Brett Battles - The Destroyed

Damn you. Damn you for dying, she thought.

She reached Rome midmorning, and fought traffic across town to the neighborhood where Julien had lived. As much as she wanted to drive down his street, she resisted. Best if she came at it quietly and on foot, so she could observe things before getting too close.

She parked the car seven blocks from the apartment, within sight of a Metro station. If the wrong people found the vehicle and knew she’d been in it-something she was sure was next to impossible-they would hopefully assume she’d jumped on the subway.

From the bag that held her few remaining possessions, she pulled out a scarf and sunglasses and donned them as she headed in the opposite direction of the station.

“You see that guy?” Daeng asked over the radio.

“Which one?” Quinn said.

He and Nate were hiding in the maintenance room in the basement below Julien’s apartment, watching a video feed from one of Giacona’s cameras that Nate had set up to monitor the street. Daeng was positioned on the roof of the building across from Julien’s, so he didn’t need the camera.

“The one who just walked by your friend’s place,” Daeng said.

“I see him.”

“That’s his third pass since seven a.m.”

Quinn watched the man disappear from frame. “Probably just lives in the neighborhood.”

“Perhaps. But he was wearing a suit earlier. Now he looks like a tourist. Is it possible this woman is working with someone?”

“Anything’s possible,” Quinn said.

“We don’t both need to wait here,” Nate suggested. “I could follow him.”

“If he comes by again, maybe.”

Over the next several minutes, only a handful of people walked by, then Daeng said, “New contact.”

Quinn studied the screen, but saw no one. “Where?”

“Coming from the north on foot. A woman. She’s wearing a scarf, so I can’t see her hair. Also wearing big sunglasses.”

“How tall?”

“One hundred and sixty centimeters.”

Around five foot three, Quinn thought. The right height.

“You should be able to see her in just a second,” Daeng said.

True to his prediction, the woman soon appeared on screen. She was wearing pants and a loose-fitting shirt that made it difficult to judge her shape. She also had a small canvas backpack slung over her shoulder.

As she neared Julien’s building, her head swiveled slightly side to side, and her pace slowed. Then, with a surprising suddenness, she cut to her left, moving quickly to the door. There was no hesitation as she punched a code into the security pad.

“It’s her, isn’t it?” Nate asked as they watched her enter the building.

“It’s got to be,” Quinn said. “Daeng, stay where you are in case we’re wrong.”

“Got it,” Daeng said.

They headed out, Nate carrying the bag they’d received at Giacona’s. Inside were a few of the items they thought they might need. At the top of the basement stairs was a door. Quinn and Nate moved up to it, but didn’t open it. On the other side was the back room with the door that led out to the rear patio where Julien’s keys were hidden. If the woman was Mila, that would be her first stop.

Quinn turned his head and listened, but could only hear the distant whine of a motor scooter on the street out front.

Ten seconds passed, twenty, then thirty. He was starting to think that maybe they’d been wrong, when all of a sudden there was the sound of someone in the hall beyond the door. Only the person wasn’t exiting the building into the courtyard, but coming back in from it. Quinn realized she must have made her way through the lobby and gone outside before they’d even reached the top of the stairs.

Beyond the door, the steps receded toward the front of the building, then faded away.

“Anyone just leave the building?” he asked Daeng.

“No one.”

The person had gone upstairs.

Quinn waited an additional fifteen seconds, then eased the door open. Silently, he and Nate moved down the hall to the stairs. Pausing at the bottom, he listened again, but could hear nothing from above. He did a quick time estimate in his head. If it was Mila, she would have gone one floor up, down the hall to Julien’s door, listened for anyone inside, then used the keys to enter. He guessed it would have taken her forty-five seconds at most.

He counted off a full minute in his head, then nodded at Nate.

Into his mic, he whispered, “We’re going up.”

“Copy,” Daeng replied.

They stayed at the edge of the stairs to keep any noise to a minimum, and made their way to the top. The common hallway on Julien’s floor was empty. Staying in the lead, Quinn approached Julien’s door.

From somewhere deep inside the apartment, a floorboard creaked.

Quinn glanced at Nate and pointed at the door, indicating she was there.

He put his hand on the knob and tested it. Locked, but only the handle. She hadn’t engaged the deadbolts, probably because she didn’t want them to trip her up if she had to get out of the flat in a hurry.

He moved out of the way and let Nate set to work on the lock with the new set of picks. Twenty seconds later, Nate opened the door, peeked inside, and nodded. Silently, they both entered the apartment.

Quinn glanced at the alarm panel, noted it had been disarmed, then scanned the room. The living and dining areas were both empty, as was the kitchen. He walked slowly toward the hallway with Nate following a few steps behind.

“Our walking friend is back,” Daeng said just as they reached the kitchen. “He’s not alone, either.”

Quinn paused.

“Three men. They’re walking fast, coming from the north.” There were a few seconds of dead air before Daeng added, “They’re heading into the building. No question.”

Stealth was no longer an issue.

Quinn looked at Nate. “Door.” He ran toward the hallway and called out, “Mila!”

Behind him, he could hear Nate engage the deadbolts and start to pull something across the floor toward the door.

“Mila, it’s Quinn. We’ve got to get out of here!”

He stepped into the hallway.

“Stop right there. I’m armed.”

It was Mila, all right. Though he hadn’t heard her voice since that night in Las Vegas, it was the same.

“There’s a team headed into the building right now, and I’m guessing they’re here to get you.”

“How do I know that’s not why you’re here?”

“It’s me! Quinn! I’m here because I want to help.”

He took another step forward.

“Stop!” she yelled. “Maybe you’re Quinn. Maybe you’re not.”

“Just let me turn on the light, okay? So you can see it’s me.”

“Don’t! Even if you are, I don’t know whose side you’re on now.”

From behind Quinn, Nate whispered urgently, “I hear them in the corridor.”

“Who’s that?” Mila asked.

“He’s with me. My partner. I came here to warn you that people know you’re alive and are looking for you. But it sounds like they just found you.”

“I don’t need your help.”

He could hear her move again, but couldn’t see her. He took another step deeper into the hallway. “Mila? Please.”

Nate rushed up to him. “They’re trying the door. They’ll be inside in seconds.”

“Mila?”

Nothing.

“Mila?”

The only answer he received was the sound of the front door shattering.

“I don’t need your help!” Mila yelled at the guy claiming to be Quinn. She shut the bedroom door and shoved a chair under the handle.

There were two windows in the room. One was narrow and too small for even her to fit through. The other was Julien’s emergency escape exit. Anyone else who looked at it would see a window in a frame that had been painted over so much it wouldn’t open. But a switch would release the frame and allow the whole thing to be shoved out or pulled in. The problem was, Julien had only shown her the switch once, and she couldn’t remember where it was.