Sable Quinn Trilogy Boxed Set

by K. J. Dahlen

  Sable put her fingers to her lips and grabbed her weapon from the table. She went to one side of the door and listened carefully. She glanced down at the door knob and watched as it turned slowly. She glanced over at Quentin. He had picked up his weapon as well.

  “Are you there, Sable?” came a voice from the other side of the door. The voice was whispery and barely audible.

  “Yeah, I’m here waiting for you.”

  “I only want what’s mine. Give me the knife and I’ll go away.”

  “I’d have to be crazy to give you the knife. We found Brandi’s body in the cave. You bastard, you didn’t have to kill her.”

  Noah chuckled. “Sure I did. I’m a killer, remember? Did you really think I would allow her to live?” He hesitated. “She didn’t die easy, did you know that? She fought all the way to the end. She died cursing you.”

  “You’re a liar,” Sable cried out.

  “How would you know what happened?”

  “I know because I was holding her in my arms when she died.”

  Noah was quiet for a moment before he commented. “Now you know what I’ll do to you or anyone else that stands in my way. Give me what I asked you for and I’ll go away. Otherwise no one is going to be safe.”

  “Yeah, we heard you tried to break into Marie's place. I’m betting while you got a piece of Ben, he got a piece of you too. Did he hurt you? Did he actually spill your blood?”

  “He surprised me. I didn’t think anyone would be there,” Noah admitted. “He may have gotten a part of me, but he got the worst end of the deal though.”

  “Are you really that dumb?”

  “What do you mean by that?”

  “You broke into a cop’s house and injured her father. If he dies, you’ll have every cop in the city looking for you. They’ll look in every dark corner and rat hole they can find.” Sable grinned at Quentin when she heard Noah swear on the other side of the door.

  “Before I leave town, I’m going to kill you.”

  “You can try, but you’ll fail just like Micah and Sam and Shawn.”

  Sable heard footsteps walking away from the door. When she couldn’t hear anymore, she reached for the doorknob. Cracking the door open she glanced out into the hall. There wasn’t anyone there. Opening the door wider she looked down the hall again. Then she looked down at the carpet. Right in front of the door were several drops of blood. She knelt to get a better look. Quentin came to join her. She swiped her finger tips in the carpet and when she lifted her fingers they were stained red with Noah’s blood. Ben Thomas had gotten a piece of Noah.

  Sable looked up at Quentin. “We need to get a hold of Nick. Noah is hurt and on the run.”

  Chapter Eight

  When Nick returned a short time later, he was livid. He glared at Quentin but didn’t say anything to the other man. He turned to Sable. “Are you looking to get yourself killed?”