Quinn turned and headed back to his car. As he walked down the driveway, he glanced at the house one final time. The girl was in the window again, waving at him, and in the shadows behind her, he could see the mother watching him leave. He waved at the girl, then turned away.
Once he reached his car, he got in, started the engine, and shifted into drive. He had only gone half a block when he noticed a sedan pull away from the curb in his rearview mirror. A newer model Volvo. Silver. Two men in front. One in back.
It hadn’t been there when Quinn had arrived. He was sure of it. He had also not seen anyone walking up to it while he was getting back into his rental. The men had already been inside the car, like they were waiting.
Quinn kept an eye on his rearview mirror as he made his way back to the main road. The Volvo continued to follow. That in itself wasn’t unusual. Quinn was taking the main route out of the neighborhood. But he wasn’t buying the coincidence.
He turned east onto Woodway Drive, heading toward downtown. Behind him the Volvo turned in the same direction, then slowed a bit, putting a few cars between them.
Three men in a car going a couple miles an hour
No coincidence at all.
For fifteen minutes, Quinn kept an even pace, turning every once in a while in what seemed like unhurried, planned moves. Each time, the Volvo followed. Whatever minute percentage of doubt Quinn might have had disappeared. They were trailing him.
Ahead, the light was turning yellow. Instead of stopping, Quinn went through. Not rushing, but just fast enough to make the light. The Volvo was stuck a couple cars back and had no chance. Even with the advantage, Quinn didn’t speed away. He drove on like he had no idea they were there.
Two streets down, he took a right. As soon as the Volvo was out of sight, he jammed down on the accelerator. At the next big street, he took a left, then another right, then left, stair-stepping his way away from the Volvo.
Five minutes later, he saw a Mobile gas station and pulled in, stopping at the pumps. Though the rental’s tank was still almost full, he removed his gas cap and slipped the gas nozzle into the opening. What he didn’t do was start the pump. Instead, he moved around to the back of the car and opened the trunk. He unzipped the side compartment on his travel bag and pulled out a small plastic device that to anyone else would look like a battery charger. But it wasn’t a charger at all. It was a less powerful version of the detector he’d used on the truck the day before.
Only this time when he circled his vehicle, the detector emitted a soft beep. It was on the passenger side, near the back fender. He knelt down, pretending to check his tire, then reached up under the fender. When he removed his hand, he was holding a small metal disk.
“Smooth,” he said under his breath, admiring the stealth that had been employed to plant the device. He’d only been out of sight of his car for the minute or two he’d talked to the woman up at the house.
Quinn set the transponder on top of the gas pump, then did a second pass. No more beeps.
He returned to the pump and leaned back against the Lexus, pretending to wait for his tank to fill. A minute and a half later, the Volvo drove by.
Quinn paid it no attention, watching it only in his peripheral vision. The car turned right at the corner, then continued down the block until it was out of sight.
The moment it disappeared, Quinn removed the nozzle and recapped the gas tank. He grabbed the transponder off the top of the pump and attached it next to the nozzle mount where it would be hard to find.
Not wasting any time, he climbed back into his car and started the engine. Instead of pulling forward, he backed out so that there was no chance the Volvo would see him. When he exited the gas station, he raced across the oncoming lanes and turned left.
But he didn’t go far.
A block away, he found a busy strip mall and pulled into the lot, parking in front of a nail salon away from the street. It was starting to get dark as Quinn got out of the rental and stepped onto the sidewalk in front of the shops. From there he had a clear view back down the street. At the Mobile station, it seemed like business as usual. Someone else had already pulled up to the pump where Quinn had been.
He glanced at his watch. Five minutes passed since the Volvo had spotted him at the station. By now they would be thinking he should be almost done, if they weren’t already wondering why he was still there. Soon they would feel compelled to check again. Quinn guessed it would be seven minutes total.
It was eight by the time the Volvo returned.
The distance was too great for Quinn to see the men inside, but he knew they had to be surprised not to find the Lexus still sitting there. After all, their tracker was telling them the car should not have moved.
They made a quick turn into the station and pulled up on the other side of the pump Quinn had been at. The driver stayed at the wheel while the other two men got out. They tried to look natural, one man even removing the nozzle from the pump, but their movements were forced.
It took them a little over a minute to find the transponder, and when they did, they didn’t look happy. One of the men pulled out a phone, hit a couple buttons, then put it to his ear. The other quickly replaced the gas hose and climbed back into the car.
Quinn took that as his cue to get back in the Lexus. He pulled out of his spot, but didn’t exit the lot immediately. Several moments later, the man on the phone got back into the Volvo, and the car pulled out, heading in the opposite direction of the strip mall.
It didn’t take long for Quinn to catch them.
The darkness played in Quinn’s favor. A big city meant roads jammed with cars, and lots of headlights moving in and out of the flow of traffic. It made it easy to hide among the pack and remain unseen.
After a while, it became obvious the Volvo was headed back to the house on White Magnolia Lane. As they neared the neighborhood, instead of continuing the chase, Quinn turned down one of the side streets. He knew now where they were going, and while the night was great at disguising his presence on the busy main roads, he would
