Chapter Thirty-Eight
I Wanna Paint Outside The Lines
Run The Red Lights In My Mind
Take Everything One Lifetime Has To Give
I Wanna Stand Inside A Fire
Walk Blind-folded On A Wire
Every Man Dies
But Not Every Man Lives
Roughly between 2:00 and 3:15 PM Boston
"Hey, Just Quinn, you have company!" Libby sing-songed from the living room.
Quinn tried not to chuckle as Missy's mother used the nickname Missy had been calling him all during lunch. He'd stayed at the dining table afterwards, to read the newspaper while he waited for the arrival of Albert. After that, he planned to call Vance if he could get a disposable cell. He didn't want to use Libby's or the flower shop's landline; it would be too easy to trace.
Right now, though, he wasn't too worried about reporting to Vance as Quinn was sure that Kat and Eliot were safe. He'd lost his phone when he guessed it was in his car and Eric had disposed of it. Quinn was pretty sure Evan's men hadn't gotten a hold of it, so they had no way to trace Kat's text messages, and that was the main thing right now; that both Kat and Eliot were safe.
Eric had closed the flower shop early and was sitting at the table sharing the newspaper with him. He smiled now at his sister's teasing as he looked across the table at Quinn.
"They're Pete and Repeat, as our mother used to say." He joked as he closed the sports section he'd been about to scan. "Must be Albert."
Both men got up and Eric helped Quinn as he managed to get one crutch under him. They moved from the kitchen area to the living room where they found not only someone Quinn assumed was Albert, but a room full of people were waiting for him. He recognized all but three of them and figured the man must be this Albert he'd heard about; but the fact the man had to be at least 80 took him completely by surprise.
"Hello, Quinn." Vance said as he stepped forward to look at the younger man. "I see you've been playing with guns again."
Quinn smiled at the comment. "Well, you know me, Colonel, just can't seem to stay away from 'em." He turned to the others. "Whitmore... and Mikel," He paused as he took in the appearance of the other specialist in the room. "Whitmore I would expect to be with Vance, but you Mikel... not really someone I'd expect to see, especially right now. How'd you get involved in all of this?"
Mikel looked the other man up and down. The last time the two had seen each other, they were planning to retrieve the same object, a very rare and very expensive jewel for a very wealthy man from Dubai. She smiled in memory of the fact neither of them got the object in question; they both lost out to their main competition; Eliot. "You know how it is, Quinn. All hands needed... so to speak."
Nate stepped forward to stand just behind the young woman. "Actually Quinn, it was Evan who brought in Mikel. Seems he couldn't complete his mission of taking Eliot out, so he called in a favor."
"A favor? From you?" Quinn directed his question to Mikel. "You owed him a favor?"
The woman gave Quinn a slight tilt of her head as she thought about her answer. "Not me, exactly." She paused, while she thought about how much to reveal. "Let's just say someone close to me owed him a favor and cannot fulfill their duty, so I stepped in."
"I'm guessing duty and honor walk a very fine line here and I'm going to guess by your appearance here that it was a hard choice, but you chose the same side as I." Quinn replied, with a small nod of his head. He understood honor, but he also understood sacrifice and he knew there was a history between Eliot and the beautiful woman standing in front of him. He was hoping that history meant more than her friend's honor. Or he'd have to step in, because he felt the same duty and honor to Kat.
"You assume correctly, Quinn." The woman stated softly. "Now, how do we find Eliot and how do we help him and your friend put an end to Evan Chapman and his crew?"
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"Mr. Chapman?" Barnes spoke into his cell from his seat in the SUV that was parked just outside the flower shop. "I think I've finally got some good news to report. We've found Quinn and Eliot's team as well as Vance and Whitmore. How should we proceed?"
"Keep your eyes on them and make sure they stay there. I'm heading to you now with my guys. I want to talk to this man myself." Evan motioned to James to gather all available men. "Do whatever it takes to keep them there, Barnes and I promise you it will be worth it for you. I reward loyalty."
"Yes sir." Barnes replied. "That won't be a problem." After Evan hung up, Barnes pocketed the cell and looked across the street at the building there. It was another small business, currently vacant by the sign for rent in the window. He looked upwards and noted it had multiple floors. Hopefully they were vacant too. "Okay guys," He spoke into his earwig to his men in the vehicle behind his. "I need two teams in that building for distance surveillance and sniper duty." He pointed out his window to the building. "Graves; you, Bowers, Henderson and Jackson go there. The rest of us will work our way through this building to the targets. Let's go." As Bowers and Graves exited their vehicle and headed for the vacant building, the other men all joined Barnes at the entrance to the flower shop. "Graves, careful with any civilians, I don't want any unnecessary bloodshed, but use your best judgement. Waxter, Brown, and Gaines, you three take the back entrance and we go on my signal." He motioned for the other three men to head around to the back of the store. That left him with three men and himself to take the front. "Now!"
As the four men kicked in the door of the flower shop and burst into the room, none of them noticed the young black man standing beside the black van he affectionately called Lucille. Nor did they notice the iPad he carried in his hands.
