Private Rogue

Chapter 36

As I walked out of Le Loup onto the street, I noticed the linebacker who had been sitting at the bar followed me out. I knew if this was any kind of serious operation, he wouldn’t be working alone. I made my way south along Lafayette, squeezing past pedestrians who were swaddled against the chill, listening to the slush and spray of passing vehicles. Suddenly someone barged into me — a young blonde woman in a short coat. She looked up at me, nodded and smiled politely.

The moment she’d walked on, I checked my coat and found a disc about the size of a quarter had been dropped into my left pocket. I recognized the close-range tracker immediately.

I glanced over my shoulder to see the linebacker about twenty paces behind me, and then about ten paces behind him was a red-haired woman I recognized from outside Le Loup. They were doing such a bad job at staying hidden, I wondered if it was a ruse. I picked up my pace and hurried along the grit-covered sidewalk through the shadow of the tall buildings around me.

The Broadway lights were in my favor. I crossed with the crowd and ran down the steps into the Canal Street subway station. When I got to the bottom, I ducked round the corner and dropped the tracker that had been planted on me. I turned back the way I came and raced up the stairs as the linebacker came into view.

His eyes widened, startled, when he spotted me rushing toward him. Before he could produce whatever he was reaching for inside his coat, I drove my shoulder up into his gut, grabbed the back of his legs and flipped him over my back. He tumbled down the stairs with a cry, and the people around us gasped and moved swiftly away. The redhead caught my eye and turned to run, but I was too fast. I caught her on the top step and grabbed her arm.

“I don’t know who you’re working for,” I said — there was no point letting the man posing as Singer know he’d been made — “but if you come near me again...” I looked down at her colleague who was flat out on the hard tiled floor at the foot of the stairs.

I released her and walked on. When I glanced over my shoulder, I saw her running down the subway steps. I walked the neighborhood for another twenty minutes, doubling back on myself to reveal any other tails, but found none. I used the time to check my clothes for further tracking devices, in case I’d missed a plant. Once I was convinced I was safe, I headed for the parking garage on Lispenard Street.