The Discarded

by Brett Battles

  “Careful here,” Tessa said, pointing at some roots that had grown across the path.

  Abraham watched his step, not wanting a repeat of the near disaster from a few minutes ago. A moment after he cleared the root, he heard the rustle of brush from somewhere along the path behind them.

  He rushed forward. “Kill the light,” he whispered.

  As the beam flickered out, he heard the sound of a step. He put a hand on Tessa’s back and ushered her off the path into the wild. He wanted to keep going but knew they were making too much noise, so they crouched as low as they could about a dozen feet off the path.

  “Maybe it’s Mom,” Tessa whispered.

  “I hope so. She’d want us to play it safe, though.”

  She nodded, her brow creased in worry. He put an arm around her. After a slight hesitation, she leaned against him, shaking. For a moment he was taken back to Japan, when, though scared, she had put all her trust in him.

  A crunch.

  Abraham peered through the foliage back toward the path, but saw only indistinct shapes of plants and trees. Several quiet seconds passed before he heard steps again. They were light, almost imperceptible, the movements of someone trying very hard to not be heard.

  Quiet again, three seconds, and then the crunch of dirt and a man passing through Abraham’s field of vision. He was mostly a shadow, but Abraham could see the man well enough to know he was neither Quinn nor Nate.

  Abraham could feel Tessa’s shuttering breath as she, too, saw the man. Abraham squeezed her shoulder and moved his mouth to her ear. “I need you to stay here.”

  She jerked her head back and looked at him in horror. “No,” she mouthed.

  “I’m going to see where he’s going, that’s all,” he whispered. “I’ll be right back.”

  She shook her head. “Don’t leave me.”

  The words drove a knife into his heart.

  “Okay,” he whispered. “Don’t worry. I’m not going anywhere.”

  She leaned into him hard and he put his other arm around her.

  “I’m not going anywhere.”

  __________

  NOLAN’S CONCERN GREW with every passing second.

  Tracking the girl and the man had been relatively easy. They were surprisingly quiet but not completely so, and he was able to follow them without keeping them in sight.

  About two minutes earlier, there had been an increase in noise for a few seconds, and then nothing. He figured they’d passed through a section that was more overgrown than others, but as he continued down the path himself, he found no such area, nor could he hear them ahead of him anymore.

  He stopped, realizing they must have turned off the path somewhere behind him. Either there was another path he’d missed or they were hiding. Using the illumination of his cell phone, he studied the ground. The only prints were his.

  With extreme care, he retraced his route, stopping every few seconds until he finally spotted the others’ footprints. After he determined the exact spot where they disappeared, he pulled out his gun and turned toward the jungle.

  __________

  SOMETHING DIDN’T FEEL right.

  Abraham looked toward the path but it was empty. He listened but could hear nothing unusual. Still, that old sense of impending danger that had kept him alive for so many years was on alert.

  He whispered in Tessa’s ear, “I want you to quietly crawl back until you find a good hiding place.”

  She looked at him, silently asking, why?

  “Please,” he said.

  Lip trembling, she nodded.

  As she backed away, Abraham concentrated on the path again. Still nothing there. So why had his sense—

  A sound about halfway between the path and where he was. Without another thought, he moved to his left, slipping between two bushes. It wasn’t quite as easy as it should have been. His right leg was stiffening from all the walking and crouching, but it was by far not the only ache and pain he felt.

  Suddenly, a shadow of a man slipped out from the brush, low to the ground, and in his hand was a gun. When he reached the area where Abraham and Tessa had been, he paused. In his other hand was a glow, shining on the ground.

  Our tracks, Abraham realized.

  The man moved the light in an arc before looking in the direction Tessa had gone. He started creeping forward.

  Letting his old instincts take over, Abraham launched himself forward with as much speed as his sore legs could generate, slamming into the man’s back as the guy was twisting around. They rolled through the brush, Abraham ending up on the bottom with the man’s back in his face.

