Page 21 of Dirty Quinn
The passenger opens his door and stands on the doorframe of the truck, raising his gun as he goes. Only then do I realize what he’s got planned and how little I can do about it when perched above it all in a tree. I take a chance and hit the button to call Al as the man opens fire on my little car, igniting everything I foolishly have stored in my trunk. The last thing I comprehend before everything goes black is just how deafening the sound of plastic explosives still is at one hundred feet away.
10
Mack
I don’t recognize the number calling, and it’s on my burner phone so I’m tempted to hit decline. Except with all the shit going on right now with Reed going UC and Quinn missing, plus Daria’s father in town, I don’t dare ignore the unknown.
“Yeah.” I also don’t dare to identify myself when I don’t know who’s calling a burner.
“Mack?”
“Who’s this?” I ask of the hoarse but feminine voice on the other end of the line.
“Is this Mack?”
I pause before answering.
Fuck it.
“Yeah, this is Mack. Who’s this?”
“Oh, thank god, I took a chance after tracing Daria’s burner to see who she called. It’s Al. Um, Alyssa. I work with Daria. We met once a while ago. Anyway, I think something may have happened, I’m just not sure.”
“What do you mean? Happened to who?”
“To Daria.”
“Where is she?”
“I think at Andrei Turgenev’s. But the call dropped before she said anything, and I’m pretty sure there was an explosion.”
“Where are you?
“At the office.”
“Hang on.” Hitting the parking lot at a run, I am behind the wheel of my car in a matter of seconds. “I’m in my car, heading to Andrei’s. Tell me everything, leave nothing out.”
* * *
By the time I reach Andrei’s, I’m an emotional wreck, and the street is a madhouse. Police cars, black SUVs, fire trucks, ambulances, along with people in uniforms are everywhere I look. The blackened remains of Daria’s car sits smoking on the side of the road in front of an equally demolished SUV. I park in the middle of the road, flashing my badge at the officer guarding the perimeter.
“Special Agent Mack Murphy, FBI. What happened?”
“Not sure. Car was parked, near as we can tell. Looks like the guys shot at it. Something inside exploded, took the guys out, blew the woman into a tree.”
“She was blown into a tree? Is she . . . did she survive?”
“Looked that way. They took her to Mercy a bit ago.” He shrugs. “What do the Feds want with this, anyway?”
“We’ve had our eye on the guy who owns the house.” I scan the area again, just to make sure I don’t see Daria anywhere. “But the woman, she was alive?”
“Pretty sure, yep. Just missed her by about four minutes. You ain’t gonna get anything out of her though. She was pretty banged up, unconscious I’m sure.”
“Thanks, man.” I pat him on the back as I turn and jog back to my car.
Daria is unconscious.
That’s not good.
