Espion | Book One

Twenty Seven.

Anna came under the very dim streetlight, her eyes widening as she feigned surprise. She stared back and forth between Jessi and the man holding him captive. "Jessi, what's going on?"

"Anna, get out of here! Leave, now!"

"You better listen to him, girl," the man said. His eyes were still looking around, trying to spot the person responsible for killing his men. "This is no place for you."

Anna took a step forward. "What are you doing with him? What do you want?"

"This is none of your concern, girl."

"Anna, get out of here! Go call the cops."

As soon as Jessi said that, the man's head snapped up and he shot Anna a scathing glare. "If you value your boyfriend's life, I don't think you should do that."

"You don't scare me," Anna said, although she was really successful at making her voice sound scared. She pretended to dig around in her bag for her phone, slowly creeping forward.

"Little girl, you really don't want to do that."

Anna didn't answer. She stared into Jessi's eyes, eyes that pleaded with her to get away from there. She tried to convey her own message, to tell him that everything was going to work out just fine but she didn't think he could decipher it well.

Suddenly, Annabelle lunged. She made a grab for the hand holding the detonator, instantly pressing her hand on top of his. The man made a shout of surprise and, thankfully, Jessi took that chance to wrestle the knife from his hand. They struggled until they were on the ground, but all those years training for soccer didn't go to waste. The knife ended up in the man's neck, his body twisted at an odd angle.

Anna fell back onto her butt, not releasing the hold on the detonator.

"Jessi," she panted, eyes wide. "What the hell is happening?"

Jessi didn't answer her. He was panting too, staring down at the body before him. He swallowed. "Mon Dieu, I think I killed him."

"You did," she confirmed. "Why were you even out here? Who are these people?"

"I ... I don't know." He ran a shaky hand over his face. "They just came up to me while I was getting you your drink and said I had to come with them or else they'd kill you. When I turned around and saw that you weren't there, I got scared. I thought they had you."

"So you followed a bunch of strangers out into the middle of nowhere by yourself?"

"It was either that or risk having you killed, what did you think I would do?"

Anna sighed. She was pissed, mostly because it felt as if she was the reason he was even in any danger and she was the one supposed to be protecting him. Jessi swallowed again, his hand trembling. "Oh God, look at all these bodies."

"Jessi, please don't tell me that thing on your neck is connected to this detonator."

"Detonator?" Jessi's hand flew up to his neck, fiddled with the bomb. "This ... this is a bomb?"

"Yes, you dumb idiot! Remove it! Slowly."

Jessi gave it a slow tug. Pieces of the bomb tore from his skin, spraying blood. He tossed it aside and Anna finally mitigated her hold on the detonator. The last bit of her fear faded and all she could feel was relief. She sagged.

"We have to get out of here," she said.

Jessi's eyes shot to her. "Leave them here?"

"What else can we do with them? If someone happens upon us, they'll start asking questions. We have to get out of here, Jessi. Now."