The Buried (17 page)

“Is there anybody else?”

“You mean like another pilot?”

“Yes. That’s exactly what I mean,” Orbits said, not hiding his frustration.

“Not my area, but I doubt it at this time of night.”

Orbits stormed out of the building, fighting hard not to punch every wall he passed. The girl was right in his sights, but if he didn’t catch up to her and her friends soon, the Californians would get her first.

“Goddammit!” he shouted into the darkness.

There was only one thing to do. Walla Walla was about a hundred and thirty miles away. He could drive that in less than two hours.

CHAPTER
22

WALLA WALLA

Q
UINN’S EYES POPPED
open when the phone under his pillow vibrated. He turned off the alarm and sat up.

In the dim light, he could see Dani asleep on the other bed in nearly the same position she’d been in when he lay down.

Quinn got up and walked over to Nate, who was sitting on the chair by the door, reading something on his phone.

“Right on time,” Nate said.

“Go ahead and head out. I’ll get things ready here.”

Earlier, after he’d talked to Orlando, Quinn had driven the Audi into the heart of town and left it parked behind a strip mall where, hopefully, it would be at least a day before anyone took notice of it. They still needed another ride, though.

“Back in a flash,” Nate said, and left.

Quinn took a quick shower, the hot water helping to stave off his desire to return to bed. When he was done and dressed, he turned on the bedroom lights and gently shook Dani’s shoulder.

“Time to get up,” he said.

She groaned. “Already?”

“You can sleep in the car. If you need to use the restroom, now’s the time.”

Reluctantly she climbed out of bed. “Do I have time for a shower?” she asked as she walked into the bathroom.

“If you make it fast.”

She started to close the door, but then stopped. “Sorry, I forgot.”

“No, it’s all right,” he said. “Close it.”

She glanced at him like she thought he might change his mind, then gave him a thankful smile and shut the door.

As Quinn checked the duffel bags to make sure they were ready to go, he heard the shower come on. When the water went off again a few minutes later, he looked toward the main door.

Nate should have been back by now. Quinn waited another minute, and then sent his partner a text:

ETA?

__________

N
ATE STROLLED OUT
of the hotel, looking like a guest in search of a late-night snack or maybe a bar, and headed toward the heart of town. When he was out of sight of the building, he picked up his pace. Though he was too close to where they were staying to procure a vehicle, his practiced gaze took in each car he passed and assessed its potential.

He gave it another few minutes before he turned down a new street and began his search in earnest.

__________

O
RBITS ARRIVED IN
Walla Walla at 10:57 p.m.

During the drive, he had checked in with Donnie every fifteen minutes, and was told each time that the Audi had not reappeared on the highway. This made Orbits cautiously optimistic, but there was still the very real possibility that his prey had switched to another car again and were miles away already.

Thankfully, Walla Walla was a third the size of Yakima. He divided it into sectors and began quickly working his way through the town, looking for the Audi. After a little more than an hour, he’d almost made it to the eastern end, with still no sign of the car.

He turned onto Wellington Avenue. The first two blocks were strictly residential, but after that, small businesses started cropping up—a couple motels, a tavern, a lumber store. He checked the lots of each but saw no sign of the car.

Not much farther up the street, he tensed involuntarily as he passed the offices for the Washington State Patrol. Doubting the Audi would be anywhere in its vicinity, he turned off Wellington, intending to pick up the search several blocks away. But as he rounded the corner, his headlights lit up a man walking down the sidewalk.

Orbits kept driving, making no indication that anything was amiss, but he recognized the walker. The guy had been in the photos of both the Jeep and the Audi.

Quinn’s partner.

Watching through the rearview mirror, he saw the man cross the road and head down Wellington the way Orbits had come.

As soon as the guy was out of view, Orbits turned down a parallel road and doused his headlights.

Son of a bitch, he
had
them. All he needed to do was follow the guy back to wherever they were keeping the woman.

He worked his way back toward Wellington and parked half a block short of the intersection, next to the warehouse building of the lumber supply place. After making sure the dome light was off, he opened his door and climbed out.

Other than a few scattered security lamps, the area was dark enough that he was able to move unseen through the lumberyard parking lot until he was almost to Wellington. There, he hunkered down beside the front building.

He’d expected to hear footsteps, so when he didn’t, he became concerned that the guy had already disappeared into the night. But then he heard a crunch, faint, almost not there. Sand between shoe and concrete.

He waited, but there was no second step. He was pretty sure the noise had come from his right, which meant the guy had already passed the lumber place. He eased around the corner and worked his way along the front of the building, until he reached a short wooden fence dividing the lumber store’s parking area from the tavern’s next door. He tried to pick up the steps again, but too much noise was coming out of the tavern for him to hear anything else.

He noted a few people standing—smoking, it looked like—near three stacked wagon wheels under the tavern’s sign, but none were the same shape as his target.

He figured the guy must be farther down the street than he thought. He was about to sneak over to the sidewalk to get a better look when he detected movement in the tavern’s rear lot. He carefully scanned the couple dozen cars parked there. Halfway through the back row, he spotted Quinn’s partner standing next to a sedan. For a second, it didn’t look like he was doing anything, but then he yanked his arm up with a quick thrust and opened the door.

Orbits noted the make and model—a Nissan Altima—then turned and hustled back to his own vehicle. He went the long way around the block, avoiding Wellington altogether until he neared the other side of the tavern. There he slowed as he passed the parking entrance, and saw that the Altima was pulling out of its space.

Orbits continued through the intersection and stopped at the curb, quickly taking his foot off the brake so that the lights would go out.

