She growled, and the gun in her hand arced toward Drew … and all fucking hell broke loose.
The emergency lights went out with the first shot. Quinn hit the floor, pushed down by Drew as the gun in his jeans was pulled free. Another shot. Nathan swore loudly and the woman shrieked bloody murder.
"Come on." Quinn felt Drew's hand grip his bicep. "Let's get out of here before the other one finds us."
"There's two of them?" Quinn felt like a dumbass. He'd walked into a fucking murder cave without a fucking clue as to how many monsters were lurking inside. "Shit."
"Don't stop to pretend you'd have done a damned thing differently, and lead us the fuck out of this shit hole." Drew held on to him once Quinn was on his feet again. Despite his grip and the confidence in Drew's voice, he still had a thigh full of bird shot.
"What about Lonnie?" Quinn called out. He needed to go back and pull the man out. He couldn't leave Natalie's love behind.
"We'll get him when the smoke clears," Drew ordered, pulling Quinn back from certain destruction. His words bringing back another time and another place. A time when the smoke was real. That smoke had never cleared, not really. "Jesus, Quinn!" Drew shouted at him, pulling him so close that Quinn could feel his breath on his face. "Don't think about it. Stay in this moment … and right now we have to get the fuck out of here. Okay. Just get us out of here."
Quinn turned his mind off. He'd gotten so very good at that over the years. If he didn't want to remember, he didn't remember. He sure as fuck didn't want to remember that night. Not right now.
He wrapped his arm around Drew's waist and took a step in the direction he thought the exit should be. Something crunched beneath his boot. Probably the remains of the light box on the wall. He hoped. Drew put his weight on Quinn and didn't make one damned sound as Quinn slowly retraced his steps to the front of the shop.
The night was silent as the grave when they emerged through the shattered frame that had once been a glass door. Drew held him back, stepping out first, he seemed to scan the parking lot for the bad guys.
"We need to get across the road and into that ditch," Drew whispered more to himself than to Quinn. "Where's your car?"
"Natalie is going for help," Quinn said, wondering why this conversation felt so instant repeat-ish. He wasn't going to leave Nathan behind to go hide in a fucking ditch.
"Okay, that's good. Chad … Agent Morgan will … Christ, she fucking framed Nathan … that's insane. It was years ago. Fifteen, at least. How in the hell does someone carry a grudge that fucking long? How does she know so much about him to fucking fool the best agent in the FBI?" Drew seemed to be talking to himself.
"Same way you know more about him than I do," Quinn answered. He'd figure out if he was pissed about that later. "Don't think that detail has escaped me. And it's not because we don't talk. You came here knowing more about him than should be possible. Unless he's done more than I know, there shouldn't be some dossier on him … or me. There are fucking dossiers on us?"
Drew didn't answer. The security lights in the parking lot came on and flooded the nearly pitch landscape, the shock of it rendering Quinn nearly blind for a moment.
"Come out, come out, wherever you are." The voice singing as if they were on a playground somewhere playing hide and go seek wasn't female … or sane. "Oh, looky here. Two chickens caught like deer in head lights. What a pity. Well, maybe not. I was craving chicken for dinner."
"Get down!" Drew screamed in his ear, and the sidewalk hurt like a fucking bitch when it slapped Quinn in the face.
Chapter Twenty-Four
The first shot went over their heads. Drew tried to drag Quinn back into the building but he wasn't moving.
He'd shoved him too hard this time. All he could do was hope Quinn was only stunned and not out cold.
"Quinn." He shook his friend. "Come on, Quinn, we need to pull back."
"Shoot the fucker," Quinn said, his voice muffled by his arm and the sidewalk. "Just fucking shoot him."
Drew fell flat on his stomach and crawled over Quinn as if he were trying to protect him. He was. But … the asshole in the parking lot wasn't even trying to hide. He was just standing there … laughing … like some maniac … taunting Drew.
"Cops are on the way by now … SHOOT HIM!" Quinn growled at him without moving. As if he were … playing dead.