Page 12 of Never Again

“What delivery guy?” Quinn asked as he shared a look with Nathan.

“The one that was supposed to bring the package upstairs,” Pam said after a slight hesitation, making Nathan frown in confusion.

“Do you normally have the delivery guys bring up their packages?” Quinn asked as his gaze flickered between Nathan and Pam.

“Only for the first floor. No one is allowed on the second floor without approval, but that will be changing immediately,” Nathan answered for her as he stared helplessly down at his sister.

“That still doesn’t explain the baseball bat,” Bailey mumbled weakly, only to add, “I would like some more drugs,” as she buried her face against the thin hospital pillow.

“No, it doesn’t,” Quinn agreed as he glanced back at Pam to find her mouth working soundlessly before she managed to get out, “Leather loafers.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Nathan demanded, making Bailey wince right around the time that Quinn decided that they’d waited long enough for the discharge papers.

“Delivery guys don’t wear leather loafers,” Pam said, taking Quinn by surprise as he pushed Nathan out of the way and carefully scooped Bailey up in his arms.

“No, they don’t,” Quinn agreed, carrying Bailey towards the back exit.

“Could someone please tell me what the hell is going on?” Nathan snapped, cursing under his breath as he quickly moved to catch up with them.

“He’s kidnapping me,” Bailey mumbled against his chest, and since she was right, Quinn didn’t bother denying it.

CHAPTER6

“Idon’t wanna be kidnapped,” came the heavily slurred words as the small woman who had taken ten years off his life buried her face against the couch cushion.

“She’s not going anywhere,” Nathan said, leaning down to kiss the back of Bailey’s head only to think better of it when the small woman mumbled, “Owie.”

“She can’t stay here. Not like this,” Quinn said, attaching the chains that he’d grabbed from his bag around the elevator gate.

“Then, she’ll stay with me,” Nathan said as Quinn shifted his focus to the door that he’d been forced to break down earlier and fucking sighed when he saw the telltale signs that it had been picked at some point.

“No,” Quinn simply said as he closed the door and made his way to Bailey’s room, absently noting her messy bed, the empty Coke cans on the nightstand, the stacks of tech magazines throughout the room and fucking sighed when he saw that the door didn’t have a lock.

As soon as he’d made sure that Bailey was okay, he tore through the apartment only to realize that he was too late. Whoever broke into her apartment managed to disappear without a trace within minutes, letting him know everything that he needed to know.

He wouldn’t be able to keep her safe here, not like this.

“Anything missing?” Quinn asked when he heard Nathan join him.

“I’m not sure yet,” Nathan said, sighing heavily as he took in the mess left behind. “I should have called Tristan sooner.”

“Do the other floors have access to this stairwell?” Quinn asked as he stepped into the stairwell, noting that this one was smaller than the other one and didn’t have access to the roof.

“Yes,” Nathan said as Quinn nodded absently and stepped back into the room.

“And where does it lead?” Quinn asked as he shifted his attention to the door that led to a small hallway that ran behind the room that he was staying in and led to the bathroom.

“To a side door,” Nathan said as Quinn stepped back into the bedroom.

“And where does that lead?” Quinn asked, beyond fucking pissed that he didn’t already know the answers.

He’d never started a job without knowing absolutely fucking everything.

“To the back parking lot and a walkway that will take you to the sidewalk,” Nathan said as Quinn made his way to Bailey’s closet and grabbed a bag.

“And the security footage?” Quinn asked, already having a pretty good idea what the answer was going to be as he tossed the bag to the man who was in way over his head on this one.

“The cameras were down,” came the hesitate answer.

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