The Discarded (30 page)

The lock was an easy pick. On the other side was a laundry room with an open doorway at the other end. He crossed through the space and peered into the other room, which turned out to be a kitchen.

Just as he stepped across the threshold, his phone vibrated twice in quick succession, letting him know he’d received a text. Whatever it was, it would have to wait.

There were two exits to the kitchen, one to the right leading to the back portion of the house where Abraham had seen the woman, and one to the left into a dining room. He signaled to Orlando and Nate what he wanted to do. Orlando nodded and headed to the door on the right, while he and Nate entered the dining room and made their way to the corridor at the far side.

They moved into the hallway, which bisected the house front to back, and inched as close as they could to the back room without entering it. The woman was pacing in front of a large leather couch, lost in thought.

Quinn looked over at Orlando, who was peeking around the kitchen doorway, and gave her the go signal.

Keeping her movement slow and smooth, she stepped into the room and said in a soft voice, “Madame Chastain?”

The woman whirled around in panic. “
Non! S'il vous plait! Laissez-moi tranquille!
” She backed toward the exit where Quinn and Nate were.

Nate moved to block the doorway, but Quinn grabbed him and shook his head. She was already frightened enough. He didn’t want to make it worse by letting her discover they were there yet.

“We’re not going to harm you,” Orlando said in French. “We just want to talk.”

“I don’t have anything to say to you,” the woman said. “Go. Get out!”

“We need to talk to your daughter,” Orlando said.

“She’s…she’s dead,” the woman said, trying to sound defiant. “Long time ago.”

“You’re trying to protect her. I get that. I would, too, if she was my daughter. But we don’t want to hurt her. We just need to talk to her.”

The woman was only a few steps from Quinn and Nate. “I said she’s dead!”

“She’s not dead, Madame Chastain. She goes by the name Desirae Rosette, or at least she did.” There must have been confirmation on the woman’s face because Orlando said, “She has the girl, doesn’t she? She has Tessa.”

Nadine nearly tripped over her own feet as she turned to run out of the room.

Quinn swore under his breath as he was forced to step out in front of her and grab her.

She screamed.

“Take it easy,” Quinn said. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

She pounded her fists against his chest as she tried to squirm out of his arms.

“Let me go,” she said. “Let me go.”

“As soon as you calm down, I will. I promise. Nothing’s going to happen to you. My friend was right. We’re only here to talk.”

“You’re lying,” she said, the defiance back, real this time. “She said you might come someday. That you would try to get me to talk about her. Well, you won’t get anything from me!”

While Quinn had been corralling Nadine, Orlando had hurried over. “Why don’t we sit down? If you don’t want to talk, then don’t talk.”

“Right,” Nadine said. “I’m sure that’s how it’s going to work. Then you…what? Start cutting me up?”

“No one’s going to cut you up,” Quinn said.

In a fit of rage and terror, she began twisting even faster as she screamed for him to release her.

Quinn sensed someone move in behind him.

“Let her go, Johnny,” Abraham said.

Quinn held on to the woman for a moment longer before releasing his grip. The woman looked back and forth as she searched for some way out, her chest heaving with each breath.

“I told you to wait in the car,” Quinn said to Abraham.

“If I may,” Abraham said, gently trying to push Quinn to the side.

The sound of crutches moved through the dining room and then Daeng appeared beside Nate. Quinn gave him a what-the-hell look as he kept himself between the woman and the exit behind him.

“Sorry,” Daeng said. “It’s not like I could stop him. I
did
text you.”

“Please,” Abraham said, his hand still on Quinn’s arm.

Reluctantly, Quinn moved to the side.

“May I call you Nadine?” Abraham said to the woman as he stepped around Quinn.

“You may not,” she shot back.

“All right. Madame Chastain, then. My name is Abraham Delger, and my friends here are Orlando, Quinn, Nate, and Daeng. I assure you we mean you no harm at all. Nor do we mean any harm to your daughter, or…the girl.” Abraham’s reassuring tone seemed to have a calming effect on the woman. “Would it be okay if we sat down?”

