The Buried

CHAPTER 36

Orbits and his men camped out in a shuttered café along the road, north of Meriden.

In anticipation of the coming day’s events, Orbits only slept in fits and starts, and was up and dressed at six fifteen. He checked the girl first. She was still asleep, the ill-fitting T-shirt Parnell had given her twisted around her chest, exposing her belly.

Careful not to disturb anyone, Orbits made his way out to the field behind the building and relieved himself. After zipping back up, he scanned the horizon. There were a few scattered clouds to the east, but otherwise the sky was clear.

A beautiful day. He took that as a good omen.

At precisely seven a.m., he reinstalled the battery in his phone and called The Wolf.

“Topeka, Kansas,” he said without preamble. “If you have a good pilot, you should make it there by eight thirty without a problem. I’ll call you then with further instructions. Oh, you should arrange for a car.”

“Just tell me where to meet,” she said. “There’s no need for—”

“I’ll call you in an hour and a half.”

He hung up and removed the battery again.”

“Do you have him?” The Wolf asked.

The man sitting across the aisle looked up from his computer and grimaced. “His signal’s scrambled. About the best I can say is that he’s in the Kansas-Missouri-Oklahoma area.”

“That’s a huge help,” she said, unsmiling.

“I’ll, uh, go over the data again. Maybe I can fine-tune it.”

“You do that.”

She turned her attention to the hunter in the seat in front of him. “Bianca,” she said. “Would you mind telling the pilot that our destination is Topeka, Kansas?”

A throwback to a bygone era of families in station wagons on cross-country journeys to take in the wonders of America, the motel at the north end of Topeka had one story with two wings forming an L around a parking area, and the prerequisite fenced-in swimming pool.

Quinn had woken the night clerk at two a.m. to get a room. Theirs was at the very end of the back portion of the L, farthest from the road. By the time six a.m. rolled around, he and Nate were both up, showered, and dressed.

Nate made a quick trip to pick them up some coffee, then, while they waited for Orlando’s call, they silently went over their gear, cleaning weapons and making sure everything was ready if needed.

“It’s seven,” Nate said a little while later.

Somewhere nearby Orbits was telling The Wolf where the meeting was to take place. At most, Quinn figured it would be another ten or fifteen minutes before Orlando could pin down The Wolf’s destination.

At fourteen minutes after seven, someone knocked on their door.

“Get rid of them,” Quinn told Nate.

His partner walked over to the door, opened it a few inches, and turned back to Quinn. “We, um, have a visitor.”

As Nate swung the door the rest of the way open, Quinn pulled his gun from his shoulder holster.

“Not exactly the greeting I was expecting,” Orlando said.

“What in God’s name are you doing here?” Quinn asked.

She stepped inside so Nate could close the door again. “What do you think I’m doing here? You and boy wonder need help.”

“I never said that.”

“You never not said that.”

He frowned. “I actually did.”

“Must be the hormones. I don’t recall that.”

“You could have just sent Daeng.”

“I brought him with me. He’s in our room.”

“Your room?”

“We landed a couple hours ago, tracked your phone here, and figured we’d get a room to freshen up. He and Ananke should be here in a minute.”

“You’re unbelievable.”

“Thank you.”

“I didn’t mean it as a compliment.”

“But I’m taking it that way. Now, would you mind?” she asked, pointing at his hand.

He slipped his gun back into its holster, walked over, and pulled her into his arms. He couldn’t lie to himself. It did feel good to have her here.

When they separated, Orlando said, “So, do you want to know where The Wolf is headed or not?

The car Stafford and Parnell had stolen was a gray Honda Accord. Though it wasn’t that much larger than the C-Max, it was considerably more generic and had less chance of being ID’d as stolen by a local.

Orbits told his men to take their gear out to the car and wait while he prepped the girl for the exchange. As soon as they were gone, he made a big show of filling a syringe with a sedative.

“Before I give this to you,” he said to the woman, “we have one last matter to discuss. I found the door.”

No reaction.

“You know,” he said, “the door those numbers under your tongue lead to. We’re actually only a few miles from it.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“I went and took a look at it last night. It was buried under some dirt so it took a little work to clean it off. You know what I found when I did?”

She didn’t answer.

“That door of yours is locked. It needs an eight-number combination to open it.”

Her eyes flared.

“See, here’s the deal,” he said. “Your secret’s not so secret anymore. Whatever’s down there, either I’m going to get it, or The Wolf is. That’s what my dad would have called a foregone conclusion. Not a damn thing you can do about it. The only thing you have control over is which of us it’s going to be.

“You’re lucky with me. I found the numbers without having to work you over any. That’s not going to be true with The Wolf. Whatever she tries to do to you, I can guarantee it will not be pleasant. My proposal is this. I know you have the combination. You give that to me, and I’ll make sure The Wolf never gets ahold of you. The offer’s time sensitive, though. In about…”—he checked his watch—“one hour, I’m supposed to hand you over. At that point, there’ll be nothing I can do. For you, anyway. For me, I guess I’ll just have to use a little explosive. That should bust the door in.”

