The Crypt Read Free Page B

watching you.”
     
    Threats really pissed her off.
     
    “You will not be watching me. No one watches me.” She stepped forward into his space, placing the gun at his belt line. “Threaten me again and you will be eating your next meal with no teeth.”
     
    Being this close offered her a chance to remind him of who was in charge at the moment. A quick drop of her head, hard enough to matter but not hard enough to break anything, and English felt her forehead connect with his nose.
     
    He staggered back and grabbed his face. His voice nasal, he asked, “Why’d you do that?”
     
    “No one threatens me. I told you, I get quite pissy when that happens.”
     
    She backed away and only lowered the gun when she was twenty feet from the four men who still stood in the middle of the road, watching her retreat.
     
    What just happened there?
     
    English had said something about him doing his job. The cop wanted to take her to his station. He probably wanted to take her somewhere else, rape her and leave her by the Danube River for the night.
     
    Nothing made sense.
     
    Sarah knew she had gone too far. She had stolen a gun from a police officer. A Hungarian police officer. She couldn’t do that and remain in Hungary.
     
    At this point she would be labeled an International criminal or something. She had to leave Hungary.
     
    “Damn,” she said as she slammed her fist into her hand.
     
    Nothing was going as planned. She had come here as her sister had asked her to. She had done everything she was supposed to do. But now, four weeks into her stay in Hungary, she was no further ahead.
     
    She felt like she was losing her mind.
     
    Could she be losing her edge, falling apart? After all that had happened to her in the last five years, was she fucking up? Did she really attack a cop and steal his weapon? She’d stolen a cop’s car before but never a weapon.
     
    Whether she was going crazy or not, she knew one thing for sure: she had to leave Hungary as soon as possible.
     
    And who was the guy with the fedora hat? Why was he watching her?
     
    Stakes are about to be raised and I’m going to do the raising.
     

Chapter 2
     
    Sarah finished packing the one small suitcase she traveled with and set it by the door of her hotel room.
     
    She’d stayed at this Best Western since the day she arrived. A Do Not Disturb sign had remained on her door the whole time. Having a maid enter her room wouldn’t work with Sarah. She made her own bed, and once every three days, she grabbed the towels and garbage, entered the hall and changed them with one of the maids working in the other rooms.
     
    When she got back to the room last night she was too tired to imagine leaving right away. The officer would have to report his weapon stolen. Forms filled out, paperwork filed and a description sent out to other officers. By the time the day shift came on, Sarah would be on all their computer screens.
     
    All she had to do was take a cab to the Budapest Liszt Ferenc International Airport, buy a ticket to somewhere in Canada and board that flight. She’d decided on Canada to avoid the American authorities if they were tipped off and told to watch for her. Could she get to the Budapest airport without the authorities warning airport security? If she was destined for trouble, wouldn’t Vivian have made contact?
     
    Of course she would have.
     
    She entered the bathroom, balled her hair into a bun and tucked it up under a pink baseball hat.
     
    No make-up, a baseball cap and a stupid T-shirt that only a tourist would wear. It had a picture of Budapest on it with something about August 20th and how last year’s party was a blast. Above the city in the picture a Malév Hungarian Airlines jet soared over the Danube River.
     
    She looked down at her shirt. A rush of sadness enveloped her. She’d failed. Armond Stuart was here and she had nothing to go on. He was getting away. He would get away. In the coming years he could abuse