[Quinn 02] - The Deceived

Before Quinn could say anything, Nate jumped in. “I’ve got movement over here. The two I’m watching are headed north now.”

Quinn stood up. Tasha was moving, too, heading in the same direction as the others. They were all converging on the congressman’s position.

“Orlando, we’re all coming to you,” Quinn said.

“Check,” she said.

Tasha stayed to the street, so Quinn paralleled her from his position inside.

“The congressman is getting out of the car,” Orlando said. “His wife is with him. So is your blond friend from last night. He’s got a nice big bandage around his hand.”

“Keep your eyes open,” Quinn said. “The shot can come from anywhere.” Just because Tasha was in charge didn’t mean she’d necessarily be the one to pull the trigger. It could come from any of her team—not only those who’d arrived with her, but also the men supposedly guarding the congressman.

They all worked for Tasha.

“My guys have stopped in the crowd and are just watching, not moving in,” Orlando said.

“Mine, too,” Nate said. “We’re a little bit south of you.”

As Tasha neared the corner, she turned in, passed beneath the metal roof, and entered the food center. She kept scanning the crowd as if she expected to find someone, but she never stopped moving forward.

Quinn had at first thought she was going to take the most direct route to the congressman, but instead she headed a little to the south, aiming for a break between the permanent food stands that would take her into the central aisle.

Quinn circled around so she was in front of him, then followed her, keeping about fifteen feet between them. If she were to turn around, she’d see him, but her focus seemed to be on what was ahead of her, not behind.

“Status,” Quinn whispered. “Holding position here,” Nate said. “Same,” Orlando said. “The congressman’s party is starting to move

down the central aisle. He seems a little tired. His wife is tense, though.” “Go figure,” Quinn said. “The blond guy stayed back at the car,” she said. “But two of the se

curity men are with them. They’ve also got someone who looks local with them. Chinese, I think. He seems to be giving the congressman a tour.”

Ahead, Tasha moved into the ten-foot-wide passageway. Because of the angle, she passed out of his sight for a moment, hidden by one of the cinder-block restaurants.

Quinn quickened his pace, but when he reached the gap, she wasn’t there.

She must have turned either right or left immediately on the other end of the short corridor; those were the only options. Quinn ran to the other end, slowing just as he reached the central aisle so as not to attract undue attention.

He looked right. Then left. But she wasn’t there. He turned around to look behind him, thinking maybe she had

spotted him and had just tricked him into passing by her. But she wasn’t behind him either, and there was no place in the passage she could be hiding.

Again he scanned the central aisle. But the result was the same.

Off to his left, near where the rows of restaurants began, he could see the congressman and his party. Their guide had led them to one of the stalls and was explaining something to them.

“Quinn?”

Quinn whipped around, his hand slipping into the opening of the bag on his shoulder. But it wasn’t Tasha or one of her team. It was Kenneth Murray.

“I saw you, but I wasn’t sure,” Murray said. He was an average-sized man, with an average-looking face. The kind of guy who would be hard to describe later, if you even remembered him. “I mean, I thought it was you, but...well, I guess I was right.” He paused. “What is it you wanted me to see?”

“Kenneth, I nearly killed you just now,” Quinn said.

“Wh...what?” Murray stammered.

Quinn could see the white all the way around Murray’s irises.

“Rule number one for you, never sneak up on me.”

“Okay, sure. No problem.” He took a step back. “Maybe actually I shouldn’t be here. I’m just in the way.”

Quinn grabbed Murray by the arm and turned him so he was facing the north end of the food center.

“There,” Quinn said. “You see him?”

Murray glanced nervously over his shoulder at Quinn, then looked down the central aisle of the hawker center. “What am I looking for?”

“That group of people down near the end. The man in the dark suit, that’s the congressman.”

“Okay. Yeah, I see him.”

“I need you to go down there and get him out of here.”

“Whoa. Wait. You just said you wanted me to see something. You didn’t say you needed me to do something.”