Turning in his seat, he watched the Altima exit the lot and head in the opposite direction.

Grinning, Orbits executed a U-turn and took up pursuit, lights off.

__________

W
HEN NATE HAD
started his cleaner apprenticeship, Quinn had made him learn many things that went beyond the specific means of dealing with death. At the time, Nate didn’t always understand why he needed to perfect certain skills, but one thing he had recognized as important from the beginning was the ability to know when he was being followed.

As he pulled out of the tavern’s parking area, he noticed the car parked at the curb on the other side of the intersection, and the silhouette of someone in the front seat. The vehicle had most definitely not been there when he’d walked into the lot.

Another customer arriving for a late-night drink?

Perhaps.

Just to be safe, he turned the other way. Two blocks on, as he was preparing to turn again, he checked his mirror. Enough light was spilling from the tavern for him to see the other car was no longer at the curb.

His senses went on alert. Instead of turning right on the new road toward the motel, he went left. Checking the mirror every few seconds, it wasn’t long before he caught a glint off the windshield of a darkened vehicle turning the corner behind him.

He didn’t have time to think about who it was or how the person had found him. Keeping his pace unchanged, he navigated a course that would take him to the western end of town, as far from the motel as he could get. He watched the mirror to make sure his new friend was tagging along.

He was.

CHAPTER
23

O
RBITS FROWNED.

The Altima had already driven halfway across Walla Walla and yet didn’t seem to be nearing its destination. And the car thief had been on foot, which meant it was highly improbable the guy had walked this far.

Of course, Quinn’s partner could have dumped the Audi in the area, but it would have been sloppy to abandon one car so close to where you stole your new ride. They had certainly taken better care when they’d exchanged the Cherokee for the Audi in Yakima.

At least Orbits had the guy in his sights. That was the important thing.

__________

N
ATE’S PHONE BUZZED
with a text. He glanced at the screen. Quinn, wondering how long he was going to be.

He tapped the
Z
key, hit
SEND
, and shoved the phone into his pocket.

Up to that point, he had kept to residential streets, none of which had any traffic at that hour. When he turned onto East Rose Street, however, he entered a business district where he was no longer the only vehicle on the road.

He checked behind him again to make sure his tail hadn’t gone away. Not only was it still following, but now that they were on a main street, the driver had turned on his lights to blend in.

Ninth Avenue seemed to be another major road, so Nate turned left onto it and drove southward for several blocks, taking him even farther from the motel.

When he sensed he’d soon be running out of city, he decided it was time.

A park on the left side of the road provided just the cover he was looking for. He turned left onto a street that went down the far side of it. As soon as the trees at the front of the park blocked him from the view of his follower, he slammed the accelerator to the floor.

Ahead another street headed off to the left, but Nate was still thirty feet short of it when the other guy swung onto the street behind him. Nate’s tires squealed as he took the turn fast. There was another intersection, this one much closer than the last. He barreled around it long before the other guy got behind him again.

If he could do that a few more times, he’d shake him.

He sped ahead.

__________

M
UST BE GETTING
close
, Orbits thought as he saw the Altima turn off the main road.

The park he was passing suggested the other car was heading into a residential area. Maybe they had located a safe house Orbits didn’t know about. Whatever the case, he would have to take extra care now. If he could keep them off guard, this would be a piece of cake, and by lunchtime tomorrow, he’d be home, his bank account balance satisfyingly increased.

He turned down the new road at the same even pace he’d been going, expecting the Altima to be not much more than fifty yards ahead.

“Son of a bitch.”

The car was one
hundred
and fifty yards ahead, racing away.

Orbits hit the gas, knowing he didn’t need to remain subtle anymore.

“Son of a bitch.”

__________

“Y
OU DIDN’T HAPPEN
to grab any extra clothes I could wear, did you?” Dani called out from the bathroom.

“Hold on,” Quinn said.

He grabbed his backpack and pulled out an unused black T-shirt. When he rapped on the door, she opened it a few inches.

“This is the best I can do,” he said, holding out the shirt.

His phone vibrated.

“This is great,” she said. “Thanks.”

As the door closed, Quinn pulled out his cell and checked the text.

Z

“We’ve got to go,” he said, shoving the phone back into his pocket. “Now!”

Dani opened the door again. “What’s wrong?”

He grabbed the duffels. “There’s trouble. We need to leave.”

His team had a shorthand for those times when longer messages were impossible. Z meant
get the hell out
.

Dani rushed out of the bathroom, buttoning the top of her jeans. She grabbed her shoes and pulled them on. When she rejoined Quinn, she held out her hands.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“Cuffs.”

He hesitated for a moment, then said, “No.”

“What if I run?”

“Then you run. But it would be better if you didn’t.”

“Because you’ll hurt me if I do?”

“No. Not me. But I can’t say the same about the people looking for you.”

She lowered her hands. “Thank you.”

“I could use your help,” he said, holding out Nate’s backpack.

“Sure.”

After she pulled it on, he gave her the lighter of the duffels, keeping the one with the firearms for himself. “We’re going to go out the same way we came in. On the other side of the parking lot is a set of train tracks paralleling the highway. We’ll follow those.”

“How far?”

“Not sure yet. Stay behind me, but close. Clear?”

“Clear.”

“Let’s go.”

Quinn led her through the hallway and out into the rear parking area.  

The night was warm with only a slight breeze. Crossing the lot to a strip of bushes at the back of the motel property, they could hear cars driving by on the highway.

“There’s a path,” Dani said, pointing to a gap between bushes.

Quinn let her take point until they reached the train tracks.