Amanda absolutely hated her job. She hated everything about it. She didn't think she'd hate it quite as much as she did when she'd first signed up for it, but the long hours, sleepless nights, and idiotic passengers were starting to get to her.
In her opinion, people had no damn clue what went into being an airline stewardess, just how stressful a job it was. She didn't blame them. She hadn't known. All she'd seen was the free airfare, the lure of being able to leave home.
Now she was starting to regret it. She had a layover for a day or two, and she was itching to get out of her heels. Amanda honestly had no idea how the other women managed it when they encountered turbulence. Her acrobatic abilities were the only thing that saved her from the worst jostles.
She sighed and undid the bun holding up her golden hair. It tumbled down her back as she walked. As soon as she got back to the hotel she was passing out. Amanda could barely even remember which city she was in.
The only thing that kept her going was her paycheck. Every penny she earned was a penny she could use to get back to Kurt, to figure things out. She would be able to talk to him, to be able to actually let some of the thoughts that plagued her out.
She was lost in her musings when someone tapped her shoulder. Amanda turned and saw a man in a dark suit with glasses. Amanda immediately felt her stomach begin to churn.
"Ms. Szardos?" he asked.
Amanda gave him a confused look.
"Sorry, you must have me confused with someone else," she said.
She turned to leave, wondering how fast she could walk away in heels, when he grabbed her arm.
"No," the man said calmly, "We don't."
"Let go or I'll scream," Amanda said.
Three other men detached themselves from the crowd and started walking toward them. Her eyes darted around, looking for an escape, but she didn't see any. Amanda felt like she was going to be sick.
"That won't do you any good," the man said, "Now, there's someone who wants to talk to you about an incident that happened a month or so ago."
Her throat seized up. Kurt. They were after Kurt. She chewed her tongue, looking for inspiration. They knew who she was, where she worked. It looked like she was going to be quitting her job a lot sooner than she thought she was going to.
If, of course, she was able to get away. Amanda couldn't see any clear way out, so she sagged and hung her head. There was absolutely no doubt what she had to do next, the only thing she could do if she wanted things to work out.
"It all happened so fast," she whimpered.
"Not here miss," the man said smoothly, "Let's walk."
She nodded, hunching in on herself, trying to look small and helpless. The man's grip on her arm weakened. Amanda gave a longing look back at the gate.
"Am I going to be here for work tomorrow?" she murmured.
"That's the least of your worries sweetheart," one of the men said.
Amanda bowed her head and sniffled. The man's grip on her arm weakened even more. The men were walking loosely around her, which told her that they weren't police. She'd never seen special forces or intelligence agencies, but she figured they would be more on their game than the police, not less. So they weren't them either.
Maybe it didn't matter, because there were a few openings now that they thought they had her. She bit her lip and stifled a whimper, and she saw one of the men roll their eyes. The man's grip on her arm weakened just enough.
Amanda jerked her arm away and slammed her elbow into his throat. He made a strange, choking noise, but Amanda didn't stand around and wait to find out if she'd done any permanent damage.
Letting go of her suitcase, she darted quickly between two of the men and started running. She would miss the suitcase, it had some things in it she couldn't replace, but she wasn't so sentimental to think it was worth her life.
As she ran, she kicked off her heels, tossing them behind her and weaving in and out of surprised commuters. The pavement was hard, dirty, and there was probably glass everywhere, but she wasn't going to risk breaking an ankle.
The men were shouting now, and she kept running. The element of surprise had given her a few seconds head start, and she needed to make the most of them. She pushed down a luggage stack as she ran, and made sure to weave in and out as many times as possible. Anything that would give her a little more time.
As she ran, her mind did a quick tally of what she had. She had the equivalent of thirty American dollars in her pocket for emergencies, and one credit card. Margali had always hated banks, so Amanda had opened a bank account to spite her when she left home.
So she might figure out a way to get passage to America. There was a plan somewhere that she could take advantage of, but first she had to get the weirdos off her tail. Better yet, she could trap one of them and rob them. That way, she might be able to get the money she needed and find out who these idiots were.
However, she didn't want to get ahead of herself. She wasn't in the clear yet, and she stuck out like a sore thumb in her stewardess uniform. As soon as she lost them she was going to need to ditch it.
