“But why?” Nate asked.
“I couldn’t figure it out at first, either,” Desirae said. “His wife had inherited the company. What did she care anymore? At the suggestion of my hacker friend, we infiltrated the system belonging to the law firm that represented the Rostovs. It turns out that while Frank Rostov hadn’t publicly acknowledged Tessa, he had added her to his will a few weeks before he became incapacitated. If Tessa showed up, half the estate would be hers. Mrs. Rostov is clearly not interested in sharing. She made a bad choice, though, by hiring Carter. He might have been greedy for the money the project would bring in, but he wasn’t able to stomach the idea of killing a little girl and had come up with an alternate plan.
“What he didn’t realize was that apparently Mrs. Rostov had a separate plan to eliminate anyone associated with the deaths so they wouldn’t be able to talk about them later. There’s no doubt in my mind that’s where McCrillis first came in. In the process, either McCrillis or Mrs. Rostov herself must have realized something odd was going on. Otherwise, why continue looking for Tessa?”
They all fell quiet as they digested this last bit.
“They may never find out about this place,” Orlando said.
“I can’t take that chance.”
“Do you have somewhere else to go?” Quinn asked.
“I have backups.”
“Is there anything we can do to help?”
“The best thing you can do is leave us alone.” There was no malice in her words. She was only stating a fact.
Abraham rose from his chair. “Can I at least tell Tessa good-bye?”
“Of course,” Desirae said. “Her room’s last one on the left.”
He had barely disappeared into the hallway when somewhere toward the front of the house a buzzer sounded.
CHAPTER 33
Desirae turned toward the noise, startled.
“What is that?” Quinn asked.
“Driveway intercom,” she said, and then headed across the room.
The buzzer went off again as she reached a panel by the door. On it was a speaker, a few buttons, and a small video screen. Though Desirae blocked most of the screen from view, Quinn could see it flicker to life when she pushed one of the buttons.
“Yes?” she said.
“Detective Baker with the county crime investigation unit,” a woman’s voice said. “Wondering if I could have a moment of your time?”
Quinn moved quickly across the room so he could see the monitor.
“About what?” Desirae asked.
“It would be much easier to do this face to face. Could we come in?”
Though the camera appeared to be mounted several feet above the gate, it was angled enough that Quinn could see most of the driver’s face. He grabbed Desirae’s hand as she was about to push the button again.
“It’s them,” he said. “McCrillis.”
She looked at the monitor. “Are you sure?”
“That’s the woman responsible for Eli’s death.”
Desirae thought for a second before pushing the button again. “Now is not really a good time for us. Would it be possible for you to come back in the morning?”
On the monitor, the woman hesitated before she touched the talk button again. “Of course. Would eight a.m. be all right?”
“That would be fine,” Desirae told her.
“We’ll see you then,” the woman said. She pulled back inside her vehicle and backed out of camera range.
“They’re not leaving,” Quinn said.
“I know,” Desirae said, turning. “Follow me.”
“Now is not a good time for us,” the woman inside house number six said. “Would it be possible for you to come back in the morning?”
Alarm bells clanged in Gloria’s head. The woman was hiding something. But did it have to do with the phone call or was she worried because Gloria had said she was the police?
“Of course. Would eight a.m. be all right?” Gloria asked.
“That would be fine.”
Gloria pushed the button again. “We’ll see you then.” As soon as her window was up and the Suburban was rolling backward, she said, “Everybody ready. We’re going to check this one out.”
Desirae grabbed her Tavor assault rifle and quickly led Quinn, Orlando, and Nate into the hallway.
“Please tell us you have more of those,” Quinn said, motioning to her weapon.
Instead of answering him, she yelled, “Terri, code red.”
Before they reached the end of the hall, Tessa, pulling Abraham by the hand, came rushing out of her room, looking scared but in control.
“Is this practice?” she asked.
“No, honey. You know what to do. Take Abraham with you.”
Tessa nodded and led him down the hallway and into the guest bathroom, while Quinn and the others followed Desirae into the master bedroom.
“Where’s Tessa taking Abraham?” Orlando asked.
Desirae flung open the door to a walk-in closet and hurried inside.
“Tunnel under the house,” she said, pulling an old trunk away from the wall. She yanked back the carpet, revealing a trapdoor. “Comes out in the jungle behind my neighbor’s place.” Using a key on a chain around her neck, she unlocked the door and pulled it open. “There’s a path that goes to the next valley. We stashed a motorcycle there.”
“Tessa knows how to drive one?” Nate asked.
Desirae leaned into the opening. “She can drive pretty much anything in a pinch. Here.” She handed out three more Tavors and then pulled out four GLOCK 9mm pistols, suppressors, and extra magazines. When she was through, she jumped back up and shut the door.
As she connected the suppressor to her GLOCK, she said, “I’d rather not freak out my neighbors too much if we can help it. So rifles only if you have no choice, okay?”
Once they were all ready, they moved back into the hallway. Quinn was expecting them to go into the guest bathroom and join Tessa and Abraham in the tunnel, but Desirae kept going toward the living room.
“We need to get out of here,” he said.
“In a second,” she said. “I just gotta grab something.”
Quinn motioned for Nate and Orlando to wait by the bathroom, and then headed after Desirae.
Gloria pulled to the side of the road a hundred feet down from house six’s driveway.
“King, you and Andres go to the other side and work your way in. Nolan and I will take this end.”
They jumped out of the car and rushed around to the back, where they equipped themselves with pistols and ear-mounted radios.
“Backpack?” Andres asked.
Gloria nodded. “Bring it.”
The pack contained several specialized items such as flash bangs, tear gas, disposable gas masks, lock picks, and knives. Since they didn’t know what they were getting into, it was best to be prepared.
As King and Andres hustled off to their assigned entry point, Gloria and Nolan moved into the jungle near the back of the car. Since they were far enough away from the house, Gloria decided to sacrifice stealth for speed, not slowing until she estimated they were level with the house.