Brett Battles - The Collected

She nodded.

Quinn went over and opened the front door.

“Success, I see,” Kim said.

“Appreciate the help.” He glanced back to make sure the girl hadn’t moved.

“You need me for anything else?”

“Nope. We’ve got it now. Thank you. If you want to wait, we can give you a ride back to your car.”

“Don’t worry about it. Just do what you have to do. I can get back on my own. And Quinn, keep in touch. It’s been a while since we’ve worked together.”

After they shook hands, Quinn closed the door and headed back to the living room.

“Second floor’s clear,” Orlando said, descending the stairs.

When she reached the bottom, she headed off to check the rest of the ground floor, but Quinn knew she wouldn’t find anyone. The girl had been too scared to lie about being alone. Wherever Burke was, it wasn’t here.

“What’s your name?” Quinn asked, lowering himself into the matching leather chair next to the couch.

Her jaw moved a few times as a few incoherent syllables stumbled out of her mouth.

“Take a breath. It’s okay. You’re going to be fine. Come on, like this. In,” he said, breathing in deeply. “And out.” He pushed the air back out again. “Your turn. In.” Her intake was not quite as smooth as his. “And out.” The air moved out of her lungs in a mad rush. “Again, slower this time.” She tried again, her breathing better. After the third time, she was almost back in control. “Better?”

A hesitant nod.

“Good. What’s your name?”

“Ellie,” she said, a tremor in her voice.

“All right, Ellie. I just want to ask you a few questions. Nothing’s going to happen to you. I promise.”

Her gaze flicked to his gun, then back to his face.

“Here,” he said. He tucked the gun between his leg and the arm of the chair, where it was out of sight, but retrievable in a hurry if the need arose. “Better?”

She chewed on her lower lip, and nodded once.

“All clear,” Orlando said, walking back into the room.

Ellie jumped at the sound.

“Don’t worry,” Quinn said. “My friend’s not going to hurt you, either.”

“How about some water?” Orlando suggested as she headed toward the kitchen. “I’m going to have some.”

“Um, yeah. Okay,” Ellie said. “There are, um, cold bottles in the refrigerator. In the door.”

“I’ll take one, too,” Quinn said.

Quinn waited until Orlando returned. Once they had all taken drinks, he said, “Ellie, do you live here?”

“Uh-huh,” the girl said. “Well, I mean, I have my own place, but I’m here a lot. When Doug’s home, anyway.”

“Doug Burke?”

“Yes.”

“He owns this place?”

“Uh-huh.”

“So where’s Doug now?”

She looked frightened again. “I’m not sure. He said he was going to the store, but that was like two hours ago. I thought he’d be back by now.”

Quinn tried hard to keep the disappointment from showing on his face. He had a bad feeling the man wouldn’t be coming back at all.

“Was Doug upset about anything?” he asked.

“He’s been a little keyed up since he got back, if that’s what you mean.”

“And when was that?”

“Yesterday. Hey, if you’re looking for him, I’m sure he’ll be back any minute. But whatever you think he’s done, you’re wrong. Doug’s not like that.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know. Like someone you’d have to point a gun at.” She glanced at where he’d hidden the pistol. “He works for the United Nations. UNI-something. You know. The group that works with kids? He travels around all the time, doing what he can to help them. He’s a good guy.”

Everyone in Quinn’s world had his or her own cover story. His was international banking. It seemed, though, that Burke had chosen something that would not only explain his absences, but also make him look like a hero at home. Quinn knew Orlando must be seething inside. Unlike Burke, she actually did a lot of work for those in need on her own time.

“I have a question,” Orlando said, her voice remarkably calm.

Ellie looked over.

“I noticed the suitcases upstairs. Are you going on a trip?”

The girl’s demeanor turned noticeably icy as she answered. “In the morning. We’re flying to Australia for two weeks.”

“That sounds like fun. Sydney?”

She nodded.

Quinn picked up a picture from the end table. It was Ellie and a man he assumed was Burke on a deep-sea fishing boat. Both were smiling. “Another trip?”

“Cabo,” she said. “A few months ago.”

He set the photo back down. “What kind of car does Doug drive?”

“Mustang. One of those new ones.”

“Color?”

“Silver gray.”

If there was one lesson Douglas Burke had taken to heart when he first started working ops, it was always be aware of your surroundings.

He knew he wasn’t a great shooter, or strategist, or even spy. He was adequate, which was okay. For the two years he’d been in the business, his satisfactory skills had kept him employed enough to live a nice life when he was home in Tucson. Hell, he’d been able to buy a decent townhouse, had a cool car, and was even able to score a hot girlfriend.

But he knew, given his shortcomings, if he wanted to survive, he needed to stay alert.

He hadn’t lied to Ellie. He had fully intended on returning from the grocery store. Since they were planning to drive all the way to Los Angeles for their flight to Sydney, he wanted to pick up some snacks for the road. A ten-minute drive to the store, fifteen inside, ten minutes back.

The detour in his plans happened as he drove through his townhome complex to his assigned parking spot. His route took him on the road that passed his place. It was just before he drove by that he saw the woman. Short and thin and brunette. If she’d been taller and had a bigger chest, she might have been his type, but that’s not why he noticed her. She was walking by his place and glancing up at it.

On a normal day between jobs, it probably wouldn’t have registered as anything unusual. But this wasn’t a normal day. The events in Mexico were still fresh in his mind, and though he didn’t have a complete picture of what had gone down, he knew enough to be worried that it could turn into a problem for him.

Hence the trip to Australia. Out of sight, out of mind.

Instead of parking in his regular spot, he found one near the community pool, and snuck back on foot. Across the street from his place were two adjacent townhomes that were currently unoccupied. He hopped over the fence into the patio area of one, picked the lock, and went inside.

Each of the townhomes had rooftop decks, one of the amenities that had helped him decide to buy here. He made his way through the empty townhouse and up onto the deck. Staying low, he moved to the front edge, then lay down and looked out at the street.

His place looked unchanged. Ellie had left the curtains closed like he’d told her to, which wasn’t surprising. He’d scared her into thinking that a psycho ex-girlfriend of his was back in town and trying to find him. He had laced the tale with stories of trashed apartments and disabled cars and public rants. He knew Ellie would want no part of that.

He scanned the street, but there was no sign of the woman he’d seen.

Maybe he’d just overreacted. Just because she’d looked at his place didn’t mean she was trouble. Ten minutes passed with still no sign of her.

Okay, I was overreacting , he thought, relieved.

He pushed himself back to his feet, intending to head downstairs, but as he was turning to leave, he caught sight of someone standing near the end of the pathway that weaved through the homes about a quarter block from his place. From his position, he could only see a hand and partial profile, but it was enough to make him suspicious.