The Enraged jqt-7

by Brett Battles

  Misty reached down and turned the key. “We’re leaving now.”

  “You sure you don’t want me to drive?” Quinn said.

  “I’m fine,” she told him, wiping the last tears from her face. She set her jaw and shifted the car into Drive. “I think we should start with Peter’s place.”

  “Okay.”

  They made it out of the airport without incident, and hopped on the interstate.

  “Can I see the note?” Quinn asked.

  Without looking, she pointed over her shoulder. “It’s in my purse. Should be on the floor back there.”

  “Got it,” Daeng said.

  A moment later, he handed an envelope forward with Misty’s name written on it. Quinn opened the top and pulled out the card. The message was exactly as Misty had read. He checked both sides in case there was any indication of a hidden message, but saw none, so he slipped the card back in the envelope.

  “May I look?” Daeng asked.

  Quinn passed it back to him.

  Misty glanced at Quinn, then back at the road. “Do you know if he felt it? I mean, was it painful?”

  “No,” Quinn said. “It wasn’t painful.” The bullet had killed Peter instantly. Of course, the torture he’d undergone in the weeks before that had not been so merciful, but Misty was only asking about the end.

  “That’s something, I guess,” she said.

  The tremor in her voice made him think she might start crying again, but while a few tears did slide down her cheeks, she held her emotions in check.

  Once they crossed the Potomac River into DC, they headed into Georgetown, eventually parking on a quiet, residential street.

  Misty pointed ahead. “Hard to see from here, but Peter’s building is right behind those trees.”

  Without another word, they exited the car and walked down the block. The building was an old, stately structure with a white stone façade and matching steps leading up to a surprisingly modern, windowed entrance.

  There, Misty used a key she pulled from her pocket to let them in, and led them across the lobby to the elevators. Once they arrived on Peter’s floor, she headed down the hallway until she came to a door marked 17A. She flipped open a small, numbered keypad in the wall next to the jamb, and raised her finger to punch in the code. Before she could, Quinn put a hand over hers.

  “Hold a moment,” he said.

  “Is something wrong?” she asked.

  “I assume there’s some sort of alarm.”

  “It deactivates once the code’s entered.”

  He scanned the door, looking for signs of a break-in, but saw no scratches or other damage that would imply forced entry.

  “How many people know the code?” he asked.

  “Just Peter and I as far as I know.”

  “The security company?” Daeng suggested.

  Misty shook her head. “No security company. The alarm used to go straight to Office headquarters. After we were shut down, it would alert Peter wherever he was so he could decide what to do. He always said he had better resources than any alarm company did.”

  And yet the people who kidnapped him must have had the code, too, Quinn thought, but he kept that to himself.

  “Okay, go ahead,” he said.

  Misty entered an eight-digit code on the pad and opened the door.

  Before she could step inside, Quinn said, “Let us check first.”

  Quickly, he and Daeng moved through the apartment, making sure no one else was there. While the flat was empty, it was clear someone had been inside recently.

  “You can come in now,” Quinn said as he and Daeng reentered the living room.

  Misty made it only two feet past the doorway before she stopped and stared. “Who…how…?”

  The living room, like the rest of the apartment, had been tossed. Tables upended, couches and chairs sliced open, bookcases and cabinets emptied. Even the paintings and photographs that had been on the walls had been pulled down.

  This wasn’t a normal search. There was an eeriness to the mess left behind. Peter’s possessions had not been haphazardly dumped on the floor. Everything was in neat piles, as if each item had been individually inspected first. A quiet, methodical exploration that would not have been noticed by the neighbors.

  Quinn knew this was not the way the apartment had looked on Misty’s last visit. He’d seen it himself on the video call Misty and Howard had made to him at the time.

  “Shut the door,” he told Misty.

  She blinked, pulling herself out of her spell, and did as he asked.

  “What happened?” she said, moving farther into the room.

  “It seems someone was looking for something,” Daeng said. “I guess the questions are: What was it? And did they find it?”

  “Most importantly,” Quinn added, “does it even matter to us?”

  “It matters to me,” Misty said, anger beginning to replace her shock.

  “Of course it does,” Quinn said. “But we need to stay focused on why we’re here.”

  She stared at him before finally nodding.

  “So, where do we start?” she asked.

  * * *

  The signal was routed through the existing SG Security fiber-optic line that had been installed in the Georgetown building two years earlier to service customers in apartments on the third, fourth, and fifth floors. The line’s purpose was to alert the security company to potential break-ins, fires, carbon monoxide leaks, and — in the case of a client on the third floor — heart failure registered by sensors placed throughout her apartment.

  If this particular signal had originated from a flat owned by one of SG’s clients, it would have appeared on the monitor of one of the company’s emergency operators, and the appropriate authorities would have been dispatched. This signal was not, however, from a registered SG Security user. Instead, it bypassed the company’s system completely and traveled across DC to a nondescript industrial building on the edge of Hyattsville, Maryland, housing the administration of the organization known as O & O. Nothing fancy about the initials. They stood for Observe and Operate.