Nadine hesitated before nodding.

Quinn motioned for Nate and Daeng to hold back to not overwhelm her, and then he moved over to the seating area with the others. He and Nadine took chairs on opposite ends of the coffee table, and Orlando and Abraham shared the couch.

“You’re concerned, of course,” Abraham said, leaning forward, his forearms resting on his thighs. “You think we want to hurt Desirae.”

“My daughter’s dead,” she said, sounding now like she was reading from a book.

“I worked with her, you know,” he told her. “On my last job before I retired. I’m starting to think it might have been your daughter’s last, too. Maybe one she’s still working.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You would have never allowed her to build secure living quarters under your house if you didn’t have some idea,” he gently countered.

Nadine made no comment.

“The truth is, Madame Chastain, it’s not your daughter that we are most concerned about. It’s Tessa.”

She stared at him for a moment, and then in a near whisper said, “I’ve never heard that name.”

“I’m the one who delivered Tessa to your daughter,” he said. “I’m the one who brought the girl halfway around the world. I don’t want to harm Tessa. I would never do that.” He glanced back at Orlando and Quinn. “None of us would.”

While he spoke, the woman’s expression changed from one of disbelief to dawning realization.

“What is it?” Orlando asked her

Nadine’s gaze remained on Orlando’s old teacher. “Abe,” she said softly. “You’re Abe.”

The room went quiet.

Nadine finally blinked and seemed to get control of herself. “Or maybe you’re just using that name to try to trick me.”

“Not a trick.”

“Then prove it.”

“So you do know about the girl,” Orlando said. “Do you know where she is?”

Nadine shot her a quick look. “I never said that. I never said anything about a girl.” She turned back to Abraham. “Prove it.”

“I could show you my driver’s license,” Abraham said. “But you’ll just think it’s fake.”

“That’s not what I mean.”

“Tessa?” he asked.

She said nothing.

Abraham frowned. “I was only with her a few days when she was four years old. I can tell you she liked noodles then but wasn’t crazy about rice. I can tell you she used to have three freckles that formed an arc right here.” He touched his collarbone where it met his neck and traced the pattern. “I can tell you she liked her hair in a single ponytail, not two.”

“What else?” she asked, as if looking for something specific.

“Well, checkers, of course,” he said. “I taught her to play. I even gave Desirae the set we used.”

Almost in a daze, Nadine said, “She still has it.”

It was as if time froze. No one moved. No one breathed. No one said anything.

Orlando finally broke the spell. “Tessa’s with Desirae, isn’t she?”

Nadine glanced at her and then away, her lip trembling.

“It’s okay,” Abraham said. “I told you. We’re not here to harm them.”

“Terri,” Nadine said. “Her name’s Terri now.”

“How did she end up with your daughter?”

“I don’t know. Really. One day Desirae showed up with her. Within a few days there were these people in my basement building the apartment.”

“How long did they live there?” Quinn asked.

“A couple of years. Until Desirae thought it was safe enough to leave.”

“Where did they go?” Orlando asked.

Nadine said nothing.

“Tell me about Terri,” Abraham said.

A hint of a smile graced Nadine’s face. “What can I say? She’s my granddaughter. She’s the best girl on earth.”

“Does she still ask about her mother?”

“Her mother?” she asked, confused.

“Before Desirae,” Abraham said.

“I don’t know anything about her…first mother. If she talks about her, it’s not with me.”

“She is healthy, though, right?”

The smile was back. “She broke an arm once when she was out—” She stopped herself. “Look, I’ve already said way more than I should.”

“Could you at least tell us if you have a way of getting ahold of Desirae?” Quinn asked.

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“We need to warn her,” Abraham said. “Someone’s looking for her and…Terri. Someone whose intentions are not good.”

“Who?”

“If we told you a name, would it even matter?” Quinn asked.

“Try me.”

“McCrillis International.”

The woman thought about it and then shook her head. “Never heard of it.”

“We need to warn your daughter. Is there a way to contact her?” Quinn said.

“Sorry. There isn’t,” she said, a tad too quick.

