Regardless, that little voice in my head was telling me it was time to act.
“We’re leaving”, I said while standing.
Ana quickly picked up her purse and stood with the Blackberry still in her hand.
”Wait”, she said grabbing my forearm, “they’re going to come through the front door any second.”
No sooner had she stopped talking than the front entrance door swung open and two middle aged Caucasian men walked in and stepped up to the hostess stand. I don’t believe in coincidence and those two men looked the part of action-oriented guys—Ana had passed the first test of believability—and I was experiencing conflicting emotions about that fact. I was pleased that she was real, but displeased that two bad guys had entered our lives.
The two men were now showing the hostess what looked to be a photograph. I knew that we had to move quickly and my system responded with a generous injection of adrenalin into a stomach that was ninety percent empty.
I was on high alert and began calculating our next actions, which were going to have to happen while on the move.
“This way”, I said, grabbing Ana’s forearm and pulling her towards me using enough force to encourage her to follow.
As we began to walk in a deceptively brisk manner towards the back of the room I was looking for a way out the rear of the restaurant.
“Do you see a back door to this place?” I asked Ana.
She scanned from left to right and confirmed that she too had not seen a way out the back, which made little sense because there’s always a way out the back. We were only a couple of steps away from a wait staff service station that was filled with napkins, silverware, water glasses and large pitchers of what looked like iced tea.
As we passed the service station a waitress appeared from between two curtains. The drapery had blended so well with the décor in the reduced light of the romantically lit restaurant that I hadn’t seen that way into the back of the building.
Pulling Ana with me, I brushed past the waitress and walked through the curtains as if I owned the place. Startled and also a little offended, the waitress immediately turned to us and asked if we were looking for the restrooms.
In retrospect, had I known how much of a scene my ignoring her inquiry about our need for a toilet was to cause, I’d have politely turned to her and said, yes, while still walking towards the rear of the building. But as it happened, I just kept walking towing Ana with me as I went.
My actions excited the waitress who was now talking in a voice that could be heard throughout the restaurant, no doubt in an effort to gain the attention of her boss. Unfortunately, it first gained the attention of the two bad men who had been assigned the job of dealing with Ana—and by association, me.
Soon the volume of the waitresses voice elevated to the volume of barking dog, and I knew then that an encounter with the bad guys was inevitable. It also dawned on me that they probably didn’t know that I was with their prey.
Stopping in midstride I turned to face Ana.
“Listen, I don’t think they are after me because they don’t have any reason to know that we’re together,” I said in a manner that she misinterpreted.
”You’re right” Ana said with a look of disappointment on her face.
I knew that she thought I was trying to justify a way to divorce myself from her problem, and therefore not have to deal with her stalkers.
“Ana, I’m not leaving you, I just need an edge, so here’s what we do”, I then explained in ten seconds my plan for our escape.
Without hesitation Ana exited the curtains walking back towards the booth that we had vacated no more than a minute earlier. Not five seconds later Noone’s goons, whose eye’s had adjusted to the dimly lit interior of the restaurant, began to make their way towards Ana.
I peeked out towards them from behind the curtains trying to measure their potential.
The tallest was an honest six feet in height and built like a long distance runner, the other guy was about five feet eight and built more like a gymnast. They were both very capable looking fellows, so I knew that I was going to succeed against them only with the aid of surprise.
It was a gamble that they hadn’t seen me with Ana and I was hoping that when I walked up to them they would think that I was either another patron, or an employee looking to offer them assistance.
As I emerged from the curtains I could see that Ana was engaged in a conversation with the taller bad guy and his partner was standing alongside of Ana facing the entrance with his back to me. Walking into the waitress service area I reached in and grabbed a white linen table napkin and also a full pitcher of iced tea.
Again looking towards Ana, I saw that the gymnast had taken hold of her upper right arm much as I had her forearm only two minutes earlier. As unrealistic as it may seem, his touching her made me genuinely angry—I took it personal. In a brief period of time I had become very connected to that gorgeous woman with the incredible brain, and no man or woman was going to lay an unfriendly hand on her and not pay a price.
Had I any previous reservations about getting physical with these two hired thugs that reluctance had instantly gone away once the short one grabbed Ana’s arm.
I quickly exited the service area and walked towards the trio trying to look like a waiter who was making rounds offering to refill half full glasses.
As I approached the three of them I could hear the short man say to Ana, “It’ll be better if you don’t put up a fuss.”