“Walk through there,” he said, pointing at one of the car exits. He handed her a map he’d drawn himself. “Follow this to the safe room, and stay there until you hear from one of us.”
She had yet to shake the stunned look that had overtaken her when he’d explained what was going on. Not only did she just find out she’d come within less than an hour of dying, Quinn had also explained the extreme measures she would have to undertake to remain alive.
“Be someone else…forever?” she’d said.
“Maybe, maybe not. But whoever you crossed undoubtedly has a long reach.”
“I should have never-”
“Wait,” he said quickly. “I don’t want to know what brought this on. It’s better for you and me if I’m out of the loop. From this point forward, Mila Voss is dead and whatever she knew died with her. Unless you do something stupid, they’ll have no reason to believe you haven’t been removed. Stay away from the business, contact no one you’ve ever known, find yourself a nice, uncomplicated life. That’s the only way you’re going to survive.”
She fell into her thoughts for a few minutes as Quinn drove, then she looked up and said, “Julien and you, too.”
“What about us?” Quinn asked.
“If I show up somewhere alive, they’ll want to know why you said I was dead.”
“Don’t worry about us. My cover is tight, and they don’t even know that Julien’s here. But if it helps you stay hidden, then fine. You’ll be endangering us, too.”
That had been the last they said to each other until he stopped next to the garage.
She studied the map, but he knew she wasn’t really seeing it.
“I don’t mean to rush you,” he said, “but if we’re going to pull this off, I need to be someplace else in five minutes.”
She nodded, but still didn’t move. “Why are you doing this for me?”
“Don’t ask me that,” he said. It was not a question he wanted to even think about. Whatever answer he might have, this had to be a one-time thing.
Until it happens again, a voice in the back of his head countered.
He looked at his watch. “Mila, please.”
“Right, right. Of course. Sorry.” She pointed out the back window toward the trunk. “My bag.”
“No bag.”
“But-”
“No bag. Everything new. Your cell phone, too. Leave it here.”
Looking shattered, she pulled out her phone and handed it to Quinn. He immediately removed the battery, pulled out the SIM card, and snapped it in half.
“God, I can’t believe this. All because of that stupid-” She stopped herself, then opened the door. “Thank you. For…my life, I guess, or whatever life I’m going to have.”
He nodded, but kept his mouth shut. His words would only prolong their parting and cut into valuable time.
As soon as she shut the door, he dropped the car into drive, and sped off. For a few seconds, he could see her through his rearview mirror, standing at the side of the road, watching him drive away, but when he looked up again, she was gone.
Moving to the next item on his itinerary, he pulled out his phone.
“Nine-one-one operator. What’s your emergency?” a female voice asked.
“I have passenger who collapse in seat,” Quinn said, using a flawless Russian accent. “I think she not breathing.”
“What is your location, sir?”
“I driving now. I pick her up at airport, suppose to take to Planet Hollywood. But go for hospital now, yes?”
“Are you close to a hospital?”
“Yes. Think only a few minutes.”
“Which one?”
“I don’t know what is called.”
“Valley Hospital, sir?”
“Maybe. I don’t know.”
“Okay. No problem. Do you know your passenger’s name?”
“Yes, uh, hold on.” He let a few seconds pass. “Ms. Reese. Is only name I was given.”
“Where exactly are you? I can have an ambulance meet you.”
“No, no. Better if I drive. Faster.”
“Sir, please. Where are you?”
“I drive. I-”
He cut off the connection, and hoped the message would get through.
Quinn’s phone rang seconds after he exited the elevator on the eighth floor of the Planet Hollywood Hotel. He glanced at his watch. Two minutes to eight o’clock. He accepted the call.
“Yes?”
“Something’s definitely wrong,” Jergins said.
Quinn reached the door to his room, but paused outside, not wanting Jergins to overhear the sound of the lock opening. “What’s going on?”
“The target’s disappeared.”
“What do you mean, ‘disappeared’?”
“Kovacs’s spotter was following the car she was in, but he lost her. If she was coming here, she should have arrived by now.”
“It’s just eight now,” Quinn said. “Could be she’s just running a minute or two late. Maybe she stopped to get something to eat.”
“I don’t like when plans don’t go as scheduled.”
Then I’m surprised you’ve lasted in the business as long as you have, Quinn thought. “So should I just sit tight, or what?”
“I need you to do a sweep.”
In a less stressful situation, Quinn might have smiled. While it was the next step Jergins should have taken, there’d been no way to know for sure if the team leader would follow standard protocol.
A sweep, in this sense, meant a rapid check of local emergency services in the event someone didn’t show up where they were supposed to. Accidents happened, not just in the civilian world, but in the spy world, too. It was always best to check every possibility. This particular kind of sweep, though seldom used, was the responsibility of the cleaner.
“Sure,” Quinn said. “Ten minutes, maybe less.”
“Less is better.” Jergins told him, and hung up.
Quinn let himself into his room. On his phone, he brought up the list of law enforcement and medical facility numbers that was always prepared before the start of a job, and began making calls. It was for appearance’s sake only. He already knew what he was going to tell Jergins, but it was important to create a history in case someone checked later.
Exactly nine and a half minutes later, Quinn called Jergins back.
“Anything?” Jergins asked. “She’s not here yet.”
“She’s not going to show, either.”
A pause. “What did you find?”
“At about ten to eight, a nine-one-one operator received a call from a limo driver saying he had a passenger who suddenly became unconscious. A woman he’d picked up at the airport named Reese.”
“Son of a bitch.”
There were two ways Quinn could go at this point. He decided on the riskier move, because, if it worked, it would be the better choice in the long run. “My first thought was that she’d found out what we had planned, and was trying to cover her tracks while she got away.”
Though Jergins said nothing, Quinn was sure he’d been thinking along similar lines.
“I called the hospital where the driver would have probably taken her,” Quinn went on. “I was pretty sure she wouldn’t be there, but I was wrong.”
“She is there?”
“In a way.”
“What’s that mean?”
“Mila’s dead.”
A second of thick silence. “I don’t believe it.”
It wasn’t the response Quinn hoped for, but the one he expected. “I’m not convinced, either. I’m going over there to see for myself as soon as I hang up.”
“Good. Call me the moment you’re standing next to her body, if it’s really there. Maybe Kovacs should go with you in case she’s alive and in the vicinity.”
“If she is, I doubt she’ll be anywhere near the hospital. It’ll also be easier for me to find out anything if I’m alone.”
“Fine. Call as soon as you know anything.”
CHAPTER 33
LAZIO REGION, ITALY
Given what Nate could see with the light of his cell phone, the emergency escape tunnel was not in great shape.
Roots pushed through the space between the boards that lined the ceiling and walls, boards that, because of obvious water damage, looked liked they were lucky to still be intact. If the builders had really wanted this to be permanent, they should have enclosed the tunnel in walls of concrete or stone.