'Christ, Quinn. What the hell is going on?'
'Have you figured out who your double agent is yet?' Quinn asked.
'I told you. There is no double agent.'
After what Quinn had learned in Brussels, he'd begun to suspect that himself, but he wanted to hear the whole story from Peter. 'Then who fed Borko the info he needed to take you down?'
There was a pause, then Peter said, 'I know you've talked to Burroughs. So you know Jills was working for us.'
'Yeah,' Quinn said. 'Why didn't you just tell me that in the first place?' 'I had clients. Certain trusts that couldn't be broken.'
'Yet you rolled over on Burroughs.'
'I gave you the name of someone you could talk to,' Peter said. 'That's all.'
Quinn shook his head. In Peter's world, he had just been trying to save face. Even in desperation, he'd been unwilling to compromise his integrity. Not because of any moral code, but because doing so might jeopardize future work.
'What about Jills?'
'She wasn't just a one-time hire. She'd started working for me full-time six months ago. Not ops work. She was here with me, working on project planning. I put her on the Taggert job because I trusted her and needed it done right.'
'And you didn't want to waste one of your top guys on such an easy gig,' Quinn guessed.
No answer at first, then, 'That, too.'
'So she knew everything,' Quinn said, connecting the pieces. 'And before they killed her, they made her talk.'
Neither of them spoke for several seconds.
Quinn finally broke the silence. 'Listen to me. You need to do exactly what I say. If you don't hear from me in the next twenty-four hours, shut it all down. Airports, harbors, border crossings. Everything.'
'Why?'
Quinn hung up the phone without another word.
The cab dropped Quinn off a block from Sophie's place. He hadn't intended to come back so soon, but when he called after he'd finished with Peter, Sophie told him Nate had woken up for a while that morning. Quinn couldn't pass up an opportunity to talk to his apprentice and see if he might be able to tell him something that could help.
First, though, he had called Orlando and told her what he'd learned from the Mole. He wanted to leave out the part about Garrett's abduction, but he knew that wasn't an option. Her reaction was several moments of silence followed by a terse 'What are we going to do about it?'
Quinn described the plan that he'd worked up. She hadn't liked it, but she couldn't suggest anything better. They went over a list of things they could need. Though some of the items were unusual, Orlando was confident she could find everything.
As Quinn walked toward Sophie's place, he saw Dr. Garber come out the front door. Quinn jogged to catch up to him. The doctor glanced nervously over his shoulder as Quinn approached. But when he saw that it was Quinn, he slowed his pace.
'Herr Quinn,' the doctor greeted him.
'How is he?'
'As good as possible, after one night. He'll be good as okay soon enough. Until then, he should take it very easy.'
'Thanks,' Quinn said. 'I appreciate everything you've done.'
Quinn was about to turn around and go back to Sophie's place, but something in the doctor's manner made him hesitate.
'I won't be coming back,' the doctor said.
'What? Why?'
'This is too dangerous, even for me. Everyone is looking for you. This morning I had a visitor. Someone I've never met before. But he seemed to know that you and I have worked together in the past. I told him I hadn't heard from you in two years. I'm not sure he was convinced. But he did say if I saw you, I should call him.'
'He gave you a number?'
The doctor reached into his pocket and pulled out a business card. On the back someone had handwritten a telephone number. On the front, professionally printed in black ink, was the name Dahl.
'Here,' he said, handing the card to Quinn. 'This way I won't be tempted.'
Nate's eyes were closed when Quinn entered the guest room. Sophie had barely said a word to him when she had let him in. Now she was busying herself in the kitchen.
The wooden chair was still beside the bed where Quinn had left it. As he sat down, he said, 'Nate?'
Nate's eyelids fluttered, then parted slightly.
'It's Quinn.'
