The Buried

by Brett Battles

  “I know, but our options are pretty limited right now.”

  Orlando looked at the map. “I show you nine miles outside Waitsburg. Is that right?”

  “Give or take.”

  “When you get there, take 124 west.” It would take them in the opposite direction they wanted to go, but the likelihood of their being captured by any cameras would be near zero.

  “We were already planning on doing that.”

  “Oh…well, then, good,” she said.

  “Get some rest, okay? It’s late,” he said. “You guys aren’t still on the road, are you?”

  Reflexively, she cupped her hand around the bottom of her phone to block the sound of the RV. “All tucked in for the night.”

  “Then sleep. I’ll call if there’s anything you can do.”

  “One thing.”

  “Yeah?”

  “If you get a chance, ask Dani about a girl named Marianne Trudeaux.”

  “Who is she?”

  “Facial recognition kicked her back as a possible match for Dani. She isn’t, but they look enough alike that they could be related.”

  “All right, I’ll ask. Now go to sleep.”

  EASTERN WASHINGTON

  QUINN GLANCED AT Dani as he hung up the phone.

  She was staring at the dark countryside, lost in thought, like she’d been doing since not long after Nate picked them up, so he decided to leave Orlando’s question unasked for now.

  At Waitsburg, they switched to the lesser used road and headed west. It wasn’t the perfect solution. Once the others knew the three of them weren’t on the highway anymore, they would quickly figure out what had happened. Route 124 was the only logical alternative in the area.

  Darkness settled in tight around them as the lights of the town faded. For the first few minutes, theirs was the only car on the road. Then Nate’s eyes paused on the rearview mirror. “Someone’s back there.”

  Quinn and Dani looked out the rear window. There was a single pinpoint of light, maybe a mile back—a motorcycle or a car with one of its headlights out. Quinn watched it for several minutes. When he was sure the distance between them hadn’t changed, he relaxed. Dani also looked less concerned, so he decided now was as good a time as any.

  “My friend wanted me to ask you a question,” he said.

  She looked a little confused. “What?”

  “Does the name Marianne Trudeaux mean anything to you?”

  She sat up, her eyes wide. “Where did she hear that?”

  “She didn’t tell me. Is it your name?”

  “No.”

  She seemed to be telling the truth. “Someone you know?”

  More controlled than she’d been a few moments before, she said, “Sorry, I don’t know her.”

  This time she was lying, but he knew if he pushed she’d completely shut down. He sent Orlando a text:

  She’s not admitting it, but she knows the name.

  __________

  BIANCA CAUGHT UP with the Lexus five miles before it reached Waitsburg and followed from a hundred yards back, tucked in behind a minivan. Tailing them through the small town had been trickier, the place all but dead at that time of night. But once she realized they were headed to the state road, she backed off.

  According to the map, only a handful of roads led off the route. She could afford to give them plenty of space to get comfortable before she made her move.

  She watched the Lexus’s taillights. A few miles out of town, the car disappeared around a corner. When it was out of sight, she switched off her lights and increased her speed.

  __________

  QUINN LOOKED OUT the back. The other vehicle had not reappeared after they took the bend in the road.

  “Must have turned off,” Nate said.

  Quinn settled back in his seat. “Let’s hope so.”

  __________

  “DONNIE, GIVE ME something, man. I should have caught up to them by now.”

  As soon as Orbits knew Quinn and his companions had skipped town, he hightailed it down the highway, not worried about getting pulled over. A few minutes before, he had passed Waitsburg and continued east on US 12, but unless the others were driving as fast as he was, he should have seen them by now.

  “Hold on, I’m scrolling through the footage.”

  “Faster!”

  A pause, then, “Dammit.”

  “What?”

  “I just caught up to the live feed and you just drove by but they haven’t yet. You must have passed them.”

  Orbits braked to a halt in the middle of the road. “If I’d passed them, I would have known it. I’ve only seen four cars and none was a Lexus.

  “The last image I have of them is from before Waitsburg. Maybe they stopped there.”

  Orbits executed a U-turn and headed back the other way. “Why would they stop? It doesn’t make any sense.” Waitsburg was only about thirty minutes from Walla Walla, where Quinn and the others had stayed for several hours. There was no reason to stop again so soon.

  “How should I know?” Donnie said. “Maybe they had car problems, or maybe…oh.”

  “Oh what?”

  “There’s a road going west. Route 124. They must have gone that way.”

  “Goddammit, Donnie! I just lost ten minutes. You should have figured that out sooner!”

  __________

  STEVENS KEPT THE helicopter on the ground until the techs had identified not only the targets’ current vehicle but where they had gone. Once that information was received, he and his team lifted off, all running lights extinguished.

  Instead of following US 12 to Waitsburg, they flew in a straight line northeast to the edge of the town. Stevens then ordered the pilot to parallel Route 124 a quarter mile to the south and fifteen hundred feet up.

  One of his men spotted a car a mile outside of town, heading west. A check via night vision scope revealed the vehicle was not a Lexus.

  Five empty miles of road later, a different spotter said, “Headlights.”

  About a half mile farther on, two lights cut a lonely path through the darkness.

