Blowback (The Black Cipher Files Book 1) by Lisa Hughey Read Free Book Online

in the hell was going on?
    I didn’t even glance at the lockers as I turned away and headed for the closest exit. I made sure to slow my steps rather than hurry, not wanting to draw any attention to myself.
    But as I pushed open the glass door to Second Street, I could feel eyes upon me. Listening to the pounding of feet, rustling of clothing and the swell and fall of voices behind me, I knew I’d been made.
    I shoved the door closed and took off running for the steps. The clogs were too big and not the best shoes for sprinting. My feet clomped along the broken sidewalk.
    White light from the street lamps spread down over the sidewalk, keeping it well lit and safe for passengers. As a means of trying to evade pursuers, it sucked.
    If I could make it to the underpass where I’d seen the homeless guy, I’d have a chance in the shadows. Assuming my followers didn’t have any hearing.
    A deaf man could hear the racket I was making with the shoes.
    The rubber-soled shoes of my pursuer squeaked on the cement. He was gaining. On the upside, it was too risky to shoot at me on the street.
    I swerved under the pass. The shoes had to go.
    “Here you go.” I kicked them toward my buddy and whispered a quick sorry when he grunted.
    I tore around the corner, running parallel to the underpass bridge. At the intersection ahead, a line of cabs waited for fares. I curved to the right, away from the terminal and sprinted toward the last cab at the back of the line.
    Illegal but hopefully the cabbie would agree to take me.
    Behind me, I heard a solid thud and then inventive cursing. My homeless friend must have slowed the guy down.
    I ripped open the door to the cab. “I need a ride.”
    “It will cost you extra,” the cabbie barked. “I can get fined for this.”
    “Okay.”
    I had twenty bucks and no syringe. There was only one place to go. Good thing I’d flipped through his wallet when I’d examined his duffel. I gave the cabbie an intersection in Lucas’s neighborhood and slunk down in the seat. I wanted that syringe back.
    He switched the meter on and took off.
    I waved the twenty at him. “Run the meter for five bucks worth, get me as close to that intersection as you can, and the rest is yours.”

SEVEN
     
    I wanted that syringe back.
    I’d walked the last six blocks to Lucas’s townhouse. He wasn’t home yet, so I waited in the shadows on his cement steps.
    Darkness blanketed the sidewalk. Old fashioned street lamps illuminated the cement in little pools of light, but kept the garage entrance fairly dark.
    The Ford Focus cruised down the street. I straightened and slipped into the shadows near the garage door. Lucas punched a code into the electronic gadget aimed at his garage. The car idled as he waited for the door to rise. If there was a perfect time for an ambush, it was now.
    Not the time to let down my guard.
    My heartbeat slowed and I settled into familiar alertness as the single barn-like door rose. I slid into the garage quickly.
    Pure fluorescent light, shockingly bright in the blackness, shone in my face like an interrogation floodlight. I squinted against the strong rays.
    Lucas angled the car in with a burst of gas. The garage door started rolling down before the car even bumped the pvc pipe designed to stop it from hitting the wall.
    He shut off the engine and opened the door slowly. I knew he’d seen me. He probably expected me. "We need to talk."
    Not a chance.
    Lucas sighed and stepped out of the car, the syringe nowhere to be seen.
    “Just give me the syringe.” I figured reasoning with him was the only way to go. In a day, I’d lost half my evidence, my competence and my confidence. But I’d never let him see that. “And I’ll be out of your way.”
    His gaze cut to the back seat of the car. “No.”
    The duffel.
    I reached for the back door.
    He grabbed my wrist in his left hand, clenching so tightly his fingers whitened. “No.”
    I thought about arguing. I thought about physically