Page 14 of The 9th Man

“The gun?”

“The magazine was empty. I tossed it in a dumpster.”

She leaned over and gently placed her hand over his. Soft. Tender. Unexpected.

“Luke,” she said in a hushed tone, staring into his eyes, “someone’s interested in us. At your seven by the hops display.”

He was a little disappointed that this was all for show, but he kept up the performance and smiled back at her. “Describe him.”

“Asian. Bald, late twenties, green leather jacket.”

He squeezed her hand in another display of affection. “How sure are you?”

“Enough that it would be my final answer onWho Wants to Be a Millionaire.”

Good enough for him. And he realized he’d broken a cardinal rule and failed to check earlier if the museum had a back exit. “Keep looking. Where there’s one there’s usually another.”

She chuckled at him and pointed, conveying that he’d said something funny. “Got him. Roughly the same description, but taller and wearing a light-blue hoodie. He just sat at a table to your five.”

A waitress walked by and he caught her attention and asked loud enough to be heard, “Restrooms, please?”

The woman pointed deeper into the museum, toward a collection of tall bronze vats and crisscrossed piping.

“Dank je.” To Jillian he said in a low voice, “If there’s an emergency exit it’s probably by the restrooms.”

“What’s the plan?”

He kept up the acting, his words not matching his actions as he leaned in close to her. “Gotta assume they’re armed. There was no metal detector when we came in. If they open fire in here there’ll be a lot of collateral damage. Let’s take a walk.”

He too was baffled by the question he’d seen in her eyes.

How had they found her?

They stood and casually headed into the museum, becoming engrossed in a brochure Luke snatched from a display, making a show of wandering the exhibits while slowly winding their way toward the rear of the building. Once sure their pursuers had fallen in behind, Luke led her into a warren of copper vats. Ahead, the restroom sign directed patrons to the left down a short hall. A green-on-white pictograph for the emergency exit pointed straight ahead. He was counting on the privacy of the restrooms to allow him to spring a trap.

“Hopefully they’ll split up,” he said. “One for each of us. Take yours out as fast as you can.”

“You sound excited. You have a strange idea of fun.”

“You don’t know the half of it.”

They turned down the hall.

The women’s restroom was first on the left, the men’s second. Luke pushed open the door. The men’s room was empty save for an elderly man washing his hands. Luke walked to one of the urinals and positioned himself appropriately. The man at the sink left, passing the two Asians on the way in.

Okay, he got them both.

And they wasted no time.

While one stood guard at the door, the other in the green leather jacket stepped up behind Luke.

“Don’t make this harder than it has to be,” the guy said in lightly accented English.

He glanced over his shoulder and smiled. “My doctor tells me I’m awful young for prostate issues, yet here I am.”

The guy tossed him a curious look.

“You go ahead,” Luke said. “I’ll be here awhile.”