  An elbow whacked into Abraham’s side. He tried to throw an arm around the guy’s chest, but the man easily batted him away.

  Abraham pushed and rolled just enough to get the guy off him.

  The gun.

  He reached for the man’s hands, knowing he had to keep the guy from pulling the trigger. But both the man’s hands were empty.

  Abraham spotted the weapon lying on the ground a few feet away and lunged for it, but the man had seen it, too, and got there the same time Abraham did. They struggled, each getting a temporary grip on the handle, but in the end it was the man who slipped his finger over the trigger.

  Abraham latched on to the suppressor, pushing it as hard as he could so the barrel couldn’t be turned on him.

  The man pulled the trigger.

  A thup echoed softly through the jungle as the bullet drove harmlessly into the ground several yards away. Abraham yanked his hands away from the now white hot suppressor.

  As the man started to aim the gun at him, Tessa screamed from somewhere in the jungle behind them. The shooter turned his head toward the sound, giving Abraham the opening he needed.

  He rammed his knee hard into the man’s groin. As the guy cringed, Abraham hit him with an uppercut under his jaw, rattling his teeth and dazing him. Abraham then wrenched the gun away and put it against the man’s chest. The double thup as Abraham pulled the trigger twice were nearly silent this time, the body absorbing most of the sound.

  He straightened up. “Tessa?” he said in a loud whisper. “Tessa? Are you all right?”

  He ran back in the direction she’d gone.

  “Tessa?”

  “Here,” she said, her voice small and shaky.

  He turned around and spotted her curled against the back of a rock, trying to look as small as possible.

  “I thought he was going to shoot you,” she said.

  “I’m okay. Everything’s fine. Just like I told you.”

  “Is he…”

  “He’s not going to bother us,” Abraham said, and held out his hand. “Come on. We need to keep going.”

  CHAPTER 35

  GLORIA LOOKED UP the earthen stairs at the trapdoor and grimaced.

  If the others were smart, and she knew they were, they’d be waiting above for her and her men to stick their heads out.

  “Back the other way?” King asked.

  That solution sucked, too. By the time they worked their way out of the tunnel and then all the way back here at ground level, the others could be long gone. Sure, Nolan was out there somewhere, but she put his odds alone against Quinn and his friends at zero.

  She grabbed King’s shoulder, turned him around, and dug out the last two canisters of tear gas from the backpack.

  Once they had their masks on, she said, “Now.”

  With a shove from King, the door flew open. Gloria sent the first canister flying out to the left and the second to the right. They waited until the gas drifted across the opening.

  “Go,” she said.

  King went first, Andres second, both swinging their guns left and right as they raced out of the tunnel.

  Gloria hung back until she was sure there was no gunfire, and then joined them.

  “No one here,” King said, after finishing a sweep.

  Apparently Quinn wasn’t so smart after all. Too bad she had to waste the last of the gas to
find out.

  “There’s a path on this side,” Andres said. “Lots of footprints.”

  __________

  THE TRAIL WAS not without its obstacles, especially when running flat out like Quinn was. Fronds and leaves and branches swiped at him from the top, while roots and rocks and mud attacked from the bottom. So far he had been able to keep from falling, but there’d been a few close calls.

  Ahead, Desirae had come to a stop and was scanning the jungle to either side of the path.

  “It was around here somewhere, wasn’t it?” she asked when he reached her.

  “About right, I think.” He looked behind him to see what Orlando and Nate thought, but neither of them was there.

  The last time he’d seen Orlando was when he’d passed her on the uphill slope. She’d waved him ahead, saying she’d be right behind him. He took four quick paces back down the trail, and she and Nate suddenly appeared around a bend. They were jogging at best, Orlando first, looking winded, with Nate right behind her.

  He ran over to them. “What happened? Are you all right?” he asked, putting an arm around her waist and taking some of her weight.

  She seemed glad for his help. “Not quite up to sprinting condition at the moment,” she said.

