[MAX]
Jin Tè was smart, I'd give her that much. We only made it two blocks before we picked up three tails, all of whom advanced quickly, and did very little to disguise that they were following us.
"They could just be some reckless muggers," Danny said. "It wouldn't be shocking. We kind of look like easy targets, given, uh ..."
"That we look like rich, foolish young people?" Dylan offered. He was unbuttoning the top of his shirt, as well as the front of his suit, and he made a show of shaking out his arms.
"He means given Max and I are wearing dresses," Phoenix supplied for Danny as she gave him a knowing look.
"They're not muggers," I said before the bickering could continue. I moved a little quicker now, and my eyes scanned the buildings and side streets we passed. "They're hers."
Jin Tè didn't go this long as the head of the Triad without excelling in strategy and preparation. If she already had men tracking Phoenix this soon, then I had no doubt she had a contingency plan or two in place.
Yes, Jin Tè was smart.
But I'm smarter.
"She knows I'm an American, right?" Phoenix asked as she picked up the pace so as to be in step with me again. Her heels clicked sharply with every step she took. "And she's probably figured out by now that you—" she waved between the Carmichaels and I, "—are also American. If she has her people snatch me in the streets, and leave you three behind ... that's brazen."
"I'm doubtful she gave instructions that anyone accompanying you was to be left behind," I said. I gave Phoenix a pointed look before I resumed my search.
"Or alive," Dylan muttered.
He was right, but I ignored him. "It would appear that whatever you know is important enough that she's fine with the Triad being in the limelight."
"That's comforting," Danny sighed. I could see him fidgeting with his suit jacket in my periphery, no doubt considering the likelihood of having to draw his gun.
Phoenix was silent, her honey-green eyes now downcast as she walked. She still managed to stay in step with me. I could see the space between her brows creasing as she bit down on her bottom lip, both signs of the turmoil within her. Ashamed was not a state of being that Phoenix took up frequently. The fact that it was genuine served as further proof to me that she was struggling with the situation.
"This all begs the question," I said as I took a brisk turn down a dimly lit, unoccupied backstreet, "what do you know?"
Her eyes darted back up to me with unease. "You really want to have this conversation in public, Max?" she challenged with bravado that I knew to be a ruse.
"Personally," Danny interjected, "I like knowing why people want to kill me."
"I've yet to meet someone who doesn't," Dylan said.
Both of the twins cut me quick but questioning looks the further we went into the backstreet. Danny had shoved his hands into his pants pockets, a deceivingly unprepared position, given his gun was just within the back band of his pants. Dylan was less subtle, and outright opened his jacket; the gesture briefly revealed the gun holstered under a shoulder.
I shook my head subtly. I could tell that Dylan and Danny did their best to relax, though both looked disgruntled in the process. I wanted to keep guns out of this for as long as possible.
If getting shot in general was a bad idea, getting shot in a country filled with bloodthirsty gangs while accompanying a person of high interest was the equivalent of suicide.
