“You don’t want to do that,” Quinn yelled. “You’ll never win a shooting match. We’ve got you outnumbered.”
“Is that right?” Orbits replied. “Well, the box full of M16s I have here says differently.”
If only that were true. The box Orbits had thought held more rifles turned out to contain a disassembled grenade launcher. And, in keeping with his string of luck, there were no grenades.
“Just give us the women,” the man said. “There’s no reason for them to be in the middle of this.”
Women? Was there someone around other than Danielle? Screw it. The only important thing at that moment was getting out alive.
“I don’t care what you want. Unless you leave right now, the only thing you’ll get from me is death.”
“Dear God. Did you really just say that?”
Orbits’s brow furrowed. It hadn’t been the man who’d spoken, but an annoyed-sounding woman. A very familiar annoyed-sounding woman.
“Ricky, you stupid son of a bitch, get the hell out here. Now!”
“Kitty-kat?”
As the elevator descended, Nate tried reaching Daeng again. He’d caught enough of his friend’s message to know something was wrong, but had been unable to discern anything else.
“Nate for Daeng,” he said again.
The radio remained silent.
Behind him, the elevator came to a stop.
“Daeng, are you there?”
He heard a low thunk, not from the radio but from the other end of the room.
Pulling out his gun, he stepped lightly over to the crates lining the walkway to the elevator. He moved up to the central aisle.
The room was quiet so he moved around the corner and crept over to the pile of boxes Orbits had created. Using a gap in the debris, he looked toward the other end of the room. Though he didn’t see anything unusual, his senses told him something was wrong. He stared down the aisle, waiting. Half a minute later, his patience paid off.
First the motorcyclist and then The Wolf appeared around the crates near the tunnel entrance. Every few seconds they glanced back the way they’d come, as if expecting someone else to join them. Their appearance was unexpected, but Nate was even more surprised when The Wolf handed the other woman a gun. They should have been unarmed.
Behind him, the elevator came to life again. The women heard it, too, and ducked behind a stack, out of sight.
Nate frowned. Just when I thought it was going to be easy.
“I told you not to call me that,” Ananke yelled at Orbits.
“Don’t rile him up,” Quinn whispered. “Just get him in the open.”
“What are you doing over there, kitten? I, um, mean Annie,” Orbits said.
“Annie’s not my name, either,” she yelled. “What the hell’s wrong with you?”
“I’m sorry,” he replied defensively.
“Ricky, if you don’t want to get hurt, get out here!”
“Oh, yeah? Well, I’m not the one who’s going to get hurt!”
“All right, then. Prove to us you have an M16. Fire off a round.” She paused. “Go ahead. Any time now.” Another pause. “We’re waiting.” Still nothing.
As Quinn had suspected — and apparently Ananke had, too — Orbits had lied about the rifle.
“If I come out there, you’ll shoot me,” Orbits said.
“If I was going to shoot you, I’d have done it years ago. God knows I probably should have. But you know why I won’t?”
“Why?”
“Because you can’t help that you’re an idiot.”
“Hey, that’s not—”
“Ricky!”
“Fine, maybe you won’t shoot me, but your friend will.”
With a roll of her eyes, she said loudly enough for Ricky to hear, “Quinn, are you going to shoot him?”
“Not if he cooperates,” Quinn replied, his volume matching hers.
“See, no one’s going to shoot you. Now, last chance or I’m coming over there myself and putting you out of our misery!”
“Fine, fine. I’m coming out. But I swear, if you shoot me…”
“What?” Ananke asked. “If we shoot you, what are you going to do, Ricky?”
“Why are you so pissed off at me?”
Quinn edged around the crate, pointing his gun toward Orbits’s voice, while Ananke positioned herself beside him so she could see, too. “Any time now,” Quinn said.
“I’m coming, all right? Calm down.”
Orbits appeared from behind the boxes, his hands shoulder high. In his right was his gun.
“Toss the weapon this way,” Quinn ordered.
“Now why would I—”
Ananke fired a bullet past his head.
“Okay,” Orbits said. “It’s all yours.”
He lobbed the gun into the aisle with enough force that when it hit the concrete, it skidded past Quinn and Ananke’s position with no sign of stopping.
“Happy?” Orbits asked.
Quinn and Ananke stepped out from their hiding place.
“Where are the women?” Quinn asked.
“I don’t know anything about any women,” Orbits said. “Wait, that didn’t come out right.”
“Where are Dani and Orlando?”
“If by Dani you mean Danielle, that little…”
Quinn raised his gun a few inches.
Orbits said, “…princess ran off right before you two started chasing me.”
“She’s not with you?” Ananke asked.
“Not anymore.”
“Where did she go?” Quinn said.
“Well, you should know. You were the ones shooting at me while she got away.”
“We weren’t the ones shooting at you.”
Orbits looked confused. “You weren’t?”
“Orlando,” Ananke said to Quinn.
“Who’s this Orlando?”
Quinn motioned toward the elevator. “Come on.”
“Where are we going?” Orbits asked.
“Out.”
“I’m not go—”
“Ricky, move!” Ananke ordered.
They started down the aisle, Ricky in front with Quinn and Ananke right behind him.
“Just so we’re clear,” Orbits said, “I’ve got dibs on this place.”
Nate sneaked over to the wall and slipped sideways through the gap at the end of the row. He repeated the move at the next two stacks, stopping when he reached the crates that separated him from where he’d last seen the women.
He heard the elevator stop at the top for a few seconds and then descend again. Wanting to neutralize the problem before Quinn and the others arrived, he slid into the final gap and inched forward, pausing just short of the corner.
No sounds. Had they moved on?
He inched forward again, easing his head out of the stack for a quick look.
“Hi, there.”
The motorcyclist stood four feet away, her gun pointed between his eyes.
Quinn made Ricky open the elevator door when they reached the first level. Stepping out, he expected to find Nate waiting for them, but his partner wasn’t there.
“Nate?” he said. When no response came, he flicked on his mic and repeated his friend’s name.
Ananke looked at him, alarmed.
“What’s going on?” Orbits asked.
“Shut up,” she whispered.
Quinn cautiously approached the central aisle, but before he could reach it Nate came around the corner, the motorcyclist holding a gun to the back of his head. As Quinn and Ananke jerked their weapons up, The Wolf stepped out behind the motorcyclist, also armed.
“Well, isn’t this convenient?” The Wolf said. “All the people I’ve been…” She stopped. “Hold on. Where’s Danielle?”
“Drop your weapons,” Quinn said.
The Wolf laughed. “I don’t think so. You drop yours.”