The hum of the tires filled the silence that followed.
“Yes,” Abraham finally said. “Please.”
It was nearly one a.m. when Quinn pulled the truck into the empty strip mall parking lot on the edge of Dallas. He texted Nate:
We’re here
Eight minutes later, a van sporting an advertisement for a plumbing company entered the lot, Daeng behind the wheel. They followed the van into a less densely populated area with a few scattered businesses and homes on wide lots. Three miles in, the van turned off its lights so Quinn did the same. A little farther down, they turned onto a gravel driveway next to a sign that read:
RICH & DAWN’S
BBQ RANCH
Tacked to the bottom of this was a smaller sign.
GRAND REOPENING IN APRIL!
The driveway went on for about half the length of a football field before ending in a large parking area. While no other vehicles were present, a corner of the lot was filled with building supplies and equipment.
Quinn pulled in right behind the van and killed the engine.
“Welcome to Texas,” Daeng said as Quinn climbed out.
After they shook hands, Daeng greeted Orlando with a hug and introduced himself to Abraham.
“Where’s Nate?” Quinn asked.
“Inside. Let’s get your body and I’ll show you the way.”
They retrieved Eli’s body and carried it down the stairs to the basement. Nate was standing waist deep in a channel that had been cut out of the concrete. On the floor next to the opening was a body wrapped very much like Eli was.
“This our extra guest?” Nate said.
“He’s not a guest,” Abraham snapped.
Nate looked surprised by the reaction. “Sorry. I didn’t mean anything by it.”
“You should be careful what you say.”
“You’re right. No excuse.”
Abraham frowned but said nothing more.
“Where do you want him?” Quinn asked.
“Next to this one would be great.”
Quinn and Daeng gently set Eli down.
Quinn asked, “How’s this going to work?”
“You checking up on me, boss?” Nate asked.
“Only if you think I should.”
Nate smirked. “We bring them into the trench one at a time. Chem prep, then slide them under here…” He patted the floor next to where the bodies were lying. “And lower them into the hole. Fill everything back in and we’re done.”
“All right. You ready to go?”
“Just waiting for you.”
“Let’s start with Eli.”
Daeng jumped into the trench with Nate while Quinn scooted Abraham’s friend right to the edge. Once Eli was lying on the dirt in the channel, Nate cut slits into the plastic, exposing the body. He dumped liberal amounts of their dissolving chemical through each of the slits. When finished, he and Daeng maneuvered the body into its grave.
The other body went through the same process, and soon they were filling the hole with a mixture of the dirt they’d removed and a binding material that would hold it all in place for a long time, ensuring that no one would ever know anything had been added to the construction.
When everything was done, and the tools and two-by-four supports cleared away, Quinn held out his hand and helped first Daeng and then Nate hop out.
“About earlier,” Abraham said to Nate. “I may have…reacted poorly.”
“Not at all,” Nate said. “Working around the dead all the time sometimes makes me forget they were real people. It was a good reminder.”
An awkward silence fell between them.
“You guys are more than welcome to stay there all night,” Orlando announced, “but I’m beat. So, if you don’t mind, I’m going to have Daeng drive me somewhere where I can get some sleep.”
CHAPTER 15
Gloria opened her eyes and reached for her phone. Her hand didn’t make it very far before a stab of pain reminded her about the wound on her back.
After the incident with Eli Becker, she and her team had left the scene in a hurry, not really caring who might find the body. Gloria’s main focus had been getting to a doctor. Nolan had called their point person back at McCrillis headquarters, who had arranged for them to meet up with a discreet physician in Lake Charles, Louisiana.
While the wound had only needed three stitches to close, the puncture itself had been deep, damaging the muscle nearly all the way down to her ribcage. According to the doctor, if Becker had stabbed her a half inch to the right, the blade would have plunged into her spinal cord.
Once they’d finished with the doctor, they had driven to Houston and checked into a hotel near the airport, in anticipation of their 6:45 a.m. flight to DC.
Gloria reached her phone on the second try and checked the time—5:17 a.m.
Shit.
Gritting her teeth, she swung her legs off the bed and stumbled into the bathroom, where a hot but rushed shower helped ease some of the pain. After drying her hair and applying her usual scant amount of makeup, she donned her best blouse and suit jacket, headed over to the desk, and turned on her laptop.
At exactly 5:30 a.m., a chime announced the incoming video call. A moment later, the image of McCrillis’s client — a woman with silver-streaked dark hair — filled the main part of Gloria’s screen.
“Good morning, ma’am,” Gloria said.
“Well?” the woman asked. “What has he told you?”
“Unfortunately, Eli Becker is dead.”
A twitch of the woman’s eyebrow. “And how did that happen?”
Gloria hated these calls. The woman’s question was a perfect example of how counterproductive they were. But she was the client, and since things on this project had started heating up again over the last couple of months, the woman had insisted on these occasional briefings. Ethan Boyer — Gloria’s boss — had acquiesced, with Gloria having no choice in the matter. It did not mean, however, she needed to go into detail about how things went down.
“It will be in the final report,” she said, knowing that the document would reflect a more company-flattering version of events. “The reality is, he is no longer an asset.”
The client glared from the monitor. “Were you able to get anything out of him? Is the girl alive or not? Please tell me he told you that much.”
Gloria hesitated, then said matter-of-factly, “I’m not sure he knew.”
“So that’s a no.”
Gloria felt no need to respond.
The woman sat back in her chair. “He didn’t even know who he was working with? Or why he was looking for her?”
“No, ma’am. I was in the pro—”
“The girl!” the woman shouted. “I need to know!”
“We feel it’s likely he left something behind. I’m going to have the items he had with him analyzed. In the meantime, my team and I are heading back to DC to search his place.”
For several seconds, the woman looked as if she were on the verge of another rant. Finally, teeth clenched, she said, “I expect better news the next time we talk.”
The screen went blank.
CHAPTER 16
They caught a six a.m. flight out of Dallas to DC, Quinn promptly falling asleep before the plane even reached cruising altitude.
The night before, after they’d buried Eli, they had gone to the hotel Nate and Daeng had been using. Orlando and Daeng had been the only ones who’d tried to get some rest, achieving, at best, a ninety-minute nap prior to when they needed to leave for the airport. Quinn had spent the time filling Nate in on recent events, while Abraham had stood by the hotel window and stared out into the night.