The objective…

The objective of ‘Bluetooth’ and his companion had been to herd Paz in the other direction, where their associates waited in an SUV. With the police showing up, though, the two on foot didn’t know if their cover had been blown, so they let Paz go. Ordered to follow, they first made sure they had not been detected by the police officers and then took up pursuit while maintaining a discretionary distance from Paz.

Not that Paz would have noticed them. In her current state of mind—trying to blink away tears of rage so she could pick her way through the dark—she probably would have overlooked anything that didn’t run into her and knock her down. Her reason for flight was not the drug bust at Feral but her tardy conclusion that she was an idiot for being there at all.

An idiot, because, Brad, the young man she had gone to the club with, was not nearly as cool as she had made him out to be in her mind. He was just another twenty-something jerk, who after downing a couple beers, had proceeded to grope her.

She had sneaked out to Feral with Brad after her mother had explicitly told her she couldn’t go. Now, she was suddenly vulnerable and vastly outmuscled by not only Brad, but either of his buddies who were there and might want to see her succumb to, and perhaps get in on, whatever obscene intentions Brad might have with her.

The alleyway came to an end and she emerged onto a street. Paz had no idea where she was. To her left, she could see a corner, but it was the same street that fronted Feral, and she felt the need to avoid it. She didn’t want to risk any chance of Brad knowing which way she had gone. So, she took off to her right and hoped she had made a good choice.

Back up the street, Bluetooth communicated her position. “She’s heading east. You clear yet?”