The most cautious varied where they slept, avoided establishing daily patterns, left no digital trail, to make it difficult for someone like him to get ahead of them, but there were still groceries to buy, bills to pay, birthdays and anniversaries to celebrate, meetings to attend. With enough time and patience, he always found a lead.

But these two had no home, no family, no friends, no employer, and they had a lifetime of turning invisibility into an art form, and a kill team at their backs.

Once they were on the move again, they’d untether completely.

He’d have about fifteen seconds from the time they stood to the time they vanished, and he’d need ten to get out the door and another forty to get to the ground floor. He scooped the few items he still had out into his bag, grabbed the straps, shoved the chairs away from the window, and headed for the door.

There was no time to put things the way he’d found them, and it didn’t matter anyway. He hadn’t stolen anything. Hadn’t killed anyone.

Other than a few misplaced items, he’d never been here.

He raced the steps down to ground level and caught sight of the table through the glass. The man stood, hesitated, then turned and walked off.

There’d been no handshakes, no formal good-byes.

The siblings stayed seated, watched him leave.

Tree trunks and bushes partially blocked the view.

Holden stepped outside, and strolled the sidewalk while the twins argued.

To any passing observer it was just a casual conversation, but the two weeks he’d spent tracking them, learning them, told him what it was.

The sister pushed back, left the table.

Dilemma chewed through him.

He needed to follow, and could follow only one.

Logic pushed one way. Desire, the other.

The brother was predictable—not in the strategic sense. His ability to think in multiple directions made him unpredictably dangerous. But he was predictable in his reliability, which would make him easier to shadow.

The sister was a few sane days shy of crazy.

He had no good options for sticking with her for the long haul.

Holden tracked her parallel from across the plaza because he wanted to.

Want.

Want was a dangerous, dangerous word.

He knew better than to give in to it and did anyway.

He glanced back at the table.

The brother was gone.

One second to the next, just like that, decision settled.