. Adrian slammed his arm against the seat, exposing a compact pistol. The train lurched. Two passengers dove for the floor.
Mara snatched the emergency brake handle and pulled. Wheels screamed. Adrian wrenched the gun free and knocked Cross into the luggage rack.
They jumped onto the gravel beside the tracks and ran toward a maintenance gate.
Behind them, Cross shouted something that stopped Adrian cold.
May you like
“Ask Lucian what he did with your real sister!”
THE LAST DANCE AT BLACKTHORN HALL •
