The women looked at each other as the cab started to move. It came toward them slowly, at a walking pace.

Both women had been trained for this. They knew the man in the cab was a professional. They knew their chances.

“Are you CIA?” the woman said.

Laurel nodded.

The woman spoke quickly, keeping her eye on the cab. “I’m GRU. Tatyana Aleksandrova. The man in the cab, I think Moscow sent him.”

“How do you want to handle this?” Laurel said, reloading her gun.

“I can’t run for shit in these shoes,” Tatyana said.

Laurel nodded. “We’ll take him here then. There’s two of us.”

“But he’s got the vehicle,” Tatyana said.

The cab was still fifty yards from them, rolling slowly through the snow, smoke billowing from its tailpipe. Laurel peered at it and noticed the driver’s window opening.

“Do you think you hit him?” Tatyana said.

Laurel shrugged.

Along the street, just where the cab was passing, a man opened the door of a building and came out onto the step. “What’s going on out here?” he shouted.

“Get down,” Laurel yelled but it was too late.

Two sharp cracks from the cab. The bullets struck the man in the torso and head and he smacked against the wall of the building before hitting the ground.

“We’ve got to stop this guy,” Laurel said.

“You go to the next car,” Tatyana said. “Don’t let him see you. When he’s across from you, I’ll stand up and draw his fire. You’ll have a clear shot.”

Laurel nodded. Keeping low, she ran to the next vehicle, a pickup truck, and took cover. The cab was still moving. She couldn’t see the driver through the open window. He was crouched low, not really steering the car so much as keeping it straight while he prepared to shoot.

Whoever he was, he knew what he was doing. Laurel thought about shooting him through the door but she’d be shooting blind, wasting ammo. Waiting was the better plan.

The seconds the cab took to reach her felt like an eternity. Her mind raced from thought to thought. The drone in the sky. This guy in the cab. The Russians were already onto them.

She waited. The cab inched closer. Finally, it was directly behind the truck. She looked to Tatyana and nodded. Then, gripping her gun, Tatyana rose.

A split second behind her, Laurel rose too.

Time compressed and she no longer registered what was happening. There was supposed to be covering fire from Tatyana. That would distract the man while Laurel got a line of sight and took him out.

But when she stood there was no covering fire. And when she took aim, the man was already pointing his gun right at her.