Quint’s whiskey-over-ice voice drew Ree out of a deep sleep.
“Time to wake up,” he repeated quietly. There was nothing quiet about the reaction her body was having to him standing so close, whispering next to her.
She blinked her eyes open to a dimly lit room that cast shadows over his carved-from-granite jawline. The day-old stubble on his chin gave him an even more rugged look. Sexier. Ree sat straight up, pulling the covers to her chin.
“I’m good,” she said, needing to put a little space between her and his unique spicy male scent. As she breathed in, he filled her senses. Her pulse kicked up a couple of notches, making caffeine a little less necessary. Turned out, all she needed was Quint standing next to her to wake her up.
“Coffee?” he asked.
“Are you actually an angel?” she teased, needing to redirect her thoughts to something lighter and less sexy than Quint Casey.
“On it,” he said, walking away with a knowing smile.
Ree took in a deep breath and threw the covers off. She headed straight for the bathroom and splashed cold water on her face. After brushing her teeth, she pulled her hair off her face in a ponytail and dressed in an all-black jogging suit that should help her blend into the darkness.
She joined Quint in the kitchen.
“Here you go,” he said, handing over a fresh brew.
“You are definitely an angel,” she said with a smile.
“No one has ever accused me of being that before,” he lobbed back. It was nice to see him in a lighter mood. After the phone call with Bjorn yesterday she was more than a little concerned he’d gone to a dark place that he wouldn’t be able to return from.
She wiggled her eyebrows and took a sip of coffee after blowing on it. “How do you make the perfect pot every time?”
“I’d tell you, but I’d have to kill you.” This time, he pretended to cut his own throat with his finger as a knife, and what should have looked corny turned out sexy instead. “Ready?”
“As much as I’ll ever be,” she said in response, noticing that he’d changed into a black T-shirt and jeans. Even his running shoes were a dark gray that would easily disappear in the darkness.
She secured her weapon in her bellyband holster and made sure her zip-up covered it. There shouldn’t be any activity in the building at this late or early hour—depending on how one looked at it.
Quint opened the door for her, then followed her to the elevator. They made it down to the truck without running into a soul, as expected. The drive to the warehouse district took roughly forty minutes. The roads were narrow two-lane jobs. The streetlamps were few and far between. There was an abundance of fields on both sides of the road and weeds tall enough to touch Ree’s backside if she got out of the truck here.
Remote locations were always eerie. There were generally only a couple of ways in or out. The moon was full, though, and that provided extra lighting. It was gorgeous, too.
“Everything okay over there?” Quint finally broke the silence.
“Ever just sit outside and look at the moon?” she asked, thinking it was probably an odd question for a person like Quint. He didn’t strike her as the type to sit outside and marvel at nature.
“Would it surprise you to know that I have?” he asked.
“As a matter of fact, yes,” she admitted.
“Why is that?” he continued.
“I just don’t see you sitting around a campfire while looking up at the stars,” she said.
“Not at my age, no,” he said. “When my mother died, I was so angry that I didn’t know what to do with myself or all that pent-up frustration. I took off running and didn’t stop until my chest felt like it might burst. I realized I’d stopped at this huge lake. Eyes wet, chest heaving, I dropped down and lay on my back next to the water. When I looked up, the cloudless sky was an incredible shade of deep blue. There were so many stars it would take five lifetimes to count them all. The sky was like a crystal canopy over the earth. The full moon dialed up the brilliance. Ever since then, I make sure to get outside once a week and look up at the sky. Full moons like this one are my favorites.”
“That’s a beautiful story, Quint.” Ree was without words as to how much it meant to her that he’d shared it.
“Let’s hope the full moon tonight is our good-luck charm.” He pulled the truck into the first lot.
“Where is All Transport?” she asked, looking at warehouses and lots that extended as far as the eye could see. There was very little lighting in each parking lot.
“Halfway down, there should be a street. All Transport should be three warehouses to the right,” he informed her as he checked his cell phone.
“But you have a better idea than driving up or around the building, don’t you?” she asked.
He nodded.
“I figured we could walk back here by the wire fencing and then cut a left through the buildings,” he said. “Make our way over on foot. It’ll be the quietest way to get over there and easier to get the lay of the land.”
“Agreed.”
“You’re welcome to stay back here as an anchor or come with me.” He held up an earpiece they could use to communicate back and forth with through a cell phone. “Or we can both go.” His next option came with two earpieces and communication devices. “Your decision.”
“Easy one,” she said. “I’m coming.”
“Okay. Then take the spare key in case we get separated or one of us needs to hightail it out of here,” he said.
She pulled up their location on her cell phone. “The four-way stop we went through a couple of blocks ago is our rendezvous point.” It would be their meetup if all hell broke loose, which happened in these scenarios. Ree had noticed it happened less often when she had a solid plan in place.
“Four-way stop it is,” he said before checking the time. “It’s almost five a.m., so, say, six fifteen?”
“Sounds good to me,” she said. Should the situation get ugly, they needed to give the area time to settle down before trying to meet again. An hour should be plenty of time, but this was the worst-case-scenario plan. They were wired with comms devices and could literally stay in each other’s ears as they split up.
Ree secured her comms device and earpiece. She tucked her cell phone underneath the seat and pocketed the key in a zipper pocket before exiting the truck. The current plan was to stick as close together as possible as Quint met her around the back of the vehicle. She let him take the lead since he’d been the one to study the area while she’d slept. She’d seen enough to get her bearings, marking notable landmarks as they made their way down the back alleyway near the fence.
The tall metal fence would almost certainly be wired. Three rows of barbed wire at the top gave this area a prison yard feel. The dome lights at the back of each warehouse provided a weirdly uniform look.
