Excerpt: The Black Rose

Why do they always run, Darcy thought as he broke into a sprint. The street was packed but ahead of him he could easily make out the retreating form of Mouse. She was 5'5" dressed in blue jeans and a snug white tee, her brown hair pulled up in a simple ponytail. She could’ve blended in. But her path of destruction made her easy to spot. She wasn’t that quick but she was much less careful than he and so managed to keep a lead on him simply by knocking through people and over turning chairs and peoples parcels as she passed. Darcy swerved around another woman stooping to pick up her fallen groceries. He jumped over yet another fallen obstacle and spied Mouse hanging a left into an alley up ahead. He wasn’t far behind her now.
Mouse was an informant who was reliable with her information, but often hard to track down. He hadn’t come down here specifically looking for her. But since he’d seen her he thought he’d take the opportunity to see if she had heard anything interesting lately. Problem was, as soon as she saw him she bolted. That didn’t bode well. She wasn’t wanted by them for anything so why run. Unless she was in trouble and didn’t want to be seen talking to him.
Darcy jumped over an over turned chair as he turned the corner of the alley. He practically ran into her as he rounded the corner. She was trying to get open a door on the side of the building he had just come around.
“Hey!” he said as he grabbed her arm.

Anna was late. She hated being late, but there it was. Sometimes things were out of her control. Still, she usually prided herself on planning for every possibility. But today hadn’t gone well. She was supposed to have the morning off today, but something had come up at the warehouse and now here she was three hours later just finished sorting it out. She’d have to rush home now to shower and change. She could hardly show up at the fundraising meeting in jeans.
Anna went out by the side door hoping to avoid anyone else delaying her departure. She closed the door and turned to lock it when she was practically body checked by a woman running past her.
“Shit!”
The woman never even slowed. Anna bent to retrieve her keys and reached back for the knob.
“Hey!” a male voice called from behind her as a hand grabbed her arm.
That was the last straw for her. She had already had a bad morning and she let her temper get the best of her. Letting him turn her, she used that momentum and added to it as she balled her left fist. And swung.
As her fist made contact with his temple two things registered in her mind. The first was that he made no move to defend himself. The second was that as she turned to face him, his expression changed to one of confusion. Which had likely been the reason he did nothing to defend himself.
The confusion disappeared as his eyes rolled back into his head and his body collapsed.
“Shit!” she said again as the events of the mast two minutes replayed themselves in her mind. The woman who had bumped her was about her height, brown hair pulled back, jeans and a white shirt. It was a case of mistaken identity.
Anna bent down and checked for a pulse. It was there, and strong. She looked for a wallet, found his driver’s licence. And his badge.
“Shit, shit God damn fucking shit.” she opened the door that she had tried twice, but had not yet managed to lock. “Gino, Get out here!”
She checked the man’s pulse again and looked at the swelling on his head. The door opened and Gino came out into the alley. He didn’t say anything just raised an eyebrow.
“I don’t have time to deal with this. You came out into the alley and found him like this. Be nice, he’s a cop. Give it five minutes, if he’s not coming to by then, call an ambulance.”
“Really, Anna, there are better ways to get out of a ticket.”
“Shut up.” she said as she headed out of the alley. She cast a quick glance at the door on the other side of the alley where the woman who had bumped into her had disappeared.