The Enraged (A Jonathan Quinn Novel) (15 page)

He looked around to make sure he was still alone before unrolling more of the film. When he reached one of the color frames, he checked it. More squares, clearly not randomly sequenced, but impossible to decipher.

Peter had warned that the information would be encrypted, but Quinn had hoped he could comprehend
something
.

He rerolled the film, put it back into the canister, and returned the magnifying glass to where he’d found it. He would have to figure out a way to get the frames digitized so he could then have them decoded.

On his way out, he made a quick stop in the drugs section and picked up a bottle of Tylenol PM, thinking maybe it would help Misty get some sleep. At the checkout counter, the cashier had just started to ring him up when his phone vibrated. He pulled it out and was surprised the call was from Nate.

“Seven seventy-eight,” the clerk said.

Quinn raised his phone to his ear. “Nate?”

“You’re going to want to head back,” Nate said.

“What happened? Is there a problem?”

“Sir,” the cashier said. “Seven seventy-eight.”

“Not a problem,” Nate said. “But…”

“What?” Quinn asked as he fished a twenty out of his pocket and handed it to the cashier.

“Orlando. She just woke up.”

For half a second, the world disappeared.

Awake?

As happy as the news was, Quinn was also angry. He had wanted to be there. Needed to be there. Needed to be the first thing she saw.

“Excuse me, sir.”

Quinn snapped back.

The cashier was holding out his hand. “Your change?”

“Oh, thanks.”

Quinn grabbed the change and the bag holding the pills, and headed for the door.

“When did this happen?” he asked Nate.

“Five minutes ago.”

“Did…did she ask for me?”

“She hasn’t said anything yet.”

Why not? Quinn wondered. Was there something wrong? Had something affected her speech? Or worse, her mind?

But he didn’t ask. The only thing important now was getting back to her side.

“Tell her I’m on my way.”

__________

A
T THE CLIENT’S
request, Central dispatched a second forensics team to the house in Arlington Ridge. He was sure it was a waste of time, but the client was insistent, and it wasn’t Central’s place to question. What
was
Central’s place was going above and beyond for clients whenever feasible. In other words, if you had people sitting around doing nothing, and there was an angle on a client’s job that could get done, do it. Director Stone always said showing the client they were willing to go the extra mile was a good way to make sure the client used O & O again.

As Central went over the reports from the previous day, he had noted a hole in one of their operations pertaining to this client. The assignment in question was the forensic follow-up at the Georgetown apartment. While the apartment itself had been thoroughly checked and deemed clean, the area around the building had been neglected.

Though unlikely, it was possible the intruders had left clues to their identities outside during the chases. There was also the matter of transportation. While the group had left on foot, it was not known how they had arrived. Sure, if they
had
driven there, chances were the vehicle would have been retrieved by now, but it was something worth checking.

And Central did have a two-man recon team available.

He mulled it over for less than a minute, but could think of no serious argument against doing it. So he located Teig’s number on his computer and clicked
CONNECT
.

“Hello?”

“Teig? This is Central. I have an assignment for you.”

__________

“S
HE’S AWAKE,” QUINN
said as he reentered the hotel room.

Misty apparently had decided not to lie back down, and had joined Daeng and Howard in the sitting area. “Orlando?” she asked.

Quinn nodded.

“When?” Daeng said.

“Within the last half hour. I…I’ve got to go.”

“Of course. Do you want me to come with you or stay?”

Quinn thought for a moment. “I’d like you to stay until we’re sure things have calmed down here, if you don’t mind.”

“I don’t mind at all.”

Quinn looked at Howard. “Is there any safe place, not connected to the business, where you all could hole up for a while?”

Howard took a moment to consider the question. “I have a friend who has a cabin in the forest near the border with West Virginia. As far as I know, he’s not using it right now.”

“And he’s not in our world?

“Not even close.”

“Good. You can drop me at the airport on the way.”

