Three Fates

was fine, that was great, because this was New York. This was her turf.
    She sauntered as if she had all the time in the world. He was following now, she noted, and careful to keep pace. She kept sauntering right into the International Jewelry Exchange, meandering into the babble of voices, down the crowded aisles between booths. He kept half the store between them, shaking his head, scowling when the merchants began their pitch.
    And she sprinted. Her long legs ate up the distance to the side door. She was through it and loping across the street and muscling aside a man who was about to climb into a cab.
    While he stumbled back, shouted at her, she slammed the cab door. “Step on it! Get me five blocks down in under a minute, I got twenty dollars.” She pulled a bill out of her pocket, waved it even as she glanced over and saw her tail running across the street. For added incentive, she shoved the twenty into the security slot. “Move!”
    He moved.
    “Cut over to Park,” she ordered, swiveling around on her knees to watch out the rear window. “Go up to Fifty-first and cut back to Fifth. Yeah, baby.” She waved as he charged down the cross street. “Already huffing and puffing.”
    Still she watched until they hit Madison. When they turned onto Park, she dropped back down on the seat. “Fifty-first and Fifth,” she repeated coolly. “Drop me on the east corner.”
    “That’s a hell of a ride, lady, for a couple blocks.”
    “You get what you pay for.”
    She popped out on the corner, grabbed Gideon’s hand.
    “You’re late,” he began, but she was already running. “What’s going on?”
    “Taking a subway ride, Slick. You haven’t been to New York until you do.”
    Summer tourists were thronged around Rockefeller Center. All the better for cover, she decided—if they needed it. Then she whipped him down the stairs of the subway stop at 50 Rock.
    “My treat,” she added and dug out the fare for both of them. When they were through the turnstiles on the platform, she caught her breath. “We’ll get off at Washington Square. Bop around the Village. Give you a real tour, grab some lunch.”
    “Why?”
    “Because a girl’s gotta eat.”
    “Why did we run like maniacs into the tube to ride a train to a village?”
    “The Village, you alien. And we’re taking a ride to make sure I’ve thrown off the shadow. I was doing a little window-shopping on Fifth, and who should I see but one of our friends from Prague.”
    He grabbed her as the rumble of the approaching train shook the air. “Are you sure?”
    “Absolutely. He’s got a face like a pie plate. Flat, round and shiny. I ditched him, but maybe he circled around, so better safe than sorry.”
    She pushed through into the car, dropped down on a seat. She patted the place beside her.
    “What have you done, Cleo?”
    “What do you mean, what’ve I done? I just told you. Imagine that asshole thinking he could tag me in my city.”
    “And he just happened to be walking down the same street at the same time as you? I don’t think so.”
    “Actually, Fifth is an avenue as opposed to a—”
    His hand tightened on her arm, a hard warning. “What have you done? Where’s Mikey?”
    “Hey, ease up, pal. We ran some errands, hung out a little. It’s a free country. I did some window-shopping on the way to meet you, and he headed home to catch a nap. Mikey’s not a morning person and you had him up at dawn.”
    “How did she know where to find you?”
    “Look—”
    “You said you ditched him. Just one? What about the other guy?”
    He was really bumming out her triumphant mood. “How the hell do I know? Are they joined at the hip?”
    “How long after you and Mikey split up did you see him?”
    “Jesus, a few minutes. A couple of blocks. What’s the big . . .” But she trailed off as it struck her. “You think the other one moved on Mikey? That’s crazy. He’s not part of this.”
    But she’d made him part of it, she realized, and the arm Gideon gripped began to tremble.
    “Okay, so maybe they’ll follow him, maybe they will. We’ll just get off at the next stop and I’ll call him on his cell phone, clue him in. He’ll lose a tail as easy as I did. He’ll get a kick out of it.”
    But her hands were like ice by the time she pushed her way out at the Thirty-fourth Street stop, got to a phone. And her fingers shook as she punched in the numbers. “You’ve got me spooked,” she grumbled. “Wait till I tell Mikey.