  When they confirmed it was a Lexus, Stevens consulted the map. “There’s a small town coming up,” he told the pilot. “After that, it’s clear for a long stretch. Here.” He tapped the map. “There’s a curve in the road about twelve miles ahead. Take us there.”

  CHAPTER 25

  ROUTE 124, WASHINGTON

  QUINN, NATE, AND Dani drove through the little village of Prescott and continued west. With each passing mile, the hills on the right closed in until they were right up against the road.

  Three cars had passed the Lexus going the other way, but so far the only car on their side of the road had been the one Nate had spotted way back at the beginning.

  In another twenty minutes, they should reach Kennewick. From there, they could take smaller roads to the Columbia River. They would have a decision to make at that point—stay in Washington or take a chance by crossing over via the interstate.

  “I do know her,” Dani whispered.

  Quinn turned and found her staring out the side window.

  “Did know her,” Dani said.

  “She’s dead?”

  A nod, her gaze still on the dark hills.

  “Who was she?”

  A long pause. “My sister.”

  “I’m sorry,” Quinn said, meaning it.

  “Thanks,” she whispered.

  He hesitated a moment before asking, “So your last name’s Trudeaux?”

  “That’s…complicated. It was our mother’s maiden name. Marianne and I used it sometimes. It was…easier.”

  “Easier why?”

  Bright lights suddenly filled the cabin of the Lexus.

  “Hold on!” Nate yelled as he slammed on the brakes.

  With the tires screaming against the road, Quinn flew forward, his seat belt the only thing keeping him from smashing into the dash.

  Plopped in the middle of the road directly in front of t
hem was the large helicopter they’d seen in Ellensburg, a spotlight on the side of the aircraft aimed at them.

  “Back!” Quinn yelled.

  He yanked up the bag that contained his gun as Nate threw the car into reverse, but they had barely started to move when gunfire ripped into the front and rear of the Lexus, piercing the engine and hitting at least one of the tires.

  “There are more behind us!” Dani yelled.

  Nate hit the brakes at the same moment the engine gave out.

  Quinn looked back. Sure enough, two men were on each side of the road, armed with automatic rifles.

  “Out of the car, hands on your head.” The voice came from a speaker on the helicopter.

  “What are we going to do?” Dani asked.

  In addition to the four men behind them, Quinn counted the silhouettes of four more by the helicopter.

  “You can’t let them take me,” Dani said.

  “Out of the car now!” the man at the helicopter ordered.

  __________

  BIANCA HAD THE advantage of not being surrounded by the metal and glass of a car as she followed a quarter mile behind the Lexus. Even through her helmet, she was able to pick up the faint whoop-whoop of the helicopter.

  She took glances at the sky to the south, until—

  There, she thought as she spotted a dark blob moving fast against the background of stars.

  She had been hoping Morse’s men wouldn’t make a reappearance, but so be it.

  The helicopter raced ahead, disappearing in the night.

  She increased her speed again, closing the distance between her and the Lexus to just over two hundred yards.

  Things were about to get interesting.

  __________

  ORBITS SPAT AN unending string of curses as he sped down the highway.

  God only knew how far he had to go. He had seen absolutely no sign of Quinn’s vehicle yet. If Donnie had led him astray again, the kid would soon be spending a lot of time in physical therapy.

  Orbits leaned forward, his hands clutching the wheel like he’d never let go.

  How far should he give it before going back? Five miles? Ten?

  “Where are you, dammit?” he yelled at the windshield. “Where the hell are you?”

  __________

  AHEAD, THE LEXUS took a curve around a hill, moving out of sight.

  Bianca was about to close the distance a little more when suddenly a bright halo of light spilled onto the road from the other side of the hill. As she heard a screech of brakes, she brought her bike to a quick stop.

  She was dismounting when automatic rifle fire erupted, the bullets ripping into metal. She opened the seat and the kit that had been waiting with the gun.

  “Out of the car, hands on your head,” an amplified voice ordered, echoing around the curve.

  She moved up the hill in a crouch and worked her way forward until the road beyond the curve came into view.

  The helicopter was sitting right in the middle of the highway, the Lexus skewed on the road in front of it and lit up by a spotlight from the aircraft. She counted three heads inside the car, two men in front and the woman in back. They all appeared to be alive. Apparently the gunfire had simply been a warning.

  She took stock of Morse’s men. Four at the helicopter and four more behind the car—every single one of them focused on the Lexus.

  “Out of the car now!”

  It was an impossible situation for the targets. The attack squad may have been ordered to avoid injuring the woman, but it would have no qualms about hurting her companions. Morse’s people undoubtedly had both men already locked in their sights. If the targets tried anything, it would be over in seconds.

  She set her gun on the ground and opened the kit. Inside were three mini flash-bang grenades and an equal number of smoke bombs. She removed two of each, then, in quick succession, tossed one flash bang toward the men behind the car and the other toward the helicopter. By the time the canisters landed on the road, she’d already thrown the first smoke bomb and was readying the other. Right before it left her hand, the flash bangs exploded.

  __________

  “WHAT ARE WE going to do?” Dani asked, desperate.

