Another set of headlights appeared in the east at 4:12 a.m. As they neared the farm, the lights blinked twice. Quinn and Nate stepped out of their hiding place and Mr. Vo’s RV slowed to a stop.
The side door popped open and Daeng leaned out. “Are you the ones who requested a ride?”
Quinn handed him the duffels, then let Nate board first before climbing in himself.
“Good to see you,” Daeng said.
As they shook, Quinn said, “You, too.”
“So, where do you want to go?”
“East.”
“Consider it done.”
Daeng moved back into the driver’s seat and pulled them onto the road.
“You hurt, too?” Mrs. Vo asked Quinn. She and her husband had helped Nate into the chaise longue.
She scanned his face, looking for injuries.
“No, I’m all right.”
Her eyes narrowed. “What you do to Nate?”
“I didn’t do anything to him. He, um, fell down.”
Mr. Vo, in the process of cleaning the dry blood off Nate’s face, said, “Then he fall on pile of rocks, I think.”
“You need to eat?” The way Mrs. Vo asked Quinn the question, it sounded almost like an accusation.
“Only if there’s something handy,” he said.
“Everything handy. Is mobile home. I get you pork chop.” She looked him over. “Two, maybe.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Vo.”
She grunted and moved over to the kitchen.
Quinn made his way past her to the back where Orlando was sitting at the table. “Hey,” he said softly. He leaned down and kissed her.
“Sorry I didn’t get up,” she said.
“I didn’t expect you to.”
She sniffed the air around him. “You need a shower.”
“I missed you, too.” He put a hand on her belly. “How’s the little one?”
“Active,” she said. “Where’s Dani?”
He pulled out his phone and showed her.
“How long has she been stopped?” she asked.
“About twenty minutes.”
In the three-plus hours since he’d last seen Dani, her tracking chip had traveled the hundred and fifty miles to Spokane and then stopped — not just paused, but stopped dead.
“Maybe she’s asleep,” Orlando said.
“That’s what I was thinking. What I don’t understand is why she got someone to drive her that far. From what I could tell, her tracking chip made only one quick stop the whole time.”
“I’ll double-check the data.” Orlando opened the laptop version of the software. “Chip number?”
He gave it to her and sat down across the table. “Where’s Garrett?”
Orlando nodded toward the bed above the cab. “He knocked out a few hours ago. I don’t expect him to stir again until lunchtime.”
He scanned the rest of the interior. He’d never been in the RV before. “This place is…cozy.”
“I was thinking we could start taking it on jobs and using it as a mobile office.”
“You were?”
She looked at him over the top of her computer. “Don’t be stupid.”
She concentrated on her screen again. A minute later, she said, “You’re right. Whoever picked her up took her all the way to Spokane, with just one stop of two minutes and seventeen seconds.”
“I don’t like it.”
“Neither do I.” She paused. “What now?”
“Go to Spokane,” he said without hesitation.
“So we’re playing the white knight again.”
“Is that a problem?”
She squeezed his fingers. “When has that ever been the case?”
She started to lean forward to kiss him, but her belly kept her from getting very far, so she yanked on his arm and pulled him across to her.
CHAPTER 28
Dani hadn’t realized something was wrong until they reached Waitsburg.
“You can leave me here,” she said. “Anywhere’s fine.”
“Here? Nah. You don’t want to get out here,” Ricky said.
He then raced straight through town, ignoring all traffic signs.
When she had tried to open the door and jump out, he grabbed her arm, pulled her back, and punched her in the jaw. That had knocked her out. How long, she wasn’t sure, but when she woke, they were rambling down a highway, the sky still dark.
“I suggest you not try that again or I’ll really hit you next time,” Ricky said.
Dani scooted as far away from him as she could, biding her time until an opportunity to escape presented itself.
One never came.
As they neared Spokane, he grabbed her again and pulled to the side of the road. This time, instead of punching her, he manhandled her into the back.
He flashed her a look at the gun in a holster under his arm. “Don’t try anything.”
He climbed out of the car and retrieved something from the trunk. After opening the passenger-side rear door, he slid in next to her and held out a bottle of water.
“Drink it.”
“I’m not thirsty,” she said.
He pulled out his gun and pointed it at her ribs. “Drink it.”
“You won’t kill me.”
He chuckled. “You know, you’re right.” He switched his aim to her thigh. “But I have no problem hurting you a little bit. Now drink.”
She reluctantly took the bottle from him. As she unscrewed the top, she realized the seal had already been broken.
“Go on,” he said.
She pretended to take a sip.
“That was very pretty. Now take a nice, big gulp, or in a few seconds I’ll put a new hole in your jeans.”
She did as he ordered.
“Now finish it,” he told her.
She downed the bottle.
The first wave of dizziness hit before she had even removed the bottle from her lips. Within moments, she was leaning back, barely able to keep her eyes open.
Ricky took the bottle from her and laid her down across the seat. “Don’t worry. You’ll only have a little bit of a headache when you wake up.”
The last thing she remembered was hearing him get out of the car and shut the door.
Orbits had been doing a lot of thinking on the drive to Spokane.
It was possible the Californians were responsible for the roadblock, but he hadn’t seen any sign of them since Yakima so he wasn’t going to jump to that conclusion. Whoever it was had access to some pretty extensive resources. Considering that and what he had seen of the Californians’ operation, he couldn’t ignore the fact that a hell of a lot of money was being poured into capturing the girl. Which led him to one very annoying conclusion: Even with his fee doubled, he was being woefully underpaid.
He began to wonder how many others were looking for the girl.
There was his client, plus the Russians who’d tried to hire him, and the Californians at the very least. He was willing to bet there were more.
His dour mood brightened as the outline of a new business opportunity formed.
After drugging the girl, he found a quiet motel on the edge of Spokane. The room was ratty and nowhere near the standards he preferred, but it would do. Setting his alarm for three hours, he lay down and contemplated the windfall he was about to receive until he fell asleep.
Orbits rose again at 7:30, even more convinced he could pull off his idea.
He checked the girl and called Donnie.
“I need three things right away,” he said.
“Hold on.” Movement on the other end, the rustling of sheets and then paper. “I’m ready. Go ahead.”
“One, a secure location in or near Chicago. Clean, you understand? Nothing to tie it to any previous operation. Two, a four-man support team with their own gear. They can’t be afraid to get dirty if needed. And three, a private jet from Spokane to Chicago that can leave within the hour.”