“Wait,” Misty said. “What about my car? My purse?”

Quinn had forgotten about the car. Before he could come up with an answer, Howard said, “We could swing by there. Probably a good idea to move it out of the neighborhood just in case, don’t you think?”

Quinn knew it was risky, but leaving Misty’s car near Peter’s place for so long wasn’t good, either. “Drop me at the airport first, then go for the car. If you spot
anything
unusual, get the hell out of there.”

CHAPTER
16

WASHINGTON, DC

“C
ENTRAL, WE ARE
now on site,” Teig reported as Holt, his recon team partner, turned their car onto the calm Georgetown street.

“Copy that, Team Seven,” Central replied.

Teig set the radio down and started checking addresses. “That’s it.” He pointed at a building a quarter block away.

Holt pulled the sedan into an open spot. “What first?” he asked as he turned off the engine.

“Check around the building. Central said there should be a pass-through on the left side that’ll take us to the alley in back. After that, we’ll check the street.”

“Works for me.”

__________

“H
OW DO YOU
want to do this?” Howard asked Daeng as they reached Georgetown.

“Once we turn onto the street, keep it slow and steady so we can scope things out. If it looks good when we reach Misty’s car, then we’ll stop. If not, keep going.”

“Sounds good.”

Daeng turned so he could see Misty in the backseat. “Let me have your keys.”

“Why?”

“So I can drive your car.”

“I can do it.”

“I’m sure you can, but I think it would be better if I did.”

Reluctantly, she handed her keys to him. “The driver’s door can be tricky. My car is old so it doesn’t have keyless entry, and the lock sticks.”

“No problem.”

A few minutes later, they turned onto Peter’s street. Like the previous day, cars were parked up and down both sides, but since it was still the middle of the workday, plenty of spots were available. Howard kept the speed of his BMW down as they scanned for trouble.

Daeng saw five people total—seven if you included the occupants of the two strollers a couple women were pushing. He worked his way from one person to the next, quickly assessing and then dismissing them as threats. He sensed that all five either lived on the block or worked there in some kind of domestic function—nannies, most likely.

“Anything on your side?” Howard asked.

“Not yet,” Daeng said.

“How do things look to you?” Howard asked Misty.

“I don’t know,” she replied. “Everything looks normal.”

As they continued forward, Peter’s building came into view. It looked quiet, no one out front, just a man with another stroller a few buildings down, and a woman walking a small dog a dozen feet behind the man.

“There’s my car,” Misty said, pointing at her Camry. It was parked on Peter’s side of the street, right where they’d left it the day before, and looked untouched.

“What do you think?” Howard asked.

Daeng looked around. The street seemed quiet enough. “Okay. Let’s do it.”

__________

T
HERE WAS NOTHING
of interest along the side of the building, and as far as Teig could tell, the alley was also a bust. Central had told him he might not find anything, but that did little to ease Teig’s annoyance. He was a goal-oriented person, so when assigned a task, he felt a hell of a lot better when he accomplished it.

“Let’s go back to the street,” he said. “Central wanted photos of the plates on all the cars parked around here.”

“How far do we go?” Holt asked.

“Both sides of the street, a block each way. I think that should do it.”

__________

T
HERE WAS AN
empty spot at the curb two cars in front of Misty’s. Howard drove to the end of the block, made a U-turn, and then drove back and eased his sedan into the spot.

Daeng once more scanned the street in both directions.

Nothing new. Nothing unusual.

He opened the door and hopped out, phone in hand. Walking casually along the road, he looked down at the cell’s screen like he was checking e-mail or texts. Just another busy local doing what everyone else did.

He didn’t look up again until he was only a few feet from the Camry. He quickly examined the door, checking for any signs that someone had tried to break in—scratches around the lock, loose weather stripping at the base of the window—but all looked good.

He slipped Misty’s key into the lock, but it only turned a quarter of the way. He jiggled it, thinking that would loosen it up, but it would go no farther.

