Guardians of the Portals Read Online Free PDF

note of the small catch of fear in her voice. He actually had no answer to her question; but the more he thought on it, the more he realized his choices had suddenly collapsed to a single, dangerous option.
    “Lady, I wish I knew. Can you keep up if we have to walk a fair distance?”
    She gulped, “How far is ‘fair’?”
    “Fourteen blocks.”
    “Shit, can’t you get a cab?”
    “Yeah, Lady, and the first one that pulls up will have an Uzi aimed right for our damned heads. They didn’t exactly give you the full memo, did they?”
    She shook her head and muttered, “All right, but where are we going?”
    “I’ll tell you when we get there. Can you glamour at all; maybe hair color or something?”
    “I’ll try. What about you? You aren’t exactly the ninety pound weakling.”
    “Don’t worry about me. Come on, Eirik’s had enough time. We’ll use his bolt hole as they’ll be following him now and not expecting us to use the same exit point.”
    “How do you know that?”
    “I don’t.”
    Trey yanked the door open and swept the stairs with his Sig Sauer but nothing moved. He crouched and took the stairs two at a time to the first landing, then waited impatiently as the woman huffed to join him. He had a bad feeling that he would end up carrying her to their destination. He repeated the maneuvre up four additional flights, each flight taking a greater toll on the woman. At least she kept her mouth shut and followed orders. It was probably the best he could expect for now. They exited into a crowded green grocer store and barrelled through onto East 72 nd , turned right, then right again onto First Avenue.
    Trey kept a punishing pace as he half-lifted, half-propelled the older woman forward. At the street light on 83 rd he paused and reconsidered. He’d been remote scanning since they’d left the building, but so far it looked as if they’d made a clean escape. Somehow he doubted that was the case. The woman was breathing hard but otherwise holding up better than expected. He took her elbow and spun right, heading toward the East River. He stopped when she gasped, “Wait, please.”
    “What?”
    “My shoes.”
    Trey looked down at her three-inch heels and swore under his breath.
    “It’s all right. I’ll take them off.”
    “You can’t walk barefoot...”
    She spat, “Watch me, sonny,” and marched off, swinging her heels in her left hand.
    He thought, tough old broad , then did a mental head slap when she shot back, “I heard that.” He smiled and took her elbow once again but slowed the pace so they looked like old friends out for an afternoon stroll. At East End Avenue they turned left and walked past the Gracie Mansion Conservancy and the Chapin School. Their pace had slowed almost to a crawl and he knew the woman was out of gas and fading fast.
    “Two more blocks, sweetheart. Take your time. Almost there.”
    “Who’re you calling ‘sweetheart’, asshole?” He grinned up at her as she still topped him by two inches, even without the heels.
    He guided her across the street at 85 th and pulled her over to the wrought iron fence as if to admire the cherry trees and flower plantings.
    He explained, “Here’s what we’re going to do. I have a Portal to the right of the main gates, down the first path past the concrete planters, then up a set of stairs. It’ll be at the top. I’ll need for you to trust me. Will you do that?”
    “Trust you? Why should I trust you?”
    “Because I’m the one who’s gonna make this right. Now come on. We don’t have much time.”
    He yanked on her arm and they sped through the entrance to Carl Schultz Park. A few people strolled about the grounds and in the distance the din of screeching children at the playground, and the nearby whine of traffic off FDR Drive, drowned out most other sounds.
    They approached a cross path and off to the right, the stairway beckoned. Trey pointed in that direction, then stopped abruptly at the telltale click of a