  Quinn looked around again, hoping for another way out, knowing they had only one option.

  “That’s a lot of manpower,” Nate said.

  “Yeah,” Quinn agreed.

  “Government?”

  “Let’s hope so.”

  If the squad surrounding them was tied to US intelligence, Quinn and Nate might actually live through this. The fact that they hadn’t already been shot supported the possibility.

  “I don’t see where we have a choice,” Quinn said.

  Dani’s eyes widened. “Wait. No way. You can’t let them get me. You can’t!”

  “Dani, if you have an idea about how we can get out of this, I am all—”

  Even shielded by the car, the bang behind them was thunderous. As they ducked, a second went off in front of them.

  “Flash bangs,” Nate said.

  Quinn raised his head and looked out the window. Through a stream of rising smoke, he could see that the men by the helicopter were on the ground, stunned. He looked out the back. Two of the four men there were in the same condition. The other two, however, were scanning the area, guns raised. More smoke was rising directly behind the Lexus.

  Quinn’s first thought was that Orlando and Daeng had arrived, but he knew that was impossible. They were too far away. For the moment, it didn’t matter who it was.

  “Everybody out,” he said.

  The car was angled so that Quinn’s side was the one most shielded from the men behind them. He opened his door and motioned for Nate to follow him out. Dani had her door open a second later.

  The smoke had built up enough so that they could no longer see the helicopter, but the rear cloud had not yet built to the same level. Quinn caught a glimpse of the two men who hadn’t been dazed rushing toward the Lexus.

  Thup-thup.

  Both men dropped to the ground as muted gunshots cut across the road.

  Quinn looked toward the hill, searching for the source, but his eyes had been affected by the spotlight and he could see little in the darkness beyond.

  “Hold on to me and stay low,” he said to Dani.

  When she had a grip on his jacket, he signaled Nate to follow and led them around the front of the car.

  Another thup, and a few seconds later, a fourth, both coming from behind the vehicle.

  Quinn sneaked toward the edge of the road opposite the hill. His thought was if they could get into the field and work their way around the helicopter, they could lose themselves in the countryside beyond.

  “There!” a man shouted.

  Through a swirl of smoke, Quinn saw one of the men at the helicopter pointing at them, and then in an instant, the man disappeared again.

  Quinn changed directions, heading back along the side of the car toward the men he’d seen shot. Behind them steps ran toward the spot where they’d been. For a moment, he thought they might be clear, but then a man rushed at them out of the smoke.

  Nate shoved the barrel of the man’s rifle toward the sky before the man could get a shot off. The attacker quickly flipped the stock end around and smacked it into Nate’s shoulder, sending Quinn’s partner staggering. But Nate was able to hold on to the rifle and rip it from the man’s hands.

  “I’ve got this,” Nate said to Quinn as he threw a palm strike to the attacker’s jaw.

  “Come on,” Quinn said to Dani, and pulled her fast along the car into the smoke.

  As they crossed the asphalt, Quinn’s foot hit the arm of one of the men he’d watched drop. He could see the guy’s face now. A bullet hole dead center in his forehead.

  Whoever had done this was a pro.

  The smoke thinned as they started around the curve in the road.

  “You can let go now,” he whispered to Dani. “Just stay close.”

  Eit
her she hadn’t heard him or wasn’t interested, because she kept clutching his jacket.

  They were almost out of the smoke when they heard a voice behind them say, “I’ll take over now.”

  Quinn turned.

  Standing twenty feet behind them was a blonde woman wearing a leather jacket and dark pants. Her most important accessory was the pistol pointed at them.

  He put himself between Dani and the woman.

  “Deal number one,” the woman said. “I get the girl, you live. Deal number two: I get the girl, you die. Your choice.”

  “No,” Dani whispered.

  The only hope they had was for Quinn to buy enough time for Nate to catch up to them. “She’s no good to you,” he said. “She doesn’t even know where the location is.”

  The expression on the woman’s face remained unchanged. “I don’t know what that means. I’m here to recover the girl. So, if you please.” She motioned with her free hand for Dani to come to her.

  A footstep, faint and off to the side, behind the woman.

  “Who do you work for?” he asked. “The Wolf, right?”

  This time there was a tick of her head. Score one for Quinn.

  “Why don’t you give her a call? Tell her I’m willing to make a deal.”

  Dani’s grip faltered, and he could sense her confusion.

  The woman scowled. “I’ve already given you your choice of deals. Give me the girl.”

  Out of the smoke near the hill, a voice said, “Everyone freeze.”

  As much as Quinn had hoped it was Nate he’d heard approaching, it wasn’t.

  The blonde woman whipped around and pulled her trigger. At almost the same instant, a rifle yelped twice from the smoke. The woman jerked to the side, hit, and fired off four more shots as she sidestepped into the cover of the smoke cloud.

  Quinn pushed Dani in front of him. “Run!”

  She hesitated, looking at him.

  “Just run. Find someplace to hide! Go!”

  She took off.

  Quinn ran back into the smoke in the direction the woman had disappeared, wanting to ensure she didn’t come after Dani. As he reached the back of the Lexus, feet staggered toward him from the left. He twisted around, but it was Nate.