He caught sight of his dark reflection in a mirror near the rear loading door and stopped. He slid a palm up his cheek and then dropped it away. For a moment he’d forgotten. Being with them had done it, the action, the danger, the sickness and fear, but mostly them—although there would always be mirrors to remind him.
He stowed the full duffel in the back of the Tahoe and glanced around the empty space behind the store. The day had warmed some, but a cool breeze coasted continually off the ocean, the air thick with salt. It could’ve been any day. A tractor-trailer might have rolled around the corner with a shipment. People may have jogged or walked the paved path running behind the store and around the muddy pothole a quarter mile south. But there was nothing. No movement and nobody but them.
He went back inside using his light to guide him past the office and into the main area, heading toward the dim glow coming from the bathroom. He was halfway there when a sound stopped him, his guts contracting into a painful mass.
An engine revved once, and a newer pickup coasted across the parking lot, rolling to a stop before the blockading cars. The portions of its red paint not covered by splotches of mud shone in the sunlight, and when the doors opened, the sight of Rick, still wearing his bandanna, caused a wave of déjà vu so thick that Quinn, froze in place.
Chapter 12
Run and Hide
His thumb found the flashlight switch on the gun and toggled it off.
The brothers examined the entryway, their shotguns at waist level, eyes scanning the store’s depths as they waited on the far side of the line of cars. Ty’s voice echoed out of the bathroom, not loud, but not quiet either. Alice answered him, just a murmur.
Quinn broke from his trance and ducked, running in a straight line toward the bathroom. As he neared the doorway, Alice emerged, leading Ty by the hand.
“Get back, kill the lights,” Quinn whispered, nearly bowling them over as he forced them into the lit bathroom. His hand skittered along the wall and found a light switch, flicking it down with a snap.
“What is it?” Alice asked, instantly crouching, wrapping an arm around Ty’s waist as darkness invaded the bathroom and they became only shadows.
“The brothers that ran you off the road, they’re here.”
“Oh shit. Those bastards,” Alice whispered.
“Shh, they’re inside,” Quinn said.
Glass crunched beneath boots and low voices floated to them from the main area. Where would they inspect first? The bathrooms? No. The light was still on in the rear office. That’s the first place they would go. Quinn inched to the doorway and peered around the corner, the pistol’s grip trying to slide from his sweat-soaked palm.
The brothers were mid-way through the store, their own flashlights sweeping arcs across the shelves and walls. Quinn leaned back just as one of them turned, coating the bathroom entry with light before swinging it away. Quinn looked out again and watched the closest one, he thought it was Rick, shove a display of rain gear over.
“They’re going to the back room,” he breathed over his shoulder.
“They’ll find the Tahoe. They’ll know we’re here,” Alice replied. Ty whimpered once, soft and brimming with fear. Quinn watched them approach the back office and take up positions on either side of the door. His mind spun like a dervish, whirling for a way out. They were trapped. Could he sneak up behind them and kill them both before they got a shot off? He re-gripped the XDM. Could he do it? Could he take a life? Two? Alice squeezed his upper arm, trying to pull him back into the full dark of the bathroom when he saw movement out of the corner of his eye.
Four stilts were striding along the highway past the parking lot.