“What happened to him?” Allyson asked, crouching next to the man.
Adriana’s eyebrows lowered. She smacked the guy’s face again but got no response. With her index and middle finger, she felt the skin over his carotid artery. Nothing.
She looked over at Allyson with grim shock written on her face. “He’s gone.”
13
The two women ran hard down the hill. When they reached the bridge, their pace slowed to a brisk stroll. It was nearly three in the morning. Hardly a normal hour for two women to be out on a walk. But two women running would raise more suspicion.
They turned left after crossing the bridge and started back the way they’d come, passing the closed shops, cafes, and bars. The streets were vacant save for parked cars and bicycles. The sidewalks were clear too, for the most part. There were a few barhopping stragglers stumbling to their homes or hotels. They served as an accidental reminder that the two women hadn’t reserved a room for the night.
More than anything, they needed to get off the street right now.
Adriana wasn’t sure what killed the assassin in Klugen’s home, but she had an idea. She’d heard of implants put into the base of an asset’s skull that once detonated would release a deadly toxin into the brain. It was a stretch, but it was certainly possible, especially with the new nanotechnology that was being developed on a daily basis.
Ahead on the left, a bright yellow sign with a brown furry animal on it hung over the sidewalk. The word below the image was universal. Hostel.
“Let’s duck in there.” Adriana said.
“Are you serious?” Allyson asked. “This close to the crime scene?”
“Look, we need to get off the street and a place to rest and wash the smell of the fight off us.”
She was right. Their skin crawled with the scent of gun smoke. Before leaving the basement, Allyson had done a rudimentary job of running some clean water over her blood-covered hand, but she could do with some soap to finish the job.
Adriana made her final pitch. “Hostels are always open, and we should be able to get a room without too many questions.”
“Okay, fine. But try to get us a room alone. So many weirdos use these things.”
The two cut left and pushed through a creaky wooden door. Inside, the corridor was dimly lit. A men’s and women’s bathroom was on the left. On the right were posters and fliers featuring local bands, bars, and various things to do in the city. The smell of patchouli filled the air, mingling with the scent of old wood and cigarette smoke. They pushed forward toward a counter where a young woman with dark brown dreadlocks and an army green T-shirt stood writing something down on a piece of paper. She had huge bags under her eyes as she looked up at the newcomers.
Unsurprised to get travelers at this time of night, she greeted them pleasantly enough. “Hallo. How can I help you?” she asked in the local German inflection.
The corporate salutation sounded funny coming from someone of her appearance.
Adriana smiled politely in spite of her exhaustion. “We need a room for the evening,” she answered.
The hostel manager went into work mode. “One bed or two?”
Allyson snorted but suppressed her laughter for the most part.
“Two, please.”
Dreadlocks shifted over to the computer and pecked away at the keys. A minute later, she turned around and grabbed a key from a drawer, looked at it twice, and then handed it to Adriana. She noticed the two bags and asked, “Do you need a locker for your bags?”
“No, thank you,” Adriana shook her head. “We’ll be fine.”
The woman shrugged, pursed her lips, and finished typing in the details of the transaction. Adriana took care of the rest, paying for the room in euros and thanking the woman for her help. Dreadlocks explained that their room was on the second floor, up the stairs to the left.
Adriana nodded that she understood, thanked her again, and the two women disappeared up the steps to the next floor.
The quarters were sparse, even for a hostel. The bed frames were old and worn, and the only other furniture was a few wooden chairs, probably there for the sole purpose of shoe tying. Surrounding them were faded blue walls, the paint cracking in more than a few places. Fortunately, there were no other people in there, as the room only had two beds. On more than one occasion, Adriana had visited a hostel or two with four or six beds. In those instances, you had no idea who might be in the room with you. While most institutions tried to keep genders segregated, it didn’t always work out like that, which could make for a less than comfortable evening of sleep. Of course, Adriana always slept with her knife or pistol close by in case anyone got any ideas.
All in all, both women had slept in worse places before.
Allyson strolled over to the bed on the right side of a single window that looked out over the main street. She dropped her bag next to it and collapsed into the soft mattress. The clean linens were a pleasant change to the smoke residue on her skin and in her nostrils, and she took in a few deep breaths to cleanse her nose’s palate.
“I’m going to take a quick shower,” Adriana said. “We need to be ready to get out of here early. My guess is that lady with the dog we saw earlier will probably be doing the same thing around six or seven. That only gives us three or four hours to get some rest and get out of here.”
Allyson didn’t like the sound of such a short amount of sleep, but she kept it to herself. Complaining wouldn’t do any good, and besides, Adriana was right. It was a surprise the police hadn’t responded to the gunfight. Even though most of the weapons fired were muffled with sound suppressors, the flash bangs and tear gas were loud enough to wake even the deepest sleeper. The two thieves were forced to bank on the hope that the fireworks going off earlier in the night, any sounds that even closely resembled the celebratory ones would have been ignored by the neighbors as nothing more than drunken, annoying revelry.
Adriana rinsed off and used one of the towels provided in a stack next to the bathroom sink. The hot water had soothed her aching muscles and tense nerves, but deep within her another tension still brewed. The altercation with the hit squad was a surprise, even for this ridiculous game. And what the assassin said before he died was even more troubling. Someone he’d called the Eraser had sent them. But why? Her mind was weary, and too many thoughts mingled together to keep any clear answers from surfacing.
She finished drying off, put on her clean set of clothes, and went back to the room. She passed another bathroom on the way and could hear the shower running inside. Allyson must have taken her cue and decided to clean up before passing out for the night.
Adriana returned to the room and found it empty, as she suspected. She placed her rucksack on the bed against the wall, just in case. Crawling under the covers, she let the soft bed and sheets embrace her as she let her thoughts wander into ridiculous, fanciful dreams. Her eyes blinked rapidly when she heard the door open, but she kept still, pretending to be completely asleep. Allyson tiptoed across the floor and returned to her bed, sliding into the sheets as quietly as possible. Adriana thought her partner might try to search her bag for something but was pleasantly surprised when she heard the other woman’s breathing fall into a deep, trancelike rhythm.
When she was sure Allyson was asleep, Adriana allowed her dreams to return and fell back into a wonderland haze.
14
The two thieves awoke early to the sounds of Adriana’s phone alarm. She’d programmed it to go off at 6:30 before hopping in the shower the night before. Allyson had groaned at the annoyance.