Until Time Runs Out

Chapter 6

Tony and I headed out of his apartment, him locking the door behind him. I looked over the ocean view he had and we began our way back to my place. His shoes scuffed along the sidewalk as we went. As irritating as it was, I was slightly glad for the sound. It made things less silent.

"What did you mean earlier?" He blurted out suddenly. I arched an eye brow at him. "You can't fall in love?"

"Oh." Was all I said. I stared at the ground, not wanting to get into the whole Christian story and not spill the agent secret. "It's complicated." I said, kicking a rock. My words were simple, yet they held an edge that told him to drop it.

He nodded his head and shoved his hands in his pockets. "Complicated ex, I get it. I understand." My eyes traveled from the ground in front of me to his shoes. Shoes that currently weren't being dragged along the ground, but the sound remained.

My muscles instantly tensed and all my senses went into high alert. "When did you stop dragging your feet?" I whispered to Tony.

He shot me a confused look. "I dunno." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Before I asked you-"

I stopped paying attention. The sound had been there the whole time. Sure it could be just someone who didn't know how to walk, but I was still tense. I ran my hand over my tank top strap to 'untwist it' and looked over my shoulder. A hooded figure scraping his heels along the sidewalk was only several feet behind us.

I grabbed Tony's wrist and pulled his hand out of his pocket. He intertwined our fingers, oblivious to how high alert I was. I lead us faster down the sidewalk. A few seconds later, the scuffing sound came faster.

My heart beat spiked in my chest as I lead us faster, to the point where we were almost running. "Elise, what are you doing?" Tony asked me.

I heard a grunt from behind me. It must have been closer then I originally thought. Before I could react, we tumbled to the ground. Tony's hand was torn from mine and I grabbed the hooded man's shoulders.

We turned until I was on my feet again. He rolled a few more times before getting up, sliding his foot behind him so he had a better stance to defend himself. He let out a cry as he advanced towards me. He sent a punch to my head, which I dodged just in time.

I grabbed his fist as it passed my head and twisted it backwards. He turned around and let at a grunt as I held it behind his back. "Who sent you?" I growled into his ear, not wanting Tony to hear. This man obviously had some sort of training. He rambled in another language.

I pulled his arm up farther and he let out another noise of pain. "Elise, I think you're gonna break him!" Tony yelled from the other side of the street.

"Just stay-" Catching my momentary distraction, he whipped his arm out of my grasp, hitting my side in the process. I sucked a breath through my teeth and swung my leg around to kick his shoulder, which I must admit, in skinny jeans is hard to do.

He stumbled back and held his shoulder. "Who do you work for?" I asked him a little louder. Tony might have heard me, but at the moment I didn't care. Again he ignored me and ran towards me. I braced my arms in front of me, planning to block whatever he was going to do.

"Elise!" Tony yelled again.

Again, my distractions got the best of me. My eyes turned to him and returned to my attacker just in time to dodge his hand, which was aimed at my throat. That could have done some real damage. Whoever did send him to find me had made their message clear. His hand knocked my shoulder and forced me down, onto my back.