[Quinn 04] - The Silenced

“I don’t believe that for a second.” She started pushing against him again.

“Julien. Get Quinn on the phone.”

“Who the hell is Quinn?” Liz asked.

He looked at her. “Your brother.”

Nate knew it was all coming at her too fast. He could almost see her mind overloading.

Dammit, he thought. This was not the way this should have gone.

“Quinn? It’s Julien. We have a problem.” Nate listened as the Frenchman described their situation to Quinn.

When he was finished, Nate said, “It would be great if he would talk to her.”

Julien relayed the request, then walked over to the couch and tried to hold the phone up to Liz’s ear. But she moved her head away, twisting it and turning it so Julien couldn’t get the phone in place.

“It’s just a trick,” she said. “It’s not him.”

“Use the speaker,” Nate said.

Julien touched the screen of his phone, then said, “Quinn?”

“I’m here.”

Liz froze.

“Quinn,” Nate said, “we need to get Liz out, but she’s not cooperating. We’ve got five minutes tops before we run into a potential overlap. Could you please convince her we’re not here to hurt her?”

“Liz,” Quinn said, “you need to listen to them. They have to get you out of there now.”

“I don’t know who you are, but you’re not my brother,” she said.

Quinn took a moment before responding. “When we were out on the lake after we flipped, and I grabbed ahold of you, remember?”

“Shut up!” she yelled. “Shut up!”

“I whispered something in your ear.”

“Please stop,” she said, only this time some of the fight was missing from her voice.

“I said it over and over. Do you remember? I said, ‘I’ll never let anything hurt you.’ ”

Liz’s hands began to shake. “Jake?”

“My friends are there to keep you safe. You need to listen to them, and do exactly what they say. Can you do that?”

“Jake, what’s going on?”

“We’ll talk about that later. I promise. Right now you have to get out of your apartment.”

“I … I don’t understand.”

“Someone is on their way to your place right now. If they get there before you leave, they will kill my friends and take you. They very likely will kill you, too. You have to leave now.”

“Kill us? Why would they—”

“Liz! You’re running out of time. Once my friends get you someplace safe, I’ll explain everything to you.”

The stunned look on her face turned defiant.

“Why should I believe you?” she said. “You haven’t cared about me for twenty years.”

“Liz! You can hate me all you want, but you still need to get the hell out of there. Please, listen to Andrew.”

“Ah, yeah,” Nate said. “About that. She already knows my name.”

“I don’t care what she knows! You all need to leave right now!”

Julien’s phone beeped.

“What’s that?” Quinn asked.

Julien looked at the display. “It’s them. I think they’re here.”

JULIEN TURNED OFF THE SPEAKERPHONE FUNCTION, then switched to the incoming call.

“Oui? … There’s a café at the corner,” Julien said, switching to English. “I’ll meet you there in five minutes.” The Frenchman listened. “Because I’m checking her floor right now.… No, it’s better that we meet there. I can give you the layout.” He glanced at Liz. “Yes, she was alone last I checked.… I’ll be right there. Four minutes now.”

Julien switched the call back to Quinn and reengaged the speaker.

“They’re outside,” he said. “We have five, maybe six minutes before they become suspicious.”

“Then get moving, and don’t call me until you’re someplace safe,” Quinn said.

The phone went dead.

“All right, come on,” Nate said.

He grabbed his backpack and slung it over his shoulders, but Liz didn’t move. He put his hand on her arm and yanked her to her feet. “Come on. We don’t have any more time.”

“Is there really someone downstairs who wants to hurt me?”

“Yes,” Nate said, leading her toward the door.

“Wait. How long are we going to be gone?”

“I don’t know.”

She tried to pull her arm out of his grasp. “I need some clothes.”

He gripped her harder. He didn’t want to hurt her, but at the moment it was better than delaying their departure. “We can buy what we need. Now let’s go.”

“My purse at least,” she said.

It was on a small table along the back wall of the living room. Nate steered their course so she could grab it, then hurried her out of the apartment.

As they ran down the corridor, Nate said, “There’s got to be a back way out of the building. Where is it?”

Liz didn’t seem to hear him.

“Liz.” He gave her a gentle shake. “You need to help us. Back exit. Where?”

“There’s a door to the alley. But you can only get to it through the lobby.”

“That’s what I was afraid of,” Nate said.

“Stairs, yes?” Julien asked as they neared the end of the hallway.

“Stairs,” Nate said.

Julien raced down, agile for such a large man. On his own, Nate would have been able to keep up with him, but he knew if he let go of Liz she’d fall back, so he slowed his pace and kept a hand on her.

When they reached the final flight, they found Julien three risers from the bottom standing rock still.

“What is it?” Nate whispered.

“I saw someone through the window outside.”

“Did he see you?”

“He was turned the other way.”