Brett Battles - The Destroyed

“Maybe you don’t think about that. I do, every time. Looks better at night, I guess.”

“The neon,” Julien said, excitement in his voice. “Yes. I remember.” He paused. “So, do you think there will be any time to do a little gambling?”

“Probably not.”

Though Quinn had told himself when he asked Julien to fly out that he was still unsure what he was going to do about Mila, the truth was, the moment Julien became involved, the future was set. Quinn could no longer pretend there were any other options. There was only one road they could go down now.

He pulled into a gas station near the Strip, and parked off to the side. For a few seconds he stared out the window, then he turned to Julien.

“What is it, my friend?” the Frenchman asked.

“I had an ulterior motive for having you come out here.”

Julien nodded. “I thought there might be something. The notice was very short, and…” He shrugged. “I’m sure you could have found someone closer who could do whatever you needed done. So, is there a job, or is this something else?”

“There is a job and it’s something else.”

“Two things?”

“One thing that’s both.”

One of Julien’s eyebrows shot toward his hairline. “Now you have my interest.”

“You’re going to wish that wasn’t the case.”

Quinn laid it all out for him, going step by step through Jergins’s plan, and ending it by telling Julien who the intended target was.

The Frenchman became uncharacteristically quiet. He stared out the front window, but Quinn was sure he wasn’t seeing the backs of the casinos a few blocks away.

Finally, Julien said, “Mila?”

“Yes.”

A slow turn back to Quinn. “This isn’t a mistake? Maybe someone who looks like her?”

Quinn didn’t answer. In their business, mistakes concerning other operatives were exceedingly rare.

“I…I can’t believe it.” The words were a whisper.

“What I don’t know, and couldn’t risk asking anyone, was why?” Quinn said. “Do you have any idea why someone would want to terminate her?”

Fifteen seconds passed, then half a minute, Quinn’s friend once more lost in his thoughts.

“Julien?”

Julien looked at him with a start. “I’m sorry. What?”

“Why would someone want to kill her?”

His friend seemed to consider the question. “I don’t know.”

But Quinn could see Julien did know, or at least it looked like he did.

“Is this why you wanted me here?” Julien asked, a barely noticeable shake in his voice. “To be the one who buries her?”

“Don’t be an ass, Julien. Of course that’s not why.”

“Then what?”

“What do you think? I’m giving you the chance to save her.”

“How are we going to do that? If I warn her not to come, that will only delay her death for a day or maybe a week. Even if she goes underground and stays there, they won’t give up until they know she’s dead. That’s how this works.”

“That’s true, but there might be another way.”

Julien stared at Quinn. “What way?”

The plan had come to Quinn the night before as he’d tried to sleep. Since then, he’d been punching as many holes in it as he could, then patching them with solutions. The plan still wasn’t perfect, but it was a hell of a lot better than burying Mila later that night.

“First off,” Quinn began, “she still needs to come to Vegas.”

ROME, ITALY

The fire that had been in Mila’s eyes suddenly cooled, but the anger was still there, even stronger than before. “Don’t you dare bring up Julien,” she said. “He would have never gotten in my way!”

Quinn held his ground. “He would if he thought you were about to do something stupid.”

“You have no idea what I’m doing.”

“Big picture? You’re right. I don’t. But in the here and now?” He gestured at the stairs behind him. “You go down these, and walk out of this building, you don’t think there’s a good chance the others will see you? And when they do, do you really think you’ll be able to get away again?”

In her glare, he could see she knew he was right, but she kept her lips pressed tightly together.

“You want out of here alive,” he said, “you’ll follow my lead.”

She looked away, thinking for a second, then turned back and said, “Fine. You’re the pro. Get me out of here.”

Quinn shot Nate a quick glance. “Check the street.”

Nate nodded, and headed up the stairs.

“Stay right with me,” Quinn told Mila.

He led her back to the roof, and over to the rear of the building, where he quickly took in their options. In the direction they’d been headed, they could only go for another four buildings before reaching a street corner and running out of roof. Each of those buildings presented the same problem as the one they were currently on-the only exit would be to the same street Julien’s building let out on.

What he really wanted to do was get to one of the buildings behind them that would provide access to the next street over. There would be far less commotion there, and a trio of strangers in a city always full of visitors would go unnoticed. The problem was that the space between the two rows of buildings was, for the most part, too great to jump. There was one gap between a pair of back-to-back buildings that they might be able to cross. Unfortunately, it was two buildings on the other side of Julien’s, and would force them to retrace their steps.

“The cops aren’t here yet,” Nate said, jogging up to them. “But they’re getting close. A minute or two at best.”

Quinn nodded. “All right. This way.”

He started back the way they’d come.

“Wait,” Mila said. “Why are you going that way?”

“It’s our best chance.”

“Julien’s place?”

“No. Beyond it.”

She looked dubious.

“We’re at a dead end here,” Nate said, obviously coming to the same solution Quinn had. He pointed toward Julien’s building. “If we want to get away unseen, then that’s the only choice we have.”

She looked behind them, then back in the direction Quinn wanted to go. “Dammit,” she said, still looking less than convinced. “If we’re going to go, let’s go.”

They started running-Quinn in the lead, Mila in the middle, and Nate bringing up the rear. As they reached Julien’s roof, sirens echoed up the buildings as what sounded like a dozen police cars turned onto Julien’s street. Within seconds the cops would be making their way into the building.

Two roofs past Julien’s, Quinn stopped.

“What now?” Mila asked.

He pointed at the apartment building behind them. “We jump.”

Mila looked at the space between the roofs. “Isn’t that a bit wide?”

“Ten feet, maybe eleven. Take a decent run at it, you’ll make it with a couple feet to spare.”

“If I don’t trip and fall first.”

Quinn looked at her, incredulous. “You came out of hiding, made yourself a target, something you knew would happen, and you’re worried about a ten foot jump?”

“If I’m going to get shot, fine, but I’d rather not kill myself if I can help it.”

But before Quinn could say anything more, she repositioned herself and ran hard toward the gap. At the edge was a six-inch brick retaining wall. She timed her stride so that her final step hit the top of that wall, and pushed outward, flying over the gap and landing, as Quinn had predicted, several feet beyond the edge of the other roof. But instead of stopping when she landed, she kept running and headed for the roof-access door.

“Mila!” Quinn yelled as he moved back to give himself enough running room.