Quinn used his camera to check on the meeting. Nothing appeared to have changed — Orbits was still inside the SUV with The Wolf.
“Nate, Ananke, go around front and hold at the corner,” Quinn said.
They headed off the long way around.
Quinn watched the phone’s screen, knowing something had to happen soon. The wait ended two minutes later when a sedan turned off the highway and pulled into the spot next to the Explorer.
“Nate, do you have eyes on the sedan?” he asked.
“Yeah,” Nate whispered.
“How many inside?”
“I can only see one. It’s the guy who was driving the ambulance.”
“No Dani?”
“I don’t see…wait.” A pause. “He’s looking into the backseat area and talking. She must be there.” Another beat. “The door to the Explorer is opening.”
Quinn looked at his phone again, but the door in question was on the other side and he couldn’t see much of anything.
“Orbits is getting out,” Nate continued. “So is the driver of the sedan. They’re talking…okay, Orbits is opening the back door. The Wolf is getting out now…she’s looking into the sedan.”
Quinn was starting to get frustrated about not having a direct line of sight, but then the front passenger door of the Explorer opened. The motorcyclist slipped out quietly and moved around the back of the SUV.
“Nate, be ready,” Quinn said. “Daeng, follow me.”
“Here we go,” Orbits said as Stafford pulled the sedan beside The Wolf’s vehicle. He reached for the door but stopped and looked back, first at Bianca and then at The Wolf. “I’m going to get out. Don’t shoot me.”
The Wolf gestured at his door. “Please.”
He exited and motioned for Stafford to do the same. Once the other man was out, he asked in a hushed voice, “Any problems?”
“All good,” Stafford responded.
“Has Parnell seen anything?”
“I haven’t heard from him.”
No news was good news.
“Mr. Orbits? Is everything all right?” The Wolf called from inside the SUV.
“Just fine,” he said.
He opened the sedan’s back door. Danielle Chad lay across the rear seat, her head at the other end. Stafford had tied a cloth around her mouth so apparently it hadn’t been all good.
“It’s showtime, baby,” he said. He looked back at the SUV. “If you want to see the merchandise, now’s your chance.”
After exiting her vehicle, The Wolf bent down and looked into the sedan.
“Well, well. Miss Hayes. It’s been a long time.”
Hayes? Orbits hadn’t heard that name before, but it obviously meant something to the girl, because the defiance she’d been wearing as a second skin was showing cracks.
“Okay, you’ve seen her,” he said. “Authorize the final payment and she’s all yours.”
The Wolf straightened back up. “Good idea. I’ll need my computer.” She climbed back into the Explorer, but instead of grabbing her laptop, she shut the door.
Staying low, Quinn and Daeng moved over to the SUV. Quinn gestured for his friend to remain near the front end, where Daeng could watch the driver, and then headed to the back. The motorcyclist stood at the other corner, gun in hand, peering at Orbits and The Wolf.
Quinn could hear the two talking on the other side, something about payment and computer. A moment later, the Explorer rocked slightly, followed by the door slamming shut.
Taking this as her cue, the motorcyclist moved around the corner toward Orbits.
Orbits twisted around to find a smiling Bianca pointing her gun at him.
His own weapon was still under his jacket. He might’ve been able to pull it out, but he’d never get a shot off. So he threw himself into the sedan on top of Danielle. From outside, he heard the spit of Bianca’s weapon, the bullet sailing through the spot he’d been.
He grabbed his pistol but the barrel caught on his jacket. The weapon slipped from his hands and slid under the front seat. He felt around for it but couldn’t find it.
Two more shots went off, one from Bianca’s direction, the other coming from where Orbits had last seen Stafford.
Giving up on the gun, Orbits threw himself into the front seat as more shots were fired. When he started the engine, Stafford fell against the hood, his face covered with blood.
Son of a bitch!
Certain that Bianca was only a step away from putting a bullet in the back of his own head, Orbits shoved the car into reverse and slammed the gas pedal to the floor.
Before Quinn could get to the other side, he heard two sound-suppressed gunshots. As he sneaked a look around the corner, he saw Orbits’s other man pop up from the other side of the sedan and fire his weapon. The motorcyclist returned the favor, her aim a lot better than his.
Quinn rushed in behind her and placed his gun against her back. “Drop it.”
She froze.
“Last warning.”
As the pistol fell from her hand, the sedan shot backward, the open rear door smacking into the motorcyclist and shoving her against Quinn. Together they whacked into the Explorer and tumbled to the ground.
The woman tried to grab his gun but he was having none of it. So she spun around until she spotted her own weapon several feet away and dove for it. Her fingers had just touched the hilt when—
“Not a good idea,” Nate said.
Nate’s gun was pointed at the woman, while Ananke and Daeng had their weapons trained on two people still inside the SUV.
Quinn jumped up and yanked open the Explorer’s back door.
“Out.” He grabbed The Wolf’s arm and jerked her out, then pressed his gun against the base of the driver’s neck. “You, too.”
The driver did not resist.
While Quinn picked up the dropped weapons, Nate and Ananke quickly patted down the driver and the women, confiscating a Glock 9mm from the man but finding nothing on the women. Daeng zip-tied their hands and ankles.
“Let’s go,” Quinn said, and climbed behind the wheel of the Explorer. He smiled at The Wolf. “Thanks for the ride.”
When the others were inside, he whipped the Explorer backward and raced away from Karl’s K-4.
“Nate, call the cops,” he said. “Have them pick up The Wolf and her friends.” He checked to make sure his comm mic was on. “Orlando, Orbits is heading your way.”
No response.
“Orlando?”
CHAPTER 39
Orlando stared in the direction of the unseen gas station, trying to visualize what was going on from the less than descriptive conversation coming over the comm. Something had gone down, that’s for sure. It sounded like her friends had gotten the upper hand.
She was starting to think maybe it was all over and they could get back to their lives when she spotted a gray sedan heading north at an unusually fast speed. She watched it approach. It appeared to have only one occupant.
It wasn’t until the car passed by that she was able to get a good look at the driver.
Ricky Orbits.
She started the car and pulled onto Highway 4, a couple hundred feet behind him.
For the first thirty seconds after Orbits sped away from Karl’s K-4, he watched his rearview mirror more than he watched the road ahead. He was sure The Wolf’s Explorer would be right on his tail, but so far, it didn’t appear to have even left the station.
At some point, though, they would come. And this piece-of-crap sedan would never be able to outrun them. He needed a place to hide, somewhere they would never look.
The abandoned café they’d used the night before was coming up in a few miles, but it was right off the highway and seemed too exposed.