wearing a wig.” “Where is she?” “She just entered the complex. Hold on.” Quinn could hear Nate moving quickly up the front stairs into the
shopping center. “I see her,” Nate said. “She’s heading toward the escalators. Blue dress. Brown wig, hair below her shoulders.” Quinn stood up and moved around the atrium balcony toward the
escalator that would bring the woman up to the second floor. “What do you want me to do?” Nate asked. Quinn said, “Stay down there in case this isn’t her.” The escalator let out on the south side of the floor. There were over
a dozen people riding up it as Quinn neared. Most were dressed in suits and fashionable dresses, ready for a party.
He leaned over the atrium railing just enough to take in the entire escalator. The woman Nate had seen was only a quarter of the way up. Unfortunately, she was turned away, looking toward the restaurant and not at Quinn. Her height was right, and so was her build, but that wasn’t enough for a positive ID.
Quinn pulled back. “Is it her?” Orlando asked, her voice a whisper in his ear. “Don’t know,” he said. He’d seen enough of the escalator to get the timing right. Just be
fore it was the woman’s turn to exit, he moved forward, his head down.
As she stepped onto the second-floor balcony, Quinn bumped into
her, putting a hand on her arm. “I’m sorry,” he said. “Wasn’t watching.” “Don’t worry about it,” she said, her voice familiar. Jenny didn’t even look at him. Her attention was focused on the
restaurant. Quinn started to tighten his grip on her arm, but she pulled away from him and began moving quickly across the tiled patio floor.
Ahead, the congressman and his party had just reached the entrance to the restaurant. Jenny must have noticed this also and was making a beeline for Guerrero.
“She’s heading for the restaurant,” Quinn said. “Front door.” “On my way,” Orlando said. Several people had gotten in between Quinn and Jenny. He
wanted to sprint after her, but that would attract too much attention.
The last thing they needed was to alert Guerrero’s security. “Orlando, where are you?” Quinn asked. “Almost there.” “She’s going to get to the door before I can reach her,” he said. There was a man standing behind a podium near the front door,
checking guest names on a list. Jenny must have caught his attention as she quickly approached the entrance. He snapped a small walkietalkie off a clip on his belt and started to say something into it.
Suddenly he lurched forward, bending over the podium and losing his grip on his radio. As he straightened back up, Orlando moved around him, her hand on her mouth as if she was extremely embarrassed. She said a few words to him, her eyes conveying her apologies.
Jenny was only a dozen feet away now. But she had spotted
Orlando and had stopped. She took a few steps back, and walked right into Quinn. As she turned around, he put a hand on each of her arms, holding
her tight. “Quinn?” she said, surprised. “We have to get you out of here,” he said. “No,” she said. “Let me go. I have to see the congressman.” “You do that and you’re dead.”
She shook her head. “You’re wrong. I have to see him.”
She tried to pull away, but he held on tight.
“You realize that some of those men with him were the same guys who were trying to grab you yesterday at the Far East Square?”
“He wouldn’t hurt me.”
“He wouldn’t have to,” Quinn said. “They’d do it for him.”
“Not once I talk to him. He won’t let that happen.”
Orlando came up behind Jenny. “We really need to leave now,” she said.
Quinn looked toward the restaurant entrance. While almost everyone was moving into the reception, there was one man coming out.
Blondie.
He had a pack of cigarettes in one hand and was shaking one of the sticks out. Quinn tried to move to the side so that Jenny and Orlando were between him and Blondie, but it was too late. The man spotted them.
“Come on!” Quinn said as he began pulling Jenny and accelerating toward the escalator.
She ran beside him, no longer resisting.
A group was just exiting the up escalator. Quinn maneuvered Jenny around them, then all but shoved her onto the down escalator.
“Run,” he said to her. He grabbed his collar and held it out so that his transmitter was only inches from his mouth. “We need a ride. Now!”
Nate answered over the radio immediately. “I’m on it.”
“To the right,” Quinn said to Jenny as she reached the bottom.
When he hit the last step, he took off after her, chancing a quick look over his shoulder as he did.
Orlando was getting off the escalator, while Blondie was just starting down at the top.
The pack of cigarettes was gone, but while he tried to conceal it, his hand wasn’t empty.