“Your daughter and your granddaughter are in
serious
trouble. We can help them.”

She crossed her arms, her face tense. “Or maybe you’re trying to trick me.”

“No one is trying to trick you,” Abraham said. He rubbed his eyes and sighed. “Don’t your understand? I should have gone with Tessa last time. I should have made sure she was safe.”

Orlando put a hand on his shoulder. “Abraham, she was safe. We know that now. Desirae took care her. She’s okay. Maybe it’s time to give it up.”

“Give it up?” he said, pushing her hand off. “You know what? All of you can just leave. Thank you for your help, but you can go on to your next job now. I have to help Tessa. I will not make the same mistake I did before.”

Quinn had been keeping an eye on Nadine throughout the exchange, and could see she was affected by his response.

“Madame Chastain,” he said. They all looked at him. “Could you tell us about the tikis?”

Her face dropped. “How did you—”

“Which island are they on?”

CHAPTER
30

ABOVE THE PACIFIC OCEAN

G
LORIA RECEIVED THE
information in Los Angeles right before boarding the second leg of her flight to Hawaii. She took her seat and patiently waited for the announcement allowing the use of electronic devices. When it came, she fired up her laptop and opened the waiting file.

Her researchers had been able to locate four operatives who had used Quinn as either a first name or surname. One was a woman so she was out, as were two others who were long retired. The last was a man who called himself Jonathan Quinn, with a presumed age range in the late thirties to early forties, right in the ballpark of the Quinn she’d encountered. There were some conflicting reports that mentioned him being at least a decade younger, but those were in the minority. The only picture was a police sketch from a few years earlier. It was not the best drawing, but she was certain this was her guy.

He was a cleaner who worked exclusively in the intelligence world. So why had he crossed over into corporate?

The lack of other information about him despite the fact he displayed the skill level of someone with years in the business at least shed light on how he’d been able to outmaneuver her men and infiltrate the Virginia facility.

She knew Mr. McCrillis would want this information. She had no doubt that Quinn was responsible for not only freeing his friend Daeng but also killing Boyer.

But Gloria wasn’t above a little revenge of her own. When she finally finished her business with the girl, she would go after Quinn and make him pay for getting in her way. If she could use his termination as a means to advance her career at McCrillis, that was just a bonus.

Everyone would be happy in the end.

Well, except for Quinn.

__________

A
FTER QUINN TOLD
Nadine
about Eli Becker and their encounters with the people from McCrillis International, she finally agreed to tell them what she knew.

Yes, Desirae was on one of the Hawaiian islands. Oahu. But where on the island, Nadine did not know.

“How do you contact her?” Quinn asked.

“I don’t.”

“No phone number? No e-mail?”

She shook her head. “We agreed that Terri needed to be her priority. And it would be safer if I didn’t have a number someone could…torture out of me, I guess. She checks in with me every few months.”

“You must have some way to get ahold of her in an emergency.”

Nadine went quiet for a moment before saying, “There is one.”

The method involved an in-person visit to a gift shop on Oahu, and the name of a woman who worked there and could get a message to Desirae.

As Daeng drove them to the airport, Quinn said, “I want you to stay here and keep an eye on Madame Chastain. I don’t think anyone will show up, but just in case.”

“In other words, you don’t want my crutches in your way,” Daeng said with a knowing smile.

“Fifty-five percent what I said, forty-five you.”

Daeng laughed. “It will be my pleasure.”

They were too late to catch a flight to anywhere useful, but since they’d have to connect through one of the major hubs anyway, it made more sense to rent a sedan and drive the seven and a half hours to Toronto so they could catch one of the first flights the next day to the West Coast. By the time they deplaned in Honolulu and rented a car, it was a quarter to three in the afternoon.

The gift shop was located in the Windward Mall in Kaneohe on the other side of Oahu from the capital. After they parked, Orlando pulled comm gear out of her bag and handed a set to Quinn and Nate.

“What about me?” Abraham asked.

Reluctantly she gave him one, too. “But you stay with Nate, understand?”