Nikolas by Faith Gibson Page A

message on his room phone leaving her phone number for him. That way if they kept missing each other, at least he could call her.
    Her safest bet was to hop a train to Alexandria and hide out with Xenia for a while, but she didn’t want to chance being followed and putting her aunt in danger. Xenia had enough on her plate without Sophia adding to it. She would have to take her chances on her own. She pulled up the search engine on her phone and typed in public library. It wasn’t too far away, but she wouldn’t take a chance on walking. She made her way back to the front of the café and stepped out onto the sidewalk to flag down a taxi.
    As she was getting into the automobile, a man yelled, “There she is. Get her!”
    Sophia didn’t look behind her. She climbed into the taxi and yelled, “Go, go!” Only when they had pulled out into traffic did she dare turn to see who was following her. She recognized the big man from the airport. He and his partner were yelling and rushing to find their own taxi. Sophia felt safe for the moment. “To the library, please,” she told the driver.
     

Chapter Eleven
     
    Kallisto was furious at Sergei for allowing the old woman to get the jump on him. As soon as she heard the fire alarm, she’d taken off down the stairs, her gut telling her it wasn’t a fire. She saw the old woman just as she got into a taxi. Luckily, there was another right behind it. Sergei jumped in the cab right before she could close the door. Drago and one of his men, Crane, met them at the bed and breakfast where Kallisto was certain the taxi had stopped.
    Crane explained, “I don’t know who he was or why he was following me. If he hadn’t stopped to talk to some old woman, he’d probably have caught me.”
    “Old woman? Did she look like this?” Kallisto held up the photograph they had of the woman from the zoo. Sergei had been able to hack into the security feed and freeze frame on her face. The picture was a little grainy, but it was clear enough to show it was the same woman they were now chasing.
    “Yeah, that’s her. Why would a young guy be kissing an old woman?” Crane asked, cringing.
    “Might be his mother,” Drago offered.
    “If you ever catch me kissing my ma with tongue, just fucking shoot me,” Crane protested.
    “How do you know there was tongue involved?” Drago asked.
    “Would you two shut up? I’m pretty sure she ducked into this inn. Sergei and I will check it out. You two split up. Crane cover the area. She might be old, but she’s tough and fast. Drago, you go to the hotel in case she circles back. If either of you spot her, don’t let her out of your sight. We have to get the disk back,” Kallisto instructed.
    “What about the Brooks woman?” Drago asked.
    “She should be looking for clues to her parents’ whereabouts, not that the note will do any good. Our first priority is retrieving the disk. Now, go. Call me if you see either one of them.”
    When the two men walked off, Sergei asked, “Don’t you think it’s a big coincidence the old woman was going to the tenth floor?”
    “Yes, I do. After we leave here, I plan on getting into her room and see what we can find. For now, I want to see if the old woman went in here.” Kallisto walked up the steps to the inn and went inside. It was a quaint little place, if you liked that sort of thing. She lived in a huge villa fit for a Princess. Considering who her father was, she expected nothing less.
    Several people were in the foyer arguing. She interrupted them. “Excuse me. Did any of you see this woman come through here?”
    “That’s Beatrice,” the older woman of the group exclaimed.
    “Why do you want to know?” the younger woman stepped in front of the older one and asked.
    “We only want to talk to her. There was an accident, and she might have been a witness,” Kallisto lied.
    The younger woman placed her hands on her hips, but the older one stepped around her. “Yes, I will show you to her