Free The Kiss after Midnight (The Midnight Trilogy) by Marvin Amazon

shot the lock off the back door. He ran up the stairs and reached Fernando four stories up.
    “Quick,” Fernando said after Rico had taken the gag out of his mouth, “they’re getting away.”
    ***
    Tobias held on to Annabel’s left hand as she led the way along Fifth Avenue. The sun shone brightly on them, making him perspire heavily through his gray cardigan. He leaned toward her after a few minutes of walking. “You see back there,” he said, “you were ... you ...
    Annabel stopped and looked at him, irritation on her face. “What? What is it?”
    “Nothing.” He continued following her, but something didn’t feel right. She knew her way around a gun a bit too well. Who was she, really? Some sort of police agent?
    Annabel urged him to walk faster. “We need to get a move on. We’re still not safe.”
    Tobias swallowed. “What? I thought the police had gone.”
    Annabel stopped walking again. “Do you think that’s it? That they’ll just give up. The police are around here waiting to just catch a glimpse of us. As for that clown, do you think he’s alone? Whoever he’s with will find him soon and they’ll be after us all over again.”
    They continued down Fifth Avenue, Tobias twitching each time he made eye contact with a pedestrian. “Back there,” he said, “you mentioned the name Antonio to that man. You meant Antonio Cabrera, right?”
    “Yes.” Annabel didn’t look at him.
    “So he’s after me, too?”
    She glanced at him. “They’re all after you.” She nodded toward his pocket. “The police, Antonio, all of them. They want what you have on the memory stick.”
    “But it’s not even mine,” he said. “It’s probably my friend’s. I saw it by the side of his bed when I left his place on Saturday. I just thought it was a pen.”
    “Don’t you get it yet?” Annabel said. She increased her pace, continuously looking backward. “It was Penélope’s. She must have dropped it there and you found it.”
    “Fuck. How did she get involved with these people?”
    Annabel cast glances behind her and spoke quickly. “It doesn’t matter now. She’s dead. All that matters is what you’ve got and what’s on it.”
    “What is it?”
    “You’ll see soon enough. But you need to walk faster. We have a tail.”
    Tobias looked back sharply, but Annabel yanked him back around. “Do you want to get us killed? They don’t know we’ve seen them. Let them keep following us. We’ll lose them soon.”
    “Who is it? Police?”
    “I’m afraid not. Remember what I said about Antonio sending more than one man? Well, I’m afraid it’s him.”
    Just then, the silhouette of the bald man from the building appeared about ten feet ahead of them, six people away. Annabel stopped Tobias and turned around. A second man was behind them, steadily navigating the pedestrian traffic, a gun in his hand.

7. Distraction
    Annabel shifted her focus between the two approaching men. To their left, the bald man moved cautiously, hands inside the breast of his jacket. The man to their right moved slightly quicker, easing people out of the way, his gun close to his right leg.
    She leaned into Tobias, her back grazing his. He trembled, casting worried glances at both men.
    “What’re we going to do?” he asked. Scores of pedestrians continued to pass them, not immediately noticing the fear on his face. He imagined numerous faces watching him from the taxis that passed.
    Annabel held his right hand. “Where’s the gun?”
    “‘In ... in my pocket.”
    “I want you to shoot into the air.”
    Tobias turned toward her sharply, his eyebrows rising.
    “Just do it.” Annabel drew her gun as she exchanged looks with both men again, clearly signaling her willingness to use it. A scream soon followed, and then another.
    Tobias looked two feet to his right and saw a woman and a teenage girl with their hands raised to their faces, their screams getting louder.
    “Gun,” a man beside him screamed. “It’s a