“What are you doing?” Liz asked.
“Responding to your brother,” he said. “He wants to know what’s going on.”
She hesitated, then asked, “You really work for him?”
“Yes.”
“And that other guy, he works for my brother, too?”
“Sometimes, I guess,” Nate said.
“You guess?”
“Yesterday was the first time I met him.”
She was quiet for a while. “What exactly is it my brother does?”
“I think maybe he should answer that one.”
“But he’s not here. You are.”
Nate had no response for that, so he kept his mouth shut.
They rode in silence, stopping at several stations before Liz suddenly sat straight up. “My mother. If people were coming after me, do you think someone might go after her also?”
“We have people watching her, too. She’ll be fine.”
“She can’t run like me,” Liz said. “If they get close, she won’t be able to get away.”
“Your brother won’t let that happen.”
“He let that happen with me,” she snapped.
Several of the passengers at the other end of the car looked over. But they soon returned to their own worlds when it was apparent a yelling match wasn’t about to break out.
After several seconds of silence, Liz whispered, “Sorry.”
“Don’t be,” Nate said. “I’d be mad, too.”
“I need to ask you something.”
Nate gave her a sideways glance. “Isn’t that what you’ve been doing?”
That drew out just the barest of smiles on her face.
“Is Jake a criminal?”
Nate had to catch himself from laughing. “No,” he said. “Well, I guess it depends on how you look at things. Some people might think so. But no, he’s no criminal.”
“That’s not exactly a clear answer.”
Nate thought for a moment, then said, “Your brother is one of the most honorable people I know. If he gives someone his word, he doesn’t break it. I’d trust him with my life any day of the week.” Nate paused for a moment. “He’s not the easiest person to get to know. And he doesn’t have a lot of close friends. But that’s not because he’s not a good person. He is. He cares more than he ever shows. He’s just … Quinn.”
“There’s that name again. Quinn.”
“It’s his name now.”
“Jake Oliver wasn’t good enough for him?”
“In our world it’s safer to create a new identity. Hell, until just before I met you, I didn’t know him by anything
She scrutinized him again. “So you’re saying your name really isn’t even Nate?”
He smiled. “It depends.”
“On what?”
“On if we’re talking about before or after I started working for your brother.”
Just then the train began to slow as they pulled in to a new station. Nate looked out the window. A sign on the wall said
“Our stop,” he said.
He stood up and walked toward the door.
“Movement,” Orlando said.
She was at the dining room table, her laptop in front of her. Quinn moved in behind her. The image on the screen showed the blue dot representing Nate’s phone moving west from Liz’s apartment. But was Liz with him? For that matter, had they been taken or were they still free?
Quinn pulled out his phone.
“You still shouldn’t call him,” Orlando said.
“I’m not calling. I’m texting.”
Orlando rolled her eyes as he brought up the virtual keyboard and tapped in one word.
Update
He hit Send. If he didn’t hear back within the next thirty minutes, they’d go to Paris whether it was a bad idea