Fine, he thought. He’d get in on the passenger side. But when he tried turning the key to extract it, it wouldn’t come back out, either.

Behind him, he heard a car door open, and looked over to see Misty heading in his direction.

“I told you it was tricky,” she whispered as she walked up.

She jiggled the key until it turned all the way and the door opened. “There you go,” she said, taking a step back.

But Daeng barely heard her. His attention was focused on Peter’s building, where two men in suits looking very much like the ones from yesterday had just emerged from the side access way.

“Get in the car,” he said.

“What?”

“Get in. Now. And move over to the passenger side. I’m driving.”

He glanced over at the BMW, and shared a quick look with Howard through the side-view mirror. Daeng could tell Howard had seen the men, too.

“Go,” he mouthed, and climbed into the driver’s seat of the Camry.

__________

T
EIG AND HOLT
walked over to the cars parked directly in front of the apartment building.

“You take this side of the street. I’ll take the other,” Teig said. “Frame it so you get the license plate and a partial of the car so that they can see make and color.”

“All right.”

Teig stepped between the bumpers of the two closest cars, planning on crossing to the opposite side, but paused when he noticed the BMW heading in his direction. By the way
the car was angling onto the road, Teig was pretty sure it had pulled out of a spot at the curb. Best to get a picture of it.

When the BMW neared, he raised his phone to take the shot. That’s when he noticed the second car pull out of a parking spot.

This one a Toyota Camry.

__________

D
AENG WANTED TO
pull a quick U-turn and head in the other direction, but the parked cars on the other side made the street too narrow. They had no choice but to drive by the men in front of Peter’s building.

As they pulled away from the curb, Misty gasped.

“That man. Is he—”

“Act like you live here,” Daeng told her.

One of the men Daeng had seen was now standing between two parked cars, pointing his phone at Howard’s BMW. There was no doubt in Daeng’s mind he was taking a picture.

Daeng could feel Misty’s tension across the divide between their seats. “It’s going to be okay,” he said.

She made no reply.

As soon as Howard passed Peter’s building, the man standing on the street turned his phone toward the Camry.

“Keep it casual,” Daeng said, his lips barely moving. “Make him think this is our neighborhood.”

He chanced a quick look at her, and knew they were in trouble. Her forced smile screamed, “I’m hiding something.”

When they were only a dozen feet away, the man lowered his phone. He’d taken his shots, and by the look on his face, he knew something was up. As they passed him, he was turning to his colleague.

Daeng heard him shout, “That’s them!”

Glancing at the rearview mirror, he saw both men running in the same direction, and knew they were going for their vehicle.

So much for staying under the radar.

He shoved the accelerator to the floor.

__________

“T
HAT’S THEM!” TEIG
shouted to Holt.

Both men started running to their Audi sedan.

“Are you sure?” Holt asked, not breaking stride.

Just then the Camry’s engine roared.

Teig glanced back and saw it racing away. “Hell, yeah, I am,” he said.

__________

A
S THEY REACHED
the end of the block, Daeng slowed only enough to take
the turn without flipping the Camry, then sped up again until they were right behind Howard’s BMW.

He checked the rearview mirror. For a moment, he thought perhaps the others had decided not to pursue them, but it was only wishful thinking. Before he even had a chance to move his gaze back to the road, a dark Audi sedan skidded around the corner.

Following Howard’s lead at the next intersection, Daeng turned again, right this time. As the Camry’s tires screamed in protest, Misty’s arms shot out, bracing herself against the dash.

“Oh, God,” she muttered more than once.

They went up the block and turned again, causing a car coming in the other direction to screech to a halt and blare its horn. Unfortunately, Daeng knew that it didn’t matter how many turns they took. While Misty’s Camry was fine for everyday life, the ancient vehicle was nowhere near the same performance class as the BMW or the Audi.