Amanda ran into an alley, knowing that there was a fence at the other end of it. She scrambled onto some trash cans and climbed up on them, her skirt ripping a bit in the back when she did so. It wasn't too much, but it was enough to give her the extra mobility she needed. When she had enough height she jumped for the top of the fence, vaulting herself over it.
She landed in someone's backyard, but she was lucky and they weren't home. Amanda started running to the wall and climbed up it, getting onto the roof. There were fenced houses all around her, and she couldn't get off the roof without landing in someone else's backyard. If someone was home, then she might have a problem.
So she jumped onto the next roof over. Her feet hit something sharp and she bit her lip. It wasn't enough to cut open her foot, but she'd have to be more careful. All she had to protect her feet at the moment were stockings, and those weren't enough.
Amanda was much more cautious when she made the next jump. She shimmied down the side of the house, using the windows and the drainpipe for leverage. Whens he dropped to the ground she was sweating and tired, and her heart was pounding a million miles an hour.
There was a screech of tires and Amanda saw a car swerve around the corner. She looked at in dismay. Amanda knew she was a good acrobat, and very fast, but she wasn't fast enough to outrun a car.
She glanced at the house next to her, wondering how fast she could climb onto it. However, there was a screeching sound and she turned and the car swerved away from her, crashing into the opposite wall.
A katana was embedded in the windshield, and Amanda could see it had skewered the occupant. She gaped for a second, and then quickly began climbing up onto the roof. Whoever had thrown that was not someone she wanted to be around.
As Amanda climbed, she heard some sort of commotion going on below her. There were guns going off and she forced herself to keep going, to not think about what was going on beneath her or anything that would happen because of it.
When she got to the roof one of her fingernails was broken and the finger was bleeding. Feeling woozy, she pulled herself up and started to get to her feet.
"Hold on there kid."
Amanda whipped her head up. A man was staring at her with a frank expression, his face covered in stubble. There was an aura of cigar smoke around him, and Amanda couldn't see any weapons.
However, that didn't mean he couldn't hurt her. He was also addressing her in English, which she knew enough to speak, but it meant he probably wasn't a resident. She toed the edge of the building, wondering if she could make it to the fence below her.
"I wouldn't go down there if I were you," he suggested, "Pool's never gone in for delicate work and, considerin who those guys are, I wasn't gonna interfere."
"Who are you?" Amanda asked.
"Logan," he said, "James Logan."
"Never heard of you," she said.
He shrugged.
"You woudln'tve," he said, "But I think you should hear me out."
"Why?" Amanda said, "As far as I can tell, I just got dragged into a war between two rival gangs."
"Rival gangs?" asked Logan, crinkling his forehead.
"You use katanas and you all dress weird," Amanda said derisively, "There's not much else you could be."
Logan chuckled.
"Good guess, but no," he said.
"Right," Amanda said.
She leapt for the fence, but she felt an arm grab hers in mid air. Logan pulled Amanda away from the edge, both of his hands gripping her arms tightly.
"Kid, I told ya not to," he growled.
"You've given me no reason not to," she said.
Amanda tried to wriggle out of his grip, but she couldn't. The gunfire below had stopped, which meant he was going to get back-up in a moment. Great.
"Ya need ta listen ta me," he said, "I'm not your enemy."
"Then let me go," Amanda snapped, "I need to get out of here!"
"And go ta Kurt, right?" he asked.
She stopped struggling, feeling like screaming. Were they both after him? Amanda didn't think they were the type of people who would settle things in court with lawyers where Kurt might have a prayer of someone understanding what had really happened.
No. These were the same type of people like the ones in the mob. It was the only reason why they'd tracked her down like this.
"Don't look so concerned," Logan began, "We're-"
She didn't stick around to listen. He might have secured her arms, but her feet were still free, and she had a powerful kick. Amanda put a lifetime of training into the kick she aimed at his groin, and he grunted in pain.
He released her arms and she jumped for the fence again. Amanda caught it on the way down, aggravating the hand where she'd broken a nail. It hurt, but she had enough time to shimmy down the ground.
Her feet felt like they were on fire now, but she started running again. Someone else grabbed her, and a cloth slammed down on her face. Instinctively Amanda lashed out at whoever was behind her, and she made contact with flesh.
There was a muffled groan, but her assailant didn't let go. Her vision started to go blurry, and Amanda began to panic. She continued to lash out, but there was no give in this person's grip, only a strange determination.
Amanda slid down to the ground, her vision going black.