Quinn remained silent.
“And yes. He said he had come into some information that he wanted to pass on to us.”
“Who’s us?” Quinn asked, moving the barrel of the gun a fraction of an inch to remind Burroughs it was there.
“The Agency. Who did you think?”
“What did he want to tell you?”
“If we knew that, he wouldn’t have had to tell us, would he?”
“So, he never said anything about a biological sample he might have for you?”
“He wasn’t specific about what he had.”
“That’s all you knew?”
Burroughs hesitated, then said, “He told us it was something tailored.”
Quinn furrowed his brow. “What does that mean?”
“That’s all he would say. We were meeting so he could give me the details.”
“Tell me about the meeting,” Quinn said.
“We were supposed to meet in Vail. On the slopes.”
“When?”
“The same day as the fire. I was in Vail, but Taggert didn’t show up.”
“Didn’t you know where he was staying?”
“No. He insisted on making those plans himself. The only thing he allowed us to do was arrange for someone to drive him around.”
“Protection?”
“We insisted.”
“And this chauffeur didn’t tell you where he was?”
“She was instructed not to. Taggert was very nervous. We didn’t want anything messing up the meet.”
She? “Jills,” Quinn said.
“That’s right. You were the one who found her, weren’t you?”
Quinn stared at Burroughs for a moment, eyes narrowing. “What’s the Office’s role in this?”
Burroughs seemed to gauge how much he wanted to say. “I tell you this, and you have to tell me everything you know.”
“I did say this was an exchange, didn’t I?”
Burroughs nodded. “But you haven’t shared anything with me yet.”
“You’re right,” Quinn said. “I haven’t.”
“Quinn?” Murray said from the front seat.
“What?” Quinn asked.
“You told me to keep a lookout for anything unusual.”
“What is it?”
“I think we’re being followed.”
Quinn swiveled around in his seat to look out the back window. There were several cars behind them. “Which one?” he asked.
“The sedan. Directly behind us.”
A dark Ford was two car lengths back. “You’re sure?” Quinn asked.
“I’ve made a couple of turns. He’s staying right with us.”
“Do it again,” Quinn said. “A quick turn at the next block. No signal.”
Quinn watched out the back window as Murray executed his instructions. The Ford continued to follow them.
“Again,” Quinn ordered. “Left at the next street.”
The sedan stayed with them. Quinn turned to Burroughs, who had a look of satisfaction on his face. “I told you they’d come for me.”
“Where the hell did they come from?” Murray asked.
“The blonde,” Quinn said. “She works for you, doesn’t she?”
Burroughs smiled but said nothing.
“The girl?” Murray asked.
“She probably saw us drive off with our friend here and called it in.”
“Sorry,” Burroughs said. “It looks like we’re done.”
“Lose them,” Quinn ordered Murray.
“Are you kidding?” Murray whined. “You’ve already got me in deep enough shit as it is.”
“That’s right, Ken,” Burroughs said. “Don’t make it worse.”
Quinn turned back to Burroughs. “Keep quiet.”
“Fuck you,” Burroughs said. “Ken, pull over, and I’ll make sure they understand you did this against your will.”
Quinn lowered the angle of his gun and pulled the trigger.
Burroughs screamed in pain as the bullet tore through his right foot. It was all the message Murray needed. He pressed the accelerator to the floor.
CHAPTER 30
Quinn knew he had very little time left. He turned back to Burroughs. The man was still hunched over in pain, clutching his wounded foot.
Quinn shoved him back against the seat and glowered at him. “You smug asshole. Believe it or not, until a few minutes ago I wasn’t your enemy.” He thrust the barrel of the gun against Burroughs’s right shoulder. “This won’t kill you either. But it’ll hurt like hell.”
Burroughs raised a bloody hand defensively.
“This is no longer an exchange,” Quinn said. “This is a one-way flow of information. From you to me. Got it?”
Burroughs nodded.
“Why was the Office called in?”
Grimacing, Burroughs said, “Taggert was not considered a completely credible source. He’d cried wolf before. If something went wrong, we didn’t want it boomeranging back to us. So they were running the protection.”
“Jills was working for the Office?”
“Yes.”
Something else Peter was keeping from him.
“What was Taggert up to?” Quinn asked. Burroughs’s eyes darted toward the back window. “Your friends are still there, if that’s what you’re wondering. Just talk.”
“He’d been working undercover. On his own.”
“A freelancer?”
“More of a lone wolf.”
“Doing what?”
“Research.”
“What kind of research?” Quinn asked.
“Biological research is what he said. He was a virologist by training.”
“So he was working with the people who were doing the…tailoring?”
“That’s what he said.”
“And Borko was running things?”
“No,” Burroughs said. “Jansen claimed Borko was just the muscle.”
“Then who?”
“Some guy named Dahl.”
“He must have told you more,” Quinn said. “What is it? Smallpox? Ebola?”
“No, no,” Burroughs said. “Neither of those. He told us that much ahead of time. Still, we weren’t very inclined to believe him. Then he said he had tangible proof. That’s why we gave him the meeting. But whatever proof he thought he had burnt with him in the fire.”
Or maybe not, Quinn thought, an image of the bracelet in his mind.
“It doesn’t matter,” Burroughs continued.
“Why?”
“He was single-source. There was no other corroborating evidence,” Burroughs said. “I already told you, Jansen was unreliable. All he wanted was the cash.”
Quinn let out a short, bitter laugh. “You didn’t believe him.”
“He’d made a lot out of nothing before. There was no reason why he wasn’t doing it again. Besides, he told us Borko was involved. Our sources confirmed Borko has been out of commission for over a month.”
Quinn couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “But what about the murder? What about the disruption at the Office?”
“Just an interagency spat. Jansen got caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
“And that’s what you believe?”
Burroughs was a bit slow to answer. “Yes.”
“You’re an idiot,” Quinn said. He looked out the back window. There were cars behind them, but he couldn’t pick out the sedan. “Did you lose them?” he asked Murray.
“I don’t know,” Murray said. “I think they’re still back there, just not so close.”
“You’re doing great. Let’s see if you can put a little more distance between us.”
“Fuck,” Murray said. “I’m a dead man.”
“I’ll take care of it,” Quinn said. “You’ll be fine.”
“How the hell are you going to take care of it?” Murray asked, glancing back at Quinn.
“You’ll just have to trust me.”
“So, what?” Murray asked. “We drive around all night?”
“You’re going to drop me off first,” Quinn said. “After that, you might want to take a little vacation. A week should do it.”