Free The Assassins by Gayle Lynds Page B

from her back-alley poor childhood, her alcoholic family, and her teenaged years as a pickpocket. When you finally turned your life around, everything you accomplished was precious.
    As she passed a bay window, Eva saw in the reflection the silver-haired woman cross to her side of the street. Eva did not change her pace or demeanor. Her job was to lull the woman with the normalcy of her own behavior, and at the same time to memorize the woman’s face, clothing, choice of coffee and wine and chocolates—whatever details she could gather—for the report she must write tonight.
    Passing a bookstore, she strolled into Merchants Square. All of the quaint buildings in the square had the style of the 1700s but were built in the 1900s. She was tired, done. She wanted to go back to the motel and have a long, hot shower. The problem was, her shadow had to be the first to quit. Then she spotted an unusual sight—a video store. She stared a moment. The store gave her an idea.
    She pushed open the door. A bell tinkled. She paused near the cash register, viewing the videos under C LASSICS. The bell tinkled again. In the reflection of the glass counter she saw it was not her tail, but an older man in a shearling coat. She felt a surge of hope. Maybe the silver-haired woman had finally had enough and left.
    No such luck. The bell sounded again, and this time it was the shadow pushing the baby carriage. Keeping her expression neutral, Eva headed toward the rear of the video store. She glanced at titles in D RAMA, H ORROR, and C OMEDY as if she might want to rent one. And then she spotted the sign she had hoped to find. It was overhead, small, discreet: A DULT E NTERTAINMENT. Listening, she heard the wheels of the baby buggy behind her.
    Without a backward glance, Eva pushed through a beaded curtain and entered a small room where the surrounding walls and a central floor-to-ceiling rack displayed movies advertising titillating titles with a variety of bold Xs. Bulbous naked breasts, steel chains, and black leather beamed out at her. There was no one in sight. She hurried around the central stack—no one was there either.
    Running to the end, Eva rearranged movies so she could see through a small opening back to the room’s curtained entrance. When the curtains rustled, she peeked out. The woman was backing in, pulling the baby carriage. She stopped, leaving the carriage on the far side of the curtain, one hand firmly on the handle. Her actions had just confirmed two of Eva’s suspicions—she was definitely her shadow, and she did not want to be seen taking an infant into a video store’s dirty-movie room. Like Eva, she was not supposed to draw attention to herself.
    The woman looked up and stared at a wall poster of a naked man and woman sporting spiked dog collars, then at a couple wearing cellophane G-strings. For a brief moment, her face darkened and she gazed around as if she wanted to say something loudly. But breaking cover was against the rules for her, too. She stood there another heartbeat, trapped. Finally, she turned and left, the carriage’s wheels sounding retreat.
    Eva took a deep breath and chuckled. The woman might decide to wait for her outdoors. Still, the temperature was dropping, and the woman must be as tired as Eva. Peering out between the strands of the beaded curtain, Eva assessed the store. She did not see the woman or the buggy. She waited five minutes then walked back, stopping at the T HRILLER shelves.
    The man in the shearling coat came to stand beside her and run his fingers across a list of titles. His shoes were lizard-skin tasseled loafers. His coat was three-quarter length, a pale bone color, beautifully made. It must have cost at least three thousand dollars. His horn-rimmed eyeglasses sat solidly on his large Roman nose. His thick gray hair was artfully tousled. A dapper older man, he appeared relaxed and confident in his expensive coat and shoes. As sweat misted his forehead, he unbuttoned his