  For the first few days of the assignment, the apartment had physically been watched by rotating, two-man O & O teams. Since nothing had happened, the director of O & O determined that electronic surveillance would suffice, and the teams were reassigned to other projects — a side benefit of this being that the money saved found its way, after passing through appropriate filters, into the director’s personal account.

  “Central? Terminal Eight.” The voice came out of the computer speaker on the duty supervisor’s desk. Though different individuals manned the station, they were always referred to as Central.

  Central tapped the Talk key on his keyboard. “Go ahead, Terminal Eight.”

  “Sir, I have a door-open signal for RZ-47.”

  Central entered the identifier into the database and saw that RZ-47 referred to an apartment in Georgetown. A quick scan of the notes revealed that protocol on this particular case required interception of any transgressors, followed by isolated detention, and, if the client deemed it necessary, termination. The identity of the client on this job was, as always, omitted from Central’s file. The whos and whys were left to those with higher pay grades at O & O.

  “Terminal Eight, who’s up next?”

  “Sir, we have a team that just wrapped up at RY-23. Fifteen minutes out.”

  Central frowned. Fifteen minutes might be too long. “No one closer?”

  “They’re the closest, sir.”

  If they were closest, they would have to do. “Send them.”

  “Yes, sir,” Terminal Eight said.

  Central barely had time to wrap his fingers around the can of Sprite sitting by his keyboard when the speaker came back to life.

  “Central? Terminal Three.”

  “Go ahead, Terminal Three,” Central said, RZ-47 already forgotten.

  CHAPTER 6

  “It’s gone,” Misty said.

  They
were in Peter’s bedroom. The hidey-hole along the base of the wall, behind where the nightstand had been, was wide open and empty. According to Misty, they should have found a laptop inside, but whoever had searched the place must’ve gotten to it first.

  “Are there any other computers here?” Quinn asked.

  “I don’t know. This is the only one he told me about.”

  “How about other secret compartments?”

  “Three that I’m aware of.”

  “Show us.”

  As Quinn moved out of her way, he felt a crunch of glass under his foot. He looked down and saw he’d stepped on a picture frame that had probably been on Peter’s nightstand. When he lifted his shoe, he remembered something Misty had said to him over the phone that night she had checked the apartment with Howard.

  … the picture of his wife…

  Until she had said that, Quinn had never known Peter was married.

  He leaned down, dumped the glass onto the floor, and picked up the picture.

  Misty had said Peter’s wife had been dead ten years. Quinn had already begun doing jobs for Peter at that time. Was it possible he’d been working for Peter when she’d passed away? He couldn’t recall any changes in Peter’s demeanor that year or, for that matter, in the years that surrounded it. On the surface, that could have been interpreted to mean Peter hadn’t cared about what happened to her. And yet, a decade on, he still had her picture by his bed.

  The shot was a candid, the woman no more than thirty-five years old. Her face was three-quarter profile to the lens, her gaze focused on something in the distance. She had brown, curly hair that drooped down onto her shoulders, and was wearing a mischievous grin that hinted she was aware her picture was being taken.

  “Miranda,” Misty said from behind him.

  “How long were they married?” Quinn asked.

  “Six years.”

  “Children?”

  She shook her head. “No children.”

  “How did she die?”

  Misty took a few seconds before answering. “Car crash.”

  Quinn could see the promise in Miranda’s face, the possibilities of the future that Peter surely saw, too. But the promise and possibilities went unfulfilled, leaving only an empty reality Peter had had to live with after she was gone.

  “We should…” Daeng said, letting the thought hang in the air.

  “Right.” Quinn set the picture on the bed. They didn’t have time to waste. He thought it unlikely those who had searched the place would come back, but there was always a chance.

  Misty took them to two more hidey-holes, one in the bathroom, and one in the second bedroom. Both were empty.

  “There’s one more,” she said. “His safe.”

  “Where’s that?” Quinn asked.

  “Down here.”

  * * *

  The O & O team arrived in two cars, and parked in the first available spots they could find. The two men in the second car — each, like their colleagues, outfitted in black business suits — exited their vehicle and climbed into the backseat of the first.

  Roberts, the team leader, gave them each a nod before grabbing the mic for the encrypted radio. “Terminal Eight, this is Team Three.”

  “Go, Team Three,” Terminal Eight replied.

  “We’ve just arrived on scene. Any further update?”

  “Hold, Team Three.” The pause lasted several seconds, after which Terminal Eight said, “We’ve accessed a security feed from an adjacent building, and have identified three individuals entering the target structure four minutes prior to the alarm. Two men and a woman. Both men are between five-ten and six feet. One black hair, shoulder length. Darker skin. The other, shorter hair, brown. Caucasian. Woman is approximately five foot three. Long hair, light brown or dark blonde. Unfortunately the distance and angle were wrong for getting facial shots. We put the probability that these are the intruders at ninety-two percent.”

  “Copy that, Terminal Eight. How do you want us to proceed?”

  “The order is to apprehend, but if they pose a danger to you and your team, you are cleared for takedown.”

  “Copy that, Terminal Eight. Team Three out.”

  “Team three out. Copy.”

