The Silenced

She followed him without question this time. Behind them, he could hear the elevator stop for several seconds, then start up again. Then he noticed the doorway at the far end of the hall.

“What’s that?” Nate asked. He was pointing at the door.

“Emergency stairway. An alarm sounds when you open it.”

The alarm was a problem, but not as much of a problem as getting shot in the hallway.

The door to apartment 25 opened again, and the old woman stepped into the hallway.

“Si vous n’arretez pas, je vais appeler la police!”

Nate veered toward her and pushed Liz through the open door.

“Vous ne pouvez pas rentrer ici!” the woman protested, trying to block the way.

“Je suis desole,” Nate apologized. “S’il vous plait, rentrez a l’interieur.”

The woman didn’t move.

Liz reached out and pulled the woman by the shoulder back inside the apartment. “Madame Gerard, s’il vous plait.”

Nate looked at Liz. “Shut the door, and don’t answer it unless you know it’s me.”

“Where are you going?” she asked.

“To distract them.”

“But you’ll be back?”

He flashed a quick smile. “As soon as I can. Promise me you’ll stay here.”

“I’ll stay,” she said.

He turned and headed straight for the emergency stairway. He could hear the elevator behind him start to slow down. It would only be a few seconds before the doors opened and the others spilled out.

Nate checked to make sure Liz and Madame Gerard were safely inside, then he threw open the door. An alarm began to wail as he raced down the stairwell.

Come on, he thought. Come on.

He banged against the wall on the second floor landing and kept heading down. When he reached the first floor, he finally heard footsteps on the stairs above him.

With a sense of relief, he raced to the ground floor, then burst out the exit onto the sidewalk.

Forty-five seconds later Julien and two other men ran out the door. By then Nate was across the street, leaning against the opposite building like he’d been there all day.

Chapter 31

The rain was steady and cold by the time Nate felt it was safe to return to the apartment building for Liz. Back on the street with no umbrella, they were both getting soaked, but if it bothered Liz, she didn’t say anything. She just held on to his hand and followed as close behind him as she could.

He kept them moving in a westward direction, changing streets at random and always checking to make sure no one was following them. At Rue Duguay-Trouin they went left, then veered onto Rue Huysmans. The streets here were residential stone buildings not unlike the one Liz lived in. When they reached the corner of Rue Notre Dame des Champs and Rue de Rennes, Nate guided Liz under the awning of a patisserie, thinking it was safe enough to take a short rest.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“Fine,” she said, but her trembling jaw revealed the truth.

They needed to get out of the rain and dry off, fast. He looked through the window into the patisserie. Definitely dry, and probably warm, too. But Nate was hesitant to slow their progress. At the moment, putting as much distance as possible between themselves and the apartment building was their number one goal.

A taxi? Not the best option. A cabbie might remember them. Steal a car? Even in the rain, they might be noticed. Then Nate spotted an entrance to the Metro across the street. He’d avoided the stations closer to Liz’s place, but they were far enough away now that the risk was minimized, and with the way Liz was shivering, he knew they had little choice.

“This way,” he said, then led her over to the stairs and down into the station.

He could feel her trembling under his arm. Whether it was from the cold or from fear, he couldn’t be sure. He guided her over to a map on the wall and said, “We need to get as far away from this part of town as possible. So I need you to tell me which way we should go.”

“Okay,” she said, her voice weak. “We’re here.” She pointed to a station called Saint-Placide. “Only one line. The four.”

Nate examined the map. South wouldn’t get them very far.

“Looks like we should go north,” he said.

“If we go all the way to Gare du Nord, we’ll have lots of choices of where we can go from there.”

“Perfect. You’re doing great.”

She smiled weakly. Within five minutes they were settled on a northbound train, as far from the other passengers as possible. With nothing to do for the first time since Julien had pounded on Liz’s door, Nate pulled out his cell phone to check it. As he looked at the display, he realized there was something he should have done before they’d even left Liz’s apartment.

“Did you bring your phone?” he asked.

“My phone?”

“Yes. Do you have it?”

“It’s in my purse.”

“Let me see it.”

She furrowed her brow.

“Please,” he insisted.

Liz opened her purse and hunted around until she found her phone, then reluctantly handed it to him. Immediately, he popped open the back and removed the battery and SIM card.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“You can get a new one later,” he said as he slipped the pieces into his jacket pocket. “This one goes in the trash.”

“Why?”

“Because they can track us using your phone even if it’s off.”

“You have a phone.”

“Mine’s special. Can’t be tracked.”

He looked back at his cell. Two text messages, both asking the same thing.

The first was from Julien:

Are you safe?

Nate wrote a one-word reply:

Yes

But when he tried to send it, it failed. He had no signal on the train.

The second message was from Quinn:

Update

Nate typed out an answer, knowing he’d have to wait to send.