She laughed. “Go ahead and try. It’s six inches thick. You set off a charge and you’re liable to damage the automated supports that lift it. Then you’ll never get it open.”

“Then you should just give me the combo so I don’t wreck anything.”

“Never going to happen.”

He stared at her for a moment before returning the syringe to its hard plastic container. “I’ll tell you what. We’ll take a ride first and give you some time to reconsider. I think you’ll come around to seeing that I’m your best option.”

“Don’t count on it.”

“There,” Orlando said. She handed Quinn the binoculars and pointed.

He adjusted the focus, bringing the tiny shape of a private jet into view. “You’re sure?”

“You have to ask?”

The plane landed at Topeka Regional Airport four minutes later, at 8:21 a.m. Bypassing the public terminal, it taxied over to one of the buildings to the north. Quinn and Orlando relocated to the edge of the public lot to get a direct view of the now stopped aircraft. After a few moments, the door opened and the steps were lowered. Four men exited first, and then two women.

“The last one matches Helen’s description of The Wolf,” Orlando said. “See, I do know what I’m doing.”

It was the other woman who caught Quinn’s attention.

“The blonde,” he said. “She’s the motorcycle rider who shot all the men at the helicopter.”

“Well, then, I guess the gang’s all here.”

Quinn took his comm mic off mute. “Nate?”

“Go for Nate.”

Nate, Daeng, and Ananke were near the private vehicle entrance, in the car he and Quinn had driven from Illinois.

“We’ve got visual confirmation on The Wolf,” Quinn said. “Stand by.”

“Copy.”

A woman hurried out of the building and jogged over to The Wolf’s party. A short conversation ensued before she led them over to two waiting SUVs. She handed them what Quinn assumed were keys and headed back to the building.

The Wolf and her team conferred for a moment before three of the men climbed into one of the vehicles, and the fourth man and the two women got into the other.

“They’re in the two dark blue Explorers,” Quinn told Nate. “Leaving now.”

“Copy. We’re on it.”

Nate waited until the gate started to open before he pulled forward, his car a foot over the center line. Pretending he was arguing with Ananke, who sat up front with him, he slammed on the brakes when he “noticed” he was blocking the Explorer. Holding up a hand in apology, he reversed his car into his own lane, but left it hanging over just enough so that the SUV had to pass slowly.

As the second SUV did the same, Daeng crept out from where he’d been hiding behind the wall the gate shut against, and slipped a magnetic-backed tracking chip under the vehicle’s license plate.

“All set,” he said as the Explorer rushed off to catch its partner.

Time was running out. With only twenty minutes until the meeting, Orbits needed to get the combo out of the girl now, or give up any dreams of finding out what was under that door.

Ahead, a copse of trees separated two farms. He pointed it out to Stafford. “Stop there for a minute.”

When they were at the side of the road, he opened his door and grabbed the girl by the arm.

“Come with me.”

Dani stumbled as her captor pushed her deeper into the grove of trees, her bare feet feeling every twig and pebble.

“Careful,” he grunted.

Once they could no longer see the car, he stopped and pushed her against a tree.

“All right, here it is. You know what I want. You tell me now, and I’ll untie your wrists and let you go.”

He was a good actor. His face was very I’m-doing-you-a-favor-against-my-better-judgment. But she knew he would give her to her father’s old partner no matter what.

“In thirty seconds that option is off the table.”

“You’ll let me go,” she said, playing along.

“That’s the deal.”

She made a show of thinking it over. “All right, I’ll tell you.”

“Now we’re talking.” He pulled out his phone and poised his thumb over his keypad. “Let’s have it.”

“Zero-nine-seven-six-four-three-one-zero.”

He stopped entering it halfway through. “Give it to me again.”

“Nine-eight-six-five-three-two-zero-nine.”

He glared at her, his face reddening in anger.

“Again?” she asked. Though she did know the number, she was never going to give it to this asshole. “Eight-seven-five-four-two-one-nine-eight.”

He slapped her hard.

“Looks like The Wolf will be the one to get it out of you,” he said. “I wish you luck.”

From his pocket, he removed the hard plastic case she’d seen him put the syringe into earlier.

As he pulled the needle out, she braced herself against the tree. When he turned to her, she kicked out, her bare foot whacking into his hand and sending the syringe flying.

Orbits yelled in surprise. “You bitch!” he said, shoving her to the ground. “Don’t move.”

He didn’t see where the syringe had landed and had to hunt around, stepping carefully. When he finally spotted it, he could see the plunger had twisted and allowed the drug to leak out. Cursing loudly, he picked it up and hurled it at a tree near the girl.

That sealed it, then. His claim on whatever was below the door in the meadow was null and void. He couldn’t even risk a quick visit after the handoff. Maybe the girl wouldn’t immediately tell The Wolf that Orbits knew where it was, but he had to assume she would.

He yanked her up by the arm. “So this is the way you want it, huh?” he said. “I could have been your friend. A little cooperation and you would have been free by now.” A lie, but that wasn’t important. “Walk.” He pushed her in front of him. “It’s time to meet your new owner.”