  Roberts returned the radio to its slot under the dash and looked at the others. “You heard her. Grab ’em or drop ’em. Whatever’s easiest.”

  * * *

  The safe turned out to be in the linen closet at the end of the hall. Piled along the wall nearby were the sheets, towels, and other supplies that had apparently been inside. As Misty pulled the door toward her, Quinn prepared himself for the fact that they’d find the safe as empty as the hidey-holes. What he saw first, though, were empty white shelves.

  “Where it is?” he asked.

  Misty reached around the doorway, and ran her fingers up the inside molding that covered the jamb until a distinct click echoed through the frame. She pulled her hand back, and removed the middle shelf. Reaching into the closet, she pushed on the wall right where the shelf had been.

  Another click, followed by the wall swinging open, revealing the safe.

  “It’s still closed,” she said, surprised.

  “I assume you know the combination,” Quinn said.

  She nodded.

  The safe had a double lock — part old-fashioned dial, part digital keypad. Misty navigated through the combination and turned the handle. Inside was a stack of file folders about two inches thick, a Beretta 9mm, and a box of ammo. There was no computer.

  Leaving the gun where it was, Misty pulled the files out and opened the first one.

  “We don’t have time for that right now,” Quinn said, trying to contain his frustration at not finding anything useful.

  “What?” Misty looked at him, confused, before realizing what he was talking about. “Oh, right.”

  She moved the files under one arm and reached in to close the safe.

  “Wait a second,” Quinn said.

  “I’m not leaving these here,” she told him, pulling the files close. “Peter wouldn’t have wanted anyone to find them.”

  “That’s not what I meant. May I?”

  After she took a step back, Quinn reached in and retrieved the Beretta and ammo. Since they couldn’t bring weapons with them on the flight north, they had arrived in DC unarmed. Up until the moment they’d entered Peter’s apartment, Quinn hadn’t thought it was necessary. But the fact that someone had searched the place changed things.

  He shut the safe, closed the wall over it, and put the shelf back into place. When he was done, he looked at Misty and said, “Anything else we should check?”

  “Not here,” she said.

  “Okay, then let’s head over to the townhouse. How far away is it?” He tried to sound positive, but he knew whoever had searched the apartment had likely done the same there.

  “Close,” Misty told him. “Under a mile.”

  They locked up the apartment and made their way to the elevator.

  As they were heading down, Misty said, “Do you think it was there before? Whatever it is Peter wanted us to find?”

  “Let’s not worry about that until we’ve checked everywhere,” Quinn said.

  A ding signaled the approach of the ground floor. As soon as the doors parted, Quinn started to lead the others out, but abruptly stopped.

  While the building’s lobby was empty, standing right outside the glass front door were four hard-looking men in dark suits. That alone would have been enough to register on Quinn’s internal radar. The visible lumps of concealed weapons under their arms amplified the alarm.

  He backpedaled into the car, nearly knocking Misty over in the process.

  “What are you doing?” she asked.

  Instead of answering, he jabbed the button for the top floor and peeked back into the lobby. When he’d first seen the men outside, they’d been conferring with each other, and hadn’t appeared to notice that the elevator had arrived. But now, as the doors began to sh
ut, one of them was peering through the window.

  “What is it?” Daeng asked.

  Quinn looked at Misty. “You’re sure Peter didn’t have any kind of arrangement with a security firm to watch his place?”

  “Positive,” she said.

  A gentle jolt rocked them as the car began its slow ascent.

  “I’m not talking about your standard rent-a-cop place,” Quinn said, thinking about what the men outside had looked like. “Top tier.”

  “Not unless something changed he didn’t tell me about. What’s going on?”

  “We’ve got company.”

  “How many?” Daeng asked.

  “I saw four,” Quinn said. “There might be more.”

  Misty stared at Quinn. “What do they want?”

  “My guess would be us.”

  * * *

  “I think that’s them,” Moss said, pointing through the window of the building.

  Roberts turned and looked, but all he caught was the elevator door closing.

  “What did you see?” he asked.

  “Three people. Two men and a woman. I think they were starting to get off, but I swear they stopped when they saw us.”

  “They match the description?” Girardi, one of the other team members, asked.

  “I only had a really good look of the man in front. He did have short brown hair. The other guy looked like he might have been darker, but he was in the shadows.”

  That was more than enough for Roberts. “Open the door,” he ordered.

  * * *

  As they neared the top floor, Quinn said to Misty, “I want you to press up against the front corner. When the door opens, I’ll do a check. If it’s clear, I’ll let you know and you can get off.”

  She nodded.

  To Daeng he said, “Emergency stop button. I don’t want this going back down.”

  Daeng’s nod was followed by the sound of the elevator’s bell heralding their imminent arrival.

  While his two friends jammed against the side of the car, Quinn positioned himself in the middle, the Beretta pointed at the doors, ready to fire at the first sign of trouble.

  The car crept to a stop and the doors started to part. The hallway appeared empty, but he remained tense and ready, knowing that someone could easily be hiding off to one side or the other. As soon as the doors were open all the way, he launched himself into the corridor, and twisted around so he could catch anyone who might be hiding.