nothing.
Just as the visitor knocked for a third time, Liz stepped out of the bedroom.
“What’s that—”
Nate held a finger to his mouth, quieting her, then motioned for her to go back into the bedroom. She complied with the first part, but not the second.
Five seconds passed, then ten. If there was to be a fourth knock, it should come within the next fifteen seconds. But those silently came and went.
Though still uneasy, he smiled, and held out the glass. “Thought you might be—”
With a loud crash, the front door splintered inward, flying open.
Nate dropped the glass and raced forward. Grabbing Liz, he carried her into the bedroom, where he dropped her back to her feet, then slammed the door closed.
“Help me,” he said, as he began to push the meager dresser in front of the door. Liz quickly joined him.
Once it was in place, Nate raced to the window and threw it open. The drop was two floors. Ankle-breaking height, especially if you didn’t know what you were doing.
He glanced back, then pulled a sheet off the bed.
“Tie this end around your waist,” he said. “Tight.”
“What are you going to do?” she asked, grabbing the end of the sheet and looping it around her body.
“It’s too far for you to jump, so I’m going to lower you enough so you can drop down without getting hurt.”
“What about you?”
“Don’t worry, I’ll be right behind you.”
They could hear people running in the apartment.
“Come on. We don’t have time.”
Someone slammed into the bedroom door.
“Climb out,” he said. “I’ll lower you as far as I can, then let go.”
“You’re not going to make it!”
“Don’t worry about me. Just get down, and get the hell out of here. I’ll find you later.”
“Where?”
“Westminster Abbey.” It was the first place he could think of.
Another slam. This time the door cracked.
“Please, Liz.”
She looked reluctant, but climbed over the sill. Nate held tightly to the end of the sheet as he lowered her as fast as he dared.
A third slam toppled the dresser.
“Stop!” someone shouted.
Nate didn’t even look back, he just kept lowering Liz. Only a few more feet and it would be enough.
“He’s letting her down into the alley,” the voice behind him said.
“Roger.”
Nate tensed. The second voice wasn’t from someone in the room with him. It had come over a radio.
Movement at the end of the alley caught his attention. He looked over and saw two men running toward the back of the apartment building. There was no other exit. Liz was trapped. A second later someone grabbed Nate by the shoulder and pushed him to the side. Nate held tight on to the sheet, unwilling to let it go.
“She’s far enough down that the fall won’t kill her,” the man at the window said.
“You can let go now,” another voice said, this one behind Nate.
Nate’s fingers dug into the sheet.
“Let it go!”
The man at the window shoved Nate, spinning him around. There were two men standing in the middle of the room, both with guns pointed at him.
“Let. It. Go!” one of them said.
“Not a chance,” Nate told him.
He saw the muzzle flash, and felt the impact, but he never heard the gun go off.
At 6 p.m. Quinn and Orlando stopped for a quick bite at the Iron Duke in Victoria Station. All the pieces of the plan were in place. There was no question in Quinn’s mind whether they would succeed or not. They had to. The survival of his family depended on it.
At 6:14 his phone rang.
BLOCKED.
It was time.
He let it ring four times before he answered. “Hello?”
“Good evening, Mr. Quinn,” Palavin said.
“Been waiting to hear from you.”
“Is everything still on schedule?”
“Yes. Everything’s fine. You have the location for me?”
“My assistant will be calling you with that information later,” Palavin said.
Quinn tensed, not liking the deviation from what he expected. He stood up and walked to a less-populated section of the pub. “So you’re just calling to make sure everything is fine?”
“Not exactly. I’m calling to ensure you know how important it is that you stay on track.”
“Everything
Orlando walked up, her backpack over her shoulders, Quinn’s in her hand.
“That’s good to hear. But sometimes I find that extra incentive doesn’t hurt.”
“What incentive?” Quinn said.
“I think maybe we should stop playing games with each other,” Palavin said. “You’ve known for at least a day now that I’ve had an interest in making sure you finished what I hired you for. If you didn’t, you wouldn’t have tried to hide your sister from me.”
Quinn froze.
“What is it?” Orlando mouthed.
But Quinn could only shake his head, his eyes wide.
“I do appreciate that you brought her to London. It makes my job easier.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t have a sister.”
“Oh, my God,” Orlando whispered.
She walked away from him, pulling her phone out of her pocket.
“I can let you talk to her if you’d like.”
Quinn looked over at Orlando. She had her phone to her ear, but shook her head. Nate wasn’t answering.
“What do you want?”
“What I’ve wanted from the beginning. For you to finish the job you were hired to do.”
Quinn’s grip tightened on his phone. “You don’t need my sister to make that happen. I’m already doing the job.”
“Perhaps it would have been unnecessary before, but once you knew I was trying to find her, how could I trust you were being honest with me? Now that I actually have Elizabeth, I think maybe we can see eye to eye. You bring me the body, and I will let her go.”
“I want to talk to her,” Quinn said.
“Naturally. I wouldn’t expect you to believe me if you didn’t.”
“Just put her on!”
The phone fell silent for a moment. The next thing Quinn heard was heavy breathing.
“Liz?”
“Jake? God, Jake. Help.”
“Are you hurt?”
“Just bruised.”
