Quinn was about to take a closer look at the patios behind the deck-level apartments when he felt his phone vibrating in his pocket. He pulled it out and looked at the display. Orlando.
“Damn,” Quinn said. Anyone else and he would have just ignored the call.
“What?” Nate asked.
“Nothing. Just keep an eye out. I’m going off-line for a second.”
He pulled the earpiece out, then flipped his phone open and pressed the Talk button.
“Hold on,” he whispered into his cell.
He moved away from the tower to one of the sitting areas closest to the outer wall. He crouched down so he was completely hidden from view, then returned the phone to his ear.
“Not a good time,” he whispered.
“Are you inside yet?” she asked.
“Working on it.”
“And no one’s seen you?”
“The plan is not to be seen.”
“Right. I just thought that since you have
“Appreciate the confidence. But I don’t really have time for the I’m-smarter-than-you talk right now.”
“Try apartments zero-four dash twenty-one and zero-five dash twenty-one. West tower.”
“What?”
“Zero-four twenty-one or zero-five twenty-one,” she said. “West tower. Is there a problem with the connection?”
“Why there?”
He could almost hear her smile on the other end. “Thought it might be easier if you knew where you were going, so I dug a little and found a list of tenants for the Quayside Villas.”
“Why those two?”
“Everything in the building is rented by individuals or corporations. All the owners check out as legitimate. All except the owners of those two apartments. Each is owned by a separate corporation. The funny thing is neither corporation exists. Interesting that out of all the apartments in the building, those two would be one on top of another.”
“That doesn’t necessarily mean Markoff meant either one.”
“Have you been able to do a signal check?” she asked.
He paused. “It’s coming from inside the west tower.”
“Well then. My work here is done,” she said.
CHAPTER
“I’M GOING IN,” QUINN TOLD NATE ONCE HE HAD HIS
earpiece back in.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes,” Quinn said. “Hold your position and monitor the security station.”
“Got it.”
Quinn moved back through the maze of plants to the main pathway. Just beyond was the private patio of the apartment nearest the tower door. The gray stone wall that enclosed it created an area about twenty feet deep by fifteen wide. A wrought-iron patio table and set of matching chairs sat off to the left. Stuck through a hole in the middle of the table was an opened dark umbrella currently shading the patio furniture from nothing but the stars. Lining one of the walls were several small pots of flowers. At the far end was the sliding glass door entrance to the apartment, the blinds pulled only halfway closed.
Inside, the apartment was dark. Still, Quinn was able to make out what looked to be a couch and an entertainment console. Beyond that, the room plunged into total black.
He was sure he could get in, but there were two problems. The first and most obvious was that someone might be home, while the second was the apartment’s proximity to the security camera. Either one was a reason to move on.
He made his way left to the next private patio. More furniture, this time made of wood. There was even a lounge similar to those on the main deck. But whoever lived in this apartment didn’t appear to be a gardener. There were no plants or flowers, just the furniture and a small hibachi grill pulled under the overhang near the door. Again the blinds were not completely closed, but the angle of the building prevented most of the exterior light from shining in, so Quinn could see little beyond the glass. He got the impression, though, that whoever lived there wasn’t a big fan of the outdoors and had used their portion of the deck sparingly at best.
Patio number three was similar to the first one. Furniture and plants. Only this time, a curtain was drawn across the glass door.