"Nate. We have a problem." Hardison replied into his earbud, while he typed furiously on the tablet. "A very big problem and it's coming your way."
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Evan Chapman raced to get in his car while his driver James waited just outside the main door of the big house. Four other men were already in the car with another six in the SUV behind theirs. "Let's go!" He yelled as he jumped inside the passenger seat, barely getting his door closed before James had floored the gas pedal and was squealing out of the driveway.
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Roughly about 3:10 PM
Captain Bonanno reached for his ringing cell as he sat in his car just outside the house on Wallace Lane. He had tried to reach the Wilsons by phone and when that hadn't worked, he'd driven to their house to find it locked up tight. He'd just been debating on checking in with Ford, when he read Ford's name on his caller ID.
"Hello Nate." He replied into the phone. He didn't know what to expect but hearing the voice of a young girl was the last thing he thought.
"Help us! Please! Mr. Ford said you can help us!" Missy's high-pitched voice conveyed her urgency. "Someone's trying to shoot us, and they shot Just Quinn!"
"Where are you?" He asked as he started the engine to his police issue Crown Vic. "Tell me exactly where you are, sweetie?" He tried to remain calm so he could help ease the child's fear, but he didn't know if it was working.
"We're at home!"
"Where's home?" He asked the child. "Honey, where's your home?" But before the girl could answer, Bonanno heard the volley of gunshots then the screaming of the child as something like glass breaking crashed in the background of the call. Then nothing. The line was still open, but no noise was coming from the phone. "Damn it!" He yelled as he reached for his radio to call for a trace on is cell. As he gave the dispatcher the details and waited for the trace, he steered out of the driveway and headed back to the city as fast as he could. Damn it Ford, what trouble have you gotten into now?
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Emma sat huddled in the corner cradling Missy to her as they hid from the chaos going on around them. "Where's my mom?" The child asked, trying to pull away from Emma.
Libby sat nearby holding her injured arm close to her chest to help slow the blood flow. She could see Emma and her daughter, but she couldn't get to them. "I'm here, Missy honey. I'm fine, just stay with Emma. Don't move!" She cried out over the noise as the next borage of bullets burst through the door and the windows of the small apartment.
Eric and the one called Vance had tried to block the door the best they could with furniture, but it would soon fail, Libby knew. She watched her brother as she saw the terror in his eyes. He'd been to war and he'd come home, but he'd never been the same and now this... this would probably send him over the edge.
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Nate looked up from his position on the floor at the entrance to the hallway. He was trying to cover Sophie as he looked at his cell phone laying in the middle of the floor. It was between him and Emma and Missy. The little girl had tried to make the call and he thought she'd gotten through, but when Missy had seen her mother get hit, she'd lost the phone and it had slid too far from any of them to get to. They were pinned down and he had no idea if Hardison had gotten to safety after he'd given them a warning.
Eric and Vance had barely had time to block the door before the bullets tore through four of the apartments windows in the kitchen and living room areas. Whitmore was with Quinn who'd taken another hit, to his chest this time. Matt was doing everything to help stop the bleeding While Quinn lay there under his hands.
Mikel was managing to crawl over to the two men, and she had Libby's medical bag with her. Thank God, Nate thought. They needed everyone to be all right, but they especially needed Quinn to be all right. He was the only one who knew where Eliot was.
Suddenly there was the sound of another window breaking and Nate guessed it was coming from one of the bedrooms down the hall. As he turned to look back at the hallway behind him, he saw the two men before anyone else, and he couldn't help but notice they were wearing gas masked. Damn it, he thought just as he took in the smoke from the device rolling into the room ahead of the two men. They were going to gas them all. As Nate tried his best to fight the world of unconsciousness, he couldn't help but think that he and the others were in the worst fix of their lives so far, and all he could do was hope that Parker had gotten out before those men had gotten in. She'd gone to find Hardison when he'd left to get to his computers in Lucille.
He fought a laugh when he realized that his hopes for a rescue depended on a little girl reaching Bonanno and a 'twenty pounds of crazy in a five-pound bag' had gotten outside safely.
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Quinn lay on the floor and could feel the blood flowing out of his chest while Matt tried his best to stop the flow. It wasn't working, was all he could think. Damn it, Quinn thought, if he was going to die, then he needed to be sure he did the right thing by Kat; and Eliot.
"Whit...Whitmore?" He said between gasps of pain.
"What? Stop talking, Quinn." Whitmore said while he tried to keep his hands pressed firmly on the man's chest.
"Can't. I need... need to tell you where Kat... is..."
Whitmore looked from his hands to Quinn's face. Damn it, he thought. Matt needed to know where Eliot was, but he also needed Quinn to stay quiet. He needed to save him and save all of them.
As Mikel crawled over on her stomach dragging the doctor's medical bag with her, he realized Quinn was still trying to talk, but was having trouble speaking up, so he moved his head closer to hear the man's words.
AN: I know, it's been two months since I've updated and your mad at me probably, but all I can say is Sorry! Life has just invaded every aspect with all kinds of things; some good, some not so good. But here it is, and I'll be adding another chapter to completely clear it all up and set up for a sequel within the next few days. Thank you for being so patient all.