Three warehouses, then a left turn. There was enough space in between each building to maneuver a semi even though the bay doors were in front. Each building had one bay in back large enough to accommodate a semi. There was a metal door underneath the dome light. And a concrete block leading to the door. There were a few parking spots cordoned off with yellow stripes. The uniformity of it all gave more credibility to the prison look.
The concrete below her, on the other hand, was cracked and had potholes the size of her foot. She had to navigate carefully so as not to roll an ankle. An injury at this point would get in the way.
There was a dotting of vehicles parked behind the buildings. They had to stay close enough to a building and stay flat against it, should someone walk out of the building for a smoke break, but far enough away not to be picked up by the cameras. Those were predictable, too. Most of them pointed directly at the bay doors, which made the most sense. The biggest threat would be robbers.
Quint’s hand came up, fisted. Ree froze.
QUINT HEARD A door open in the direction they were headed. He flattened his back against the wall, and Ree followed suit. A pair of male voices followed. He strained to hear the gist of their conversation.
“Mack is on his way for the drop-off. You can’t be here,” one of the men said. Based on his voice, it was impossible to get a sense of his size and weight.
“You keep talking about how great his stuff is, man,” the second guy stated. “It’s time you introduced me to this Mack person.”
“No can do,” guy one said. “Go the hell back inside before he gets here.”
There was a long pause.
“All right. All right. Don’t get your panties in a wad,” the second male acquiesced.
The problem was, the sound of guy number one’s footsteps meant he was coming around the side of the building in about three...two...one...
Quint reacted instinctively, reaching out for the guy and spinning him around until his back was against Quint’s chest and Quint’s right hand was over the guy’s mouth, his left arm wrapped around the guy’s thick torso. Thick Guy tried to bite Quint’s hand as he threw an elbow backward, connecting with Quint’s rib cage. Quint grunted as air expelled from his lungs. Thick Guy left Quint no choice.
He dropped his left hand, putting Thick Guy into a choke hold. The guy tried to shout, but couldn’t get enough air in his lungs to make it happen. He tried to wriggle his way out of Quint’s death grip. Also not going to happen. Not on Quint’s watch.
Thick Guy tensed and jerked until the fight was drained from him. Then he went limp in Quint’s arms before dropping onto the concrete.
“Help me position him,” Quint whispered to Ree, a little winded himself after the altercation.
Ree came around and situated Thick Guy into an upright sitting position. She put his hands in his lap, his head to one side, and then crossed his legs before the two of them sprinted toward the target warehouses.
“We don’t have a whole lot of time before the guy back there comes to,” Quint said to Ree. She’d linked their fingers as they ran, pushing the pace.
“I know,” she responded. “Let’s just get eyes on the location and drop off one of the devices you brought to see who comes by here and if we can ascertain whether or not this is where weapons are coming through.”
He hadn’t told her about the camera that was the size of a pin or the listening device that was the size of his thumbnail. He wouldn’t need to for her to realize he’d brought them. The law said the devices couldn’t be placed on private property. Public land was a whole different story, though. Sidewalks were fair game. The listening device had decent range. The sound could be amplified. But it needed to be within reasonable reach of the building to be able to pick anything up. Its success depended on whether or not there were any devices that might block it. If there were, Quint could be certain illegal activity occurred at this site. Gathering evidence in a defensible way in court was the issue.
Ree squeezed his hand as the buildings came into view. There was activity on this side of the warehouse district. Trucks moving in low gear and dimmed lights. He counted three from this distance. Two heading toward their target and one moving away. The low hum of the engine cut through the quiet night.
A vehicle with a loud motor roared from a short distance behind them. The drug dealer?
It took less than a minute for the sound of tires peeling rubber to split the air.
“Hey,” a male voice called out.
Ree hit the deck, pulling Quint down with her. He practically landed on top of her and didn’t bother to shift his weight off her so as to provide cover. He balanced on his hands and feet, hovering over her instead of crushing her.
“Abort,” he whispered, but she shook her head.
“Let’s give it a minute,” she said so low he could barely hear her.
“Bad idea,” he said, unable to keep the dark-cloud feeling at bay.
Ree stayed silent as the commotion from behind them died down. It was far enough away that it didn’t seem to rattle any cages over here. Maybe Ree was right and they could make a fast drop before hightailing it out of there. Quint had never been one to question his own decisions, and yet his instinct to abandon the mission had been wrong. He’d snapped to judgment when he should have stayed calm instead and analyzed the situation.
Not good, Casey.
He’d never questioned his ability to do his job effectively before now. Quint needed to have a sit-down with his partner when they got back to the apartment.
“Looks clear,” she finally said. “Ready?”
He shook his head before rolling away from her. “You go.”
Quint looked up at the full moon and the blanket of stars against a cobalt blue sky.
“Are you sure?” she asked, sounding a little confused.
“Positive.” He rolled onto his stomach. “I’ll stay here and keep watch, provide cover if needed. You’re smaller. It might be easier for you to get in and out.”
“Okay,” she said, not wasting a second or maybe just not giving him a minute to rethink the offer. Either way, she was off to the races. Quint pulled his gun from his holster and palmed it, ready to fire if need be. His thumb hovered over the safety mechanism, and his trigger finger was ready to tap should the need to protect Ree arise.
He watched her dark silhouette as she kept a low profile, moving across the parking lot with ease. She zigzagged back and forth to trees before crouching low, he guessed to drop a device. After moving to a second location in much the same manner, she made her way back. Trusting her had been the right move.
After holstering his weapon, he hopped up in one fluid motion and led them back toward the truck. Instead of going to the back fence, they made a wide circle, coming at the truck from the opposite side of the street. The second they cleared the last building and the truck came into view, Quint froze.
There were two guys circling his truck.