  He hadn’t been thinking. He should have found her someplace safe to wait it out. He gave Nate a nod of thanks for hanging back with her and then guided them over to Desirae.

  “We should fan out,” Desirae said. “She had to have been around here somewhere when she screamed.”

  They didn’t find Tessa or Abraham, but Quinn did find the body of one of the men he and Nate had dealt with in Virginia. Two shots to the chest had done the job.

  In a hushed voice, he called to the others.

  “Jesus,” Desirae whispered, then quickly looked around. “Any signs someone else was hurt?”

  “A definite struggle,” Quinn said. “But the only blood is here.”

  “They must have kept going,” Orlando said.

  “Let’s go, let’s go,” Desirae said and took off back to the path.

  “Slow down,” Quinn called to her. “We need to be smart. This guy might not have been alone.”

  Desirae made no attempt to slow.

  “Dammit,” Quinn said. “Nate?”

  “On it,” Nate said and took off after her.

  Quinn turned to Orlando. “Do you need more rest?”

  “No, I’m okay,” she said. “Just go. You don’t have to babysit me.”

  “Yeah, well, tough. You first.”

  __________

  GLORIA HEARD NOISE about two hundred yards up ahead. Running, more than one person, the sound fading fast.

  “Double time,” she said. “King, you’re in front. Andres, you’re rear guard.”

  __________

  “I NEED A second,” Abraham said as they neared a rock he could lean on. The fight had once more reminded him he wasn’t a young man anymore.

  “You’re not having a heart attack, are you?” Tessa asked.

  “No,” he said, trying to smile. “Just…need to catch my breath.”

  “How old are you?”

  “Old enough.” He huffed, rapidly at first, drawing in as much air as he could. When his breathing was closer to normal, he said, “All right. I’m ready.”

  They moved farther into the valley, their pace about half as fast as it was before. As the path began to level off, Tessa whipped around and looked back beyond Abraham.

  “What is it?” he asked.

  “You didn’t hear that?” she asked, fear returning to her eyes. “Someone’s back there.”

  He followed her gaze. While they were walking, he hadn’t been able to hear anything above the sound of his own labored breathing, but now he could pick it out—someone coming fast down the trail.

  “Quick,” he said. “Into the brush.”

  As he followed Tessa off the trail, his toe caught on a thick root. One second he was up, and the next he was sprawled on the jungle floor, his knee throbbing in pain and the gun he was carrying gone.

  Tessa skidded to a stop a few feet in front of him and looked back.

  “Run!” he said. “Go!”

  From down the path he heard bushes part. He tried to see who was coming but there were too many bushes in his way. He twisted his head back to make sure Tessa was gone. But she was still there, aiming the gun he’d dropped toward the path.

  “Whoa!” a male voice said. “Tessa, it’s okay. It’s Nate. I’m a friend, remember?”

  “Terri, put it down.”

  Tessa lowered the gun a few inches. “Mom?”

  “Sweetie, put the gun down.”

  Tessa let the gun drop to the ground and ran to her mother. As they threw their arms around each other, Nate knelt down next to Abraham.

  “What happened?” he asked.

  “When we heard you coming we tried to hide, but I tripped,” Abraham said. “Stupid.”

  “Are you hurt?”

  “Tweaked my knee, I think.”

  “Roll on your back.”

  Abraham did so, but not without pain. As Nate gently probed his knee, Quinn and Orlando showed up.

  “What happened?” Orlando asked.

  Nate repeated what Abraham had told him.

  “Let’s see if you can walk,” Quinn said.

  He and Nate helped Abraham to his feet. As Abraham applied pressure to his injured knee, a jolt of pain rushed up his leg. He staggered, wincing, and would have fallen if the other two hadn’t been holding on to him.

  “I think that’s a no,” Nate said.

  Abraham sighed. “Not my best day, I guess.”

  “We’ve got to keep moving,” Quinn said. “Nate and I can help you.”

  Abraham shook his head. “Path’s too narrow and I’d slow you down. You go. I’ll hide out here. You can come and get me later.”

  Quinn looked at Orlando.

  “Not a choice,” Abraham said. He used Nate to lower himself to the ground. “Get Tessa out of here. I’ll be fine.”

  Orlando did not look happy, but she held out her pistol to him. “At least take this.”

  “Don’t need it. Got my own,” he said, nodding back to the gun Tessa had dropped. “Now get the hell out of here.

  He turned before anyone else could say anything and crawled toward the gun and the safety of the deeper jungle. It was a moment before he finally heard the others returning to the path.

  They had barely reached it, though, when a female voice called out, “That’s far enough.”

  __________

  GLORIA HEARD THEIR voices a moment before she spotted Quinn and his people standing about a dozen feet off the path. She made a quick count. Four adults.

  And one blessed child.

  Could this really be it? Could she really be the one to close the books on the Rostov assignment? If so, she could write her own ticket at McCrillis from now on.

  She clicked on her comm to get King’s attention. When he looked back, she pointed to a spot on the other side of the group.”

  With a nod, he was off.

  She activated her mic again and whispered, “Andres, need you up here with me.”

  “On my way,” he replied.

  She edged down the path as far as she could without exposing her presence, and watched as one of the women held out her gun. Why wasn’t clear. A moment or two later, the woman pulled it back and the group headed back toward the path.

  “King?” she asked.

  “I’m about fifty feet beyond them.”

  “All right,” she said. “Here we go.” She cupped a hand over her mouth and yelled, “That’s far enough.”

  The group immediately collapsed into a circle around the girl, their rifles up and ready. Gloria let off a well-aimed shot that cut through the jungle to their left.

  “Guns down,” she yelled. When they didn’t comply, she keyed her mic. “King, warning shot.”

  King sent his bullet sailing a few feet over their
heads.

  “Put your weapons down,” she said. “Or we won’t miss next time.”

  __________

  GLORIA CLARK.

  Quinn had recognized her voice immediately. And though he couldn’t see her, the flash of her gun had given away her position.

  “Anyone have the second shooter?” he asked, not moving his lips.

  “My right, seventy-five feet ahead,” Nate said from the other side of the protective ring they’d formed around Tessa.

  “Do we see any others?” Quinn asked.

  “No movement here,” Orlando said.

  “Same with me,” Desirae said.

  The car Clark had driven up to the gate was a sedan and could hold up to five passengers. One man down thanks to Abraham, and the two shooters meant one or two more were still out there somewhere.

  “Very well, then,” the woman said. “Mr. Quinn, we’ll start with you.”

  The use of his name was clearly meant to show that by knowing who he was, Clark was in a superior position. It wasn’t the first time someone had tried that trick with him, and it was something he could use to his advantage.

  “All right,” he said, sounding as if he were admitting defeat. “I’m putting it down, okay?”

  As he dropped his rifle to the ground, he slipped his other hand behind his back, retrieved the pistol, and tucked it against his leg. Around him, he heard his friends drop their rifles, too.

  “No need for anyone to get shot,” he said.

  A tense few seconds passed before Clark said, “Send the girl down the path toward my voice.”

  Quinn heard Tessa take in a jittery breath.

  “She’s just a kid. A nobody,” Quinn said.

  “You’re lying, Mr. Quinn. If I’m not mistaken, the girl is Tessa Kagawa. Or does she go by Rostov?”

  “You’ve got the wrong girl,” Desirae said. “Her name’s Terri Drake.”

  “Terri. Cute. Personally I would have tried a little harder to get something a little less Tessa-like. Now send her over, or we’ll kill you all then walk over there to get her ourselves.”

  Quinn noticed a bush move in his peripheral vision, about twenty feet from Clark.

  “Get ready,” he whispered. In a louder voice, he said, “Isn’t that your plan anyway?”