AN: If you're squeamish, this might not be your chapter.
Amanda crouched behind a pile of garbage. Rusty trash cans, several shipping pallets, and bags upon bags of rotting garbage supplied a little cover, and a minute to stop and think. Unfortunately, a wooden fence boxed in the end of the alley. A few boards looked fragile enough, but the sound of voices drew too near for her to do anything but hide.
The two men from the market appeared together at the mouth of the alley, tied up in intense conversation, pointing and looking around. One jogged on, maybe to the next alley or storefront. But the larger of the two, a bear of a man with a neck to cheek beard and a shock of long, greasy hair lumbered around, scouring the alley. From one garbage can to another pile of bags, he methodically kicked obstructions aside.
There wasn't enough cover, exits, or shadows for this to end well. With any effort at all, he would find her, and find her soon. Amanda struggled to remember her evasion training and scraped around on the ground to gather up some of the sandy dirt in each hand.
He was too close, and she was out of time - only a battered trash can remained between them. He knocked the can aside and smiled. There was not an ounce of kindness in the expression - he was just pleased with himself. With a knife in his right hand, he gestured for her to stand.
Amanda remained crouched on the ground, looking around wildly for any other options. The man hovered closer, irritated. "Yukarı. Up." He reached for her. Just as his meaty hand closed around her upper arm, she flung a handful of dirt in his face.
He stumbled back in surprise. If his swearing and shrieking were any sign, she'd hit the mark dead on. Many of his words were unfamiliar but the meaning was clear - he was angry. He swiped at his eyes, and in rage, kicked out in her direction.
His massive boot caught her under the ribs, and he lunged unseeingly for the space where he had made contact. While not particularly fast, he was determined.
She rolled away gasping, and he missed her by inches. Amanda came to a halt against the concrete wall of the nearest building. The man crawled toward her, blindly swinging the knife as he went. Frantically moving backwards along the wall, she kicked at him and cast about for any weapon among the garbage. Her hand landed on something solid, and with no time to even look at it, she swung it toward her attacker with all her might. It made contact so solidly that she lost her grip and left it behind as she scrambled to her feet.
Amanda spied a raki bottle in the closest trash can. She hefted it, ready to club him.
She needn't have bothered.
Still on the ground, her assailant's forward progress stopped abruptly. The knife clattered out of his hand as he clawed clumsily at his neck.
He wheezed, a wet, gurgling sound. A nail-studded slat of wood fell away from his fumbling hands, revealing a ragged gash that started under the man's ear and ran nearly to his collarbone. Chunks of a busted shipping pallet littered the ground around them, and somehow, she had managed to wield the biggest piece.
Blood pooled on the ground beneath his face at an alarming rate. His feet scratched at the dirt, like he might push himself away from his fate, but there was so much blood.
He fell still.
Amanda tried not to look at him as she picked up the knife and dropped it in the canvas bag she wore strung across her body. Lee had most of the cash, so she quickly yanked the man's wallet out of his back pocket, and also found the pistol he had fired in the market in his waistband. All of it went into her bag.
The sea of garbage around her was useful. Trash bags, a tarp covered in paint, and half of the broken pallet were close at hand, and Amanda dragged it all into a pile over the body.
With the other man nearby, Amanda dared not leave the way she came. The rickety fence at the back of the alley was her only choice. At one end, the boards looked particularly rotten, and with some effort, she pulled them away, revealing the interior courtyard of a small cluster of apartment houses. With a quick glance over at the pile of trash, and no sign of the dead man's partner yet, Amanda squeezed through the gap in the fence, and propped the boards back up in place.
Skirting along the edge of the courtyard, she stopped where a clothesline hung between two of the largest trees. She scanned the nearby windows. Seeing no one, Amanda added a misdemeanor to her day's weightier regrets and outright stole a navy-blue linen shirt and a dark woven pashmina.
With one more look around, and no time to spare, Amanda ducked under the stairs between two of the apartments. She quickly swapped out her shirt for the blue one and threw the scarf over her shoulders. She crammed her shirt into her bag. Peering out from under the stairs, she studied her options while she willed her heart rate to slow down. The street in front of the apartment building was quieter. There were storefronts, and a couple more apartment houses, and quite a few pedestrians, but not much cover. Omar's shop was south. She had to assume it was being watched, so their planned fallback position was an automotive garage three blocks from the dock.
"Amanda."
She wheeled around so fast she was briefly dizzy. "Oh Lee, you're alive," she choked out.
His clothes were dusty from head to toe. A new bruise peeked out of his hairline. A raw scrape down the side of his face was smeared with blood, as was the back of his hand, where he'd been wiping his bloody nose. Lee held himself rigidly, compensating for pain somewhere, but he was alive, and standing ten feet away. Lee reached for his partner, but she lurched away to grab the rim of a nearby trash can and cast up the contents of her stomach. Still leaning over it, almost too quietly to hear, she whispered, "I killed him."
Lee blinked. The stabbing pain in his head was making it hard to think clearly. "You…what?" Lee came around to face her.
"One of the gunmen." She spit in the trash can. "Dead." She took a deep breath through her nose, trying to quell the nausea, and spit again. "How did you find me?"
"The shorter guy ran out of the alley. The fence boards were loose, your shoeprints were in the dirt."
Amanda grimaced. "The big one is under a pile of trash a few feet from the fence. His partner must have just found him."
"Oh, Amanda—" Lee reached for her again, but she pushed his hands away.
"No, please," she begged, rigid with tension, her eyes shimmering with tears. "I need to keep it together."
Her rejection stung, but Lee understood. "I…ok," Lee answered, nodding, trying to absorb that he'd walked right past a dead man and not noticed. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, Amanda. I was under a couple dozen people. I got out as fast as I could."
Amanda shook her head. "Lee, you didn't make those men fire on a crowd. But I can't-" she gestured between them, "-right now. I will absolutely fall apart."
"I get it." Lee stepped back.
"You can't walk around looking like that," she said. There was a garden hose and spigot on the ground by the trash can and Amanda turned on the water. "Wash your face, and then we can go."
Lee was glad someone was thinking strategically as he washed away the blood. He dried his face on his shirt sleeve and presented it for inspection.
"Better." Amanda used the cuff of her shirt to wipe the last trickle of blood from under his nose. "To the garage?" she asked.
"Yeah. Are you good to go?"
"Anywhere but here." She pulled the scarf over her head, crossed the ends and draped them back over her shoulders, like some of the local women wore it.
Lee peeked out onto the sidewalk, casting a cautious look in both directions. There were plenty of people on the street; they all seemed jittery, talking in hushed tones, heads on a swivel. They were a dozen blocks from the pier, but news of the shooting was clearly spreading.
He felt Amanda step up beside him and take his hand. That, at least, was normal.
"They look spooked," she said.
Lee nodded in agreement, brushing some dust off his shirt. "We'll fit right in." He tugged on her hand, and they stepped out onto the sidewalk.