“You need to get out of there,” Howard said. “Fast as you can. There’s a very good chance the place has been compromised.”
Quinn flipped his phone to speaker and began pulling on his clothes. “What happened?”
“The contact who helped me set it up for you is dead.”
“When?”
“Sometime in the last thirty minutes. I talked to his friend, another op. They were out having drinks, and my contact went to the bathroom but didn’t come back. They found his body in the alley behind the bar.”
“How do you know that’s related to us?”
“I don’t. But his friend said my contact wasn’t working on anything, so the last thing he would have done was arrange for the house. Better if we play it safe, don’t you think?”
“Yeah. Definitely.”
“I can meet you, but it’ll take me over half an hour to get there. And you shouldn’t hang around that long.”
“You’re back?”
“Flew in right before midnight. I’ll call when I get close, and we can figure out a meeting point then.”
“All right. Thanks, Steve.”
“Be safe.”
Quinn finished dressing and rushed into the hall. He was about to open the door to the room Misty was using when Daeng appeared at the top of the stairs.
“Steve just called,” Quinn said. “He thinks this place might be compromised.”
“That would explain the men surrounding the house.”
Quinn pulled his hand back from the doorknob. “How many?”
“Four that I could count. I was coming up to get you.”
“How long have they been there?”
“Just moved in. Before that it was all quiet. There hasn’t even been a car driving by in the last two hours.”
“Isn’t that just great?” Quinn growled. “Okay, go back down and keep an eye on things while I get Misty up.”
Quinn opened the door to Misty’s room and moved over to the bed.
“We’ve got to go,” he said, shaking her shoulder.
She turned on her back and opened her eyes. “What? Go? I don’t—”
“We’ve got company.”
She sat straight up. “I thought this place was safe.”
“Apparently not.”
“Who are these people?” she asked.
Quinn grabbed her clothes off the dresser and tossed them to her. “As fast as you can,” he said before heading into the hall.
While he waited, he called Howard back. “They’re already here.”
“Son of a bitch. What do you want me to do?”
“Get here as quick as possible. I’ll call you after we find a way out.”
As he hung up, Misty stepped out of her room.
“Come on. Downstairs,” he said. “Make sure to stay away from the windows.”
When they reached the bottom of the stairs, Quinn paused and whispered, “Daeng? Where are you?”
Daeng’s voice came from down the hallway to the right. “Kitchen.”
Quinn motioned for Misty to copy him as he crouched down and crept into the hall. They found Daeng kneeling next to the cabinets by the sink.
“Where?” Quinn asked.
Daeng nodded up at the window above them. “Straight out there’s a hedge and some kind of shed. One guy’s there, around the back.” He twisted around. “If you look out the window by the front door, you’ll see a minivan parked across the street. Last time I checked another guy was peeking around it.” He pointed left, then right. “The other two are a little harder to see. No direct view. But there’s a window in the living room that if you lean far enough over, you’ll see a couple of bushes about twenty feet from the house. A guy’s in there. The one on the left, as far as I can tell, is pressed right up against the building.”
“So still just the four.”
“Yeah.”
“Just like earlier.”
“Was thinking the same thing.”
Whether or not it was the same team as the one at Peter’s apartment, Quinn figured the men’s abilities would be comparable.
“Okay,” he whispered. “This is what we’re going to do.”
Witten didn’t like it. The house was too quiet. Sure, it was after midnight, but there was a sense of stillness about it that he only picked up when a place was dangerous or deserted. Either way, it was a problem.
The fugitives — two men and a woman whose identities had yet to be determined — were supposedly holed up inside. How the powers that be at O & O had learned this, he didn’t know. It wasn’t his job. He was only here to make the problem go away.
“Dead or alive?” he’d asked when he’d been briefed twenty-five minutes earlier.
“I’m told alive, if possible, but we don’t need all three,” the woman acting as Terminal Eight that evening had said. “One will suffice.”
Witten had also been told about what had happened the previous afternoon, and was determined that Team Five would not achieve the same less-than-stellar results. Maybe that was why his senses felt more heightened than usual.
“Check,” he whispered.
Each member of his team was outfitted with a tiny comm radio — a receiver that fit snugly in the ear, and extending from it, a one-inch microphone that floated above the cheek.
“South, clear,” Suggs said.
Johnson was next. “West, clear.”
And finally, Brown. “North, clear.”
Deserted? Or dangerous? Witten wondered again as he scanned the front of the house. Unfortunately, there was only one way to find out.
“All positions, move in,” he ordered.
Quinn could feel Misty tense as they heard a floorboard creak. He touched her arm and gave it a quick squeeze.
Another creak, closer to the door this time.
It wouldn’t be long now.
There had been no need to pick the locks to get inside. The home in Arlington Ridge was a safe house known to O & O. Terminal Eight had simply supplied the entry codes to Witten, who had then passed them on to his team.
Suggs used the rear-door code to enter through the kitchen, while Witten utilized the one for the front door. Per earlier instructions, Johnson and Brown remained outside to secure the perimeter.
Witten stepped over the threshold into an unadorned entryway. His night vision goggles firmly in place, he could see he was alone. The short foyer led into the main part of the house, where he found a living room, dining area, kitchen, and Suggs.
Using well-practiced hand signals, he learned that Suggs had also spotted no one. Together they moved over to the carpeted stairway leading up to a second floor. Witten went up first. When he reached the top, he paused and listened. Given the hour, if the house was occupied, chances were the trespassers would be asleep, and Witten and Suggs would be able to contain them without a struggle.
There were five doors in the hallway — four to the left and one to the right. Witten ordered Suggs right, and he went left. The first room he came to was a bedroom with two sets of bunk beds. All the mattresses were bare — no sheets, no blankets. The next door opened into a bathroom that had several unused towels piled on the counter.
Before he could get to door number three, Suggs crept up behind him. With a shake of his head, Suggs let Witten know the room to the right was unoccupied.
Together, they moved to the next doorway. More bunks, only this time, sheets and a blanket rested on the bottom mattress of the bunk against the far wall. The bedding was in a tangle, as if the covers had been pushed away in a hurry.
Witten scanned the room before walking over to the mattress and putting his hand on the sheets. Even though the house was not particularly cool, he could tell right away the sheets were warmer than ambient temperature. Someone had been lying there — what, ten minutes earlier? Fifteen? No more than that.