Free Kill Switch: A Vigilante Serial Killer Action Thriller (Angel of Darkness Suspense Thriller Series Book 1) by Steve N. Lee

harder still. Tess pictured a lung flying out and landing on the sidewalk at any second.
    She guided Elena over to the only free table outside the café and eased her onto one of the chrome-finish seats.
    Bent over her knees, Elena shuddered as she coughed into both hands.
    Tess took a fresh bottle of water out of her black backpack, opened it and offered it to Elena.
    Elena tried to take it, but was coughing so much, she couldn’t.
    Tess held the bottle to her lips.
    Elena did her best to drink but just splashed water all over the ground. She put her precious photo of Cat on the table and took hold of the bottle herself. Spluttering out as much water as she drank, she managed to down a few drops.
    A gust of wind blew Cat’s photo off the table. It tumbled through the air and landed under a table a few feet away. Tess turned to retrieve it, but a woman with long blond hair picked it up. However, she didn’t hand it back immediately, as someone would normally do. Instead, she glanced at it, then paused to scrutinize Elena, then glanced back to the photo, and finally passed it to Tess. The incident only lasted a moment, but it was long enough for it to be noticeable.
    Tess thanked her in Polish. “ Dziekuje .”
    The woman nodded, then returned her gaze to Elena, who appeared to have struggled through and had managed to get her coughing fit under control.
    “Are you okay?” Tess held her trembling hand. “If you need to rest, we can take a taxi back to your hostel.”
    With the occasional splutter between words, Elena said, “But we’re so close. We can’t stop now. We can’t.”
    “You’re sure?”
    Having a last cough, she nodded.
    Tess took out her phone. “You know, if we lose this” – she held up the photo of Cat – “we’re completely screwed.” She placed the photo flat on the table and then took a shot of it with her phone.
    The blonde woman stared. But not at Tess – at the photo on the table.
    Tess took another couple of shots to be safe, then turned to the blonde. She held up her phone with Cat on it. “Excuse me, but have you seen this woman?”
    The blonde said, “ Przykro mi, nie mowie po angielsku .”
    During her time in Poland, Tess had heard that enough times to know it meant the woman didn’t speak English.
    However, verbal communication wasn’t the only means by which to ask someone a question. She pointed at the blonde woman, then her own right eye, then to the picture of Cat, and finally, she gestured to the café.
    With a smile that was as fake as her hair color, the woman shook her head and returned to texting on her phone.
    “Elena, I think this woman saw Cat. Can you ask her in Polish?”
    Elena started to speak, but only got a few croaky words out before the effort started her coughing again.
    Tess studied at the blonde. She was a stunning woman. But there was something not quite right. It was early in the morning, when most women would look at their very best, having freshly showered, put on clean clothes, and applied fresh makeup. But this woman?
    Her lemon dress was a little disheveled, not neatly pressed. Her hair cascaded over her shoulders, but lacked the body and sleekness that washing and styling would normally achieve. As for her cosmetics? That was more of a touch-up job than a fresh makeover.
    The woman had either had a hot date last night and not yet made it home, or… Or she was a ‘working’ girl.
    Of the few words Tess knew, ‘please’ was one of them, so she started with that and just hoped the woman actually did understand a little English, as many young Polish people seemed to do.
    “ Poprosze .” Tess pointed at Cat again and then at Elena. “This mother, er, mom, er, er… mama. This mama. She, er… very, very sick.” Tess feigned coughing and then solemnly shook her head. “Very sick. Poprosze , help mama find…” She pointed at Cat again.
    Blondie looked at Tess, then slid her gaze over to Elena. The color and glow that Elena had had just