There's A Thin Line - Book 1: Legal Reichs

Chapter One

CHAPTER ONE

Blair looked out of the rain streaked window, carefully pulling back the drapes from the side of the window so she could look out at the street below. She noticed the man standing in the rain, in the alley next to the brownstone across the street. It was a dark, cold night in Baltimore, the third day in a row it had rained. She didn't know how long he had been standing there, his baseball hat pulled down low on his head, water steadily dripping from the brim.

She took a deep breath and getting back down on her knees, moved slowly away from the window. She backed into the next room, moving in the dark to a back bedroom. Her heart was pounding hard, her breath coming in short, quick gasps. There was a small line of sweat on her upper lip, as she carefully picked up a small, black shoulder bag and removed a small, slim handgun from it. She reached her hand back into it slowly and slowly screwed a small, black cylindrical silencer onto the barrel of the handgun. It was her gift from the Marines, the final morning they dropped her off at home.

Blair took the gun, dropped the clip to make sure it was full, then jammed it back in and chambered the first round, locked it and cocked it. She put the gun in the back of her pants and repeated this operation three times, putting several handguns in various places on her body. When she finished, she pulled her heavy black sweater down over her waistline. She put on a black, cloth backpack, tying two straps from the bottom of the bag around her mid section. The backpack was smooth and light, carrying the barest of items. A small bundle moved under the covers as a little boy turned over in his sleep, exhaling quietly, his lips moving quickly around the pacifier in his mouth, which was attached to a small ribbon, clipped to the front of his jet black traveling outfit. A peculiar outfit for a baby, Blair had sewn it herself out of heavy jersey material and it swaddled him completely. Lying next to him, outfitted exactly the same, was another little boy, identical to the first. His eyes were wide awake and every so often, he would kick out with his right foot, hitting the other baby on the leg, a wicked look in his smiling eyes. Blair whispered at him in German, "Josef. Stop that right now. And hush." Popping his binky into his mouth. His blonde hair was beaded with sweat. His small hands were curled into balls, the fingers short and pudgy. His fair skin had a tinge to it that was almost imperceptible. On first glance, you would have thought the children were just like any other little boys. But the one who was awake, like the one who was fast asleep, had peculiar eyes. One of them was a dark blue, the other a light green. He stared at his mother quizzically, but silently. Blair tucked the small blanket around him and carefully tucked him into one side of a black baby carrier, that was draped over her shoulders. She placed a small, black skull cap onto the baby's head, pulling straps under his chin and securing them in a quick bow. She tucked his hands in front of him carefully, so he couldn't flail his hands. He was getting heavy. She then shrugged a lightweight vest around the baby in the carrier, putting one of her arms through it, then reached for the other baby, careful not to wake him. Together, they easily weighed twenty pounds. She had spent the past two months carrying two bulky ten pound bags of sugar around in the carriers, to get used to the sensation. She had to do them on her back first, because the baby's were still inside of her, then shifted them to the front. She had worked out the whole pregnancy, adding bulk, smooth muscle to her 5'9 frame. She placed his legs into the carrier and reached down to cover his head with another skullcap. She had hoped they'd both be asleep for once, but they rarely slept at the same time. Hopefully the walk would lull them to sleep. She once again pulled his arms into the carrier in front of him and then continued putting her other arm into the vest. She fastened two long, wide Velcro straps around her waist, then across her back, before she pulled them back to the front. She crisscrossed them through an x-shaped strap in the middle of the vest and threw both ends over her shoulders, pulling the children to her chest snugly, bouncing them a few times as Chance began to stir. She didn't have to guess, but was certain Josef was kicking at him. She looked down at Josef sternly and he stopped. She finally pulled both straps under her arms and brought them laterally straight across her chest and fastened them into two more straps, before securing them through two more loops, smoothing the closures of opposite Velcro strips together. She had spent the past few months planning how to safely carry the babies when they had to leave suddenly and had modified a baby carrier to suit her needs. It was just a matter of time...she knew their lives depended on her speed and stealth, she had prepared carefully for what was to follow. Blair stepped out of the room, over to an open closet, quickly walking inside of it and closing the door behind her. She moved the clothes aside and pulled a peg from the wall and part of a the false wall swung open, revealing a crude ladder that led down into a dark hole. She climbed on the ladder, balancing carefully, as she reached back into the closet and pulled the clothes back into place, arranging the hangers haphazardly, so that it looked more normal. She then slid the door back into place and put the peg back into the wall. She reached under one of the baby's bottoms, into her pocket with one hand and removed a small tube of wood glue, pressing the tip, then rolling it against the wall to open it, she dribbled it around the peg. When the glue hardened around the peg, pushing through the wall to open the panel would be impossible. She reversed the procedure and carefully moved the babies again and put it into her pocket once again. She took a deep breath, thankful she had taken the time to make thick, wide slats for the ladder's top rungs, as she could still balance carefully even with the babies weight pulling her forward.