The Discarded (38 page)

“Okay, sweetie.” Desirae kissed Tessa’s cheek and then said into the camera, “We’re done here.”

“Thanks,” Quinn said. “We’ll talk later.”

He closed the computer. After he and Orlando gathered their things, they stood up.

When they reached the door, he stopped and looked back. “An accounting team arrived while we were chatting and started inventorying everything. My understanding is that they’re beginning on the ground floor, so if you want any clothes, you should probably grab them now. Nothing valued over a hundred dollars, though. Believe me, they’ll check.”

As he and Orlando drove away a few minutes later, his phone rang.

“So how did it go?” Helen Cho asked.

“Exactly as planned.”

“So the matter’s finished?”

“One more thing.”

“How much longer?”

“Give us three days.”

“Call me when you’re ready. I have a job you’ll be perfect for.”

CHAPTER
37

F
ROM ABRAHAM’S GRAVESITE
they could hear the waves crashing on the beach, a gentle metronome marking time for those to whom time didn’t matter anymore.

Quinn had thought only he and Orlando and Nate and Daeng would be at the service, but a surprising amount of others had shown up—including about a dozen old colleagues from the business and Quinn’s sister, Liz. She had never met Abraham but knew he’d been important to Orlando and that was enough for her. Perhaps most surprising were the kids, nearly thirty of them, all from the afterschool tutoring center where Abraham had volunteered.

“Did he realize how many lives he touched?” Quinn asked Orlando after the crowd had drifted off, leaving them alone with her mentor.

“I doubt it. He never thought of things that way. He just did what he did.”

When he put an arm around her waist, she laid her head against his shoulder and they looked past the grave, out at the sea.

“It’s beautiful here. He’ll be happy.”

She nodded and they fell silent again. The ordeal and the loss had exhausted her. He made a vow to himself that until Orlando was fully recovered, he would do whatever it took to convince her not to go into the field.

He pulled her into his arms and held her tight. After a few minutes, he said, “Ready?”

“Just a second.”

She knelt beside the open grave.

“I’ve never been keen on Abraham as a first name,” she said, “but I’ve been thinking it would work well as a middle. I mean, if it’s a boy.”

“Wait, what?”

QUINN WILL BE BACK

If you feel inclined, reviews at your store of purchase are always appreciated.

Read more about Orlando’s and Quinn’s early days in the secret world in the novel:

BECOMING QUINN

And the short stories:

“
Just Another Job”—A Jonathan Quinn Story

“Off the Clock”—A Jonathan Quinn Story

“The Assignment”—An Orlando Story

“Lesson Plan”—A Jonathan Quinn Story (out April 2014)

“Quick Study”—An Orlando Story (out April 2014)

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

A quick word of thanks to Dan Barbier for help with the French, Rob Gregory Browne for helping me talk through story points and for another wonderful cover, and my street team for bringing new readers into Quinn’s world.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Brett Battles is a Barry Award-winning author of over twenty novels, including the Jonathan Quinn series, the Logan Harper series, and the Project Eden series. He’s also the coauthor, with Robert Gregory Browne, of the Alexandra Poe series. You can learn more at his website:
brettbattles.com

ALSO BY BRETT BATTLES

T
HE
J
ONATHAN
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UINN
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HRILLERS

Novels

BECOMING QUINN

THE CLEANER

THE DECEIVED

SHADOW OF BETRAYAL (U.S.)
/
THE UNWANTED (U.K.)

THE DISCARDED