“But what about you?”
“Don’t wait for me. I’m going to try to follow, but if I fall behind, you keep moving. I’ll contact you when I can.”
Daniel officially hated this plan. There was no way in hell he was leaving La Défense without Edward. They were not going to be separated. Of course, he wasn’t going to tell Edward that.
With another squeal of tires, Edward jerked the car to a stop alongside another car as close as he could get to the entrance to the underground tunnels that led to the Métro platform. He shouted for Daniel to get out and he jumped out, too. Slinging his bag over his shoulder, Daniel handed Edward’s over to him as they ran for the stairs. People casually walking on the sidewalk and heading for the Métro stopped and jumped out of their way. A few people shouted and waved their arms, and for the first time, Daniel was glad that he didn’t speak French.
Their feet had just hit the stairs when two loud shots had people screaming and ducking down. Glass shattered and one bullet pinged loudly off metal. Daniel didn’t look over his shoulder but kept his eyes straight ahead as he ran down the stairs with Edward. He slowed his steps for just a moment as he reached into his pocket and pulled out his Métro pass. A quick swipe across the sensor and they were both through the turnstile.
But he knew that wasn’t going to slow down the men chasing them. They had to keep moving and pray that a train was in the station getting ready to leave when they reached the platform.
The station was a blur of pristine white tiles along the walls broken only by advertisements. He’d ridden on subway and light rail systems in other cities and what he could see of this one, everything looked incredibly clean and new.
Darting through crowds of people, they ran down one long hall and up a set of stairs and then down another. Here and there Edward would pause before directing them down another way. Daniel’s heart was racing, and he was grateful that he’d taken up running a couple of years ago, because he’d already be winded if he hadn’t.
When they finally arrived at a platform, Edward cursed to see no train there. Daniel looked up at a board to find the train listed as being due in another five minutes. It was going to be the longest five minutes of their lives.
Edward paced down the platform and then back up, looking for someplace for them to hide. He returned to Daniel’s side, swearing softly under his breath. The same steely determination was stamped on his face. The agent might be trapped, but Daniel had no doubt that the man was willing to go down fighting.
“What about the bathroom?” Daniel suggested, nodding to the bright-blue doors over Edward’s shoulder. It put them a short distance from the train platform, but if their pursuers just looked at the platform and didn’t see them, they might retreat to check the others again.
“I don’t like being trapped in a bathroom,” Edward muttered.
“True, but it might buy us some time.”
Edward grabbed Daniel’s arm and hurried them toward the bathroom. Pushing open the door, Daniel entered first and couldn’t stop his relief to find the bathroom as tidy as the rest of the Métro station. He barely managed to get into the room when he heard Edward grunt behind him. He turned toward Edward to see one of the men from the red sedan give his lover’s shoulder a shove while holding up a gun.
They were caught!
Daniel’s heart went into overdrive as he moved farther into the bathroom. Edward reached back to grab the wrist of the man. With a shout, Edward jerked him forward, slamming their attacker face first into the white tile wall, leaving behind a broad smear of blood. Daniel jumped out of the way as Edward pulled the man into the bathroom and continued to slam him into porcelain sinks and mirrors, destroying everything along the way.
When Edward finally released the man, his chest was heaving as he gulped in air. A bruise was forming on his jaw as the man had managed to get in one punch before Edward finished him off. Now he lay in a bloody and broken heap on the floor. If he was still alive, he wasn’t going to be following them any time soon.
“We need to go,” Daniel said. He wasn’t sure how much time had passed. It could have only been seconds, but everything had slowed down when he saw the gun. “The train is going to be here any second.”
Edward ran a hand through his hair, pushing it into place, before he bent to pick up the gun the other man had dropped. He opened his backpack enough to shove it inside and then shouldered it again. Stepping in front of Daniel, Edward lifted his hand and placed it against his cheek, eyes filled with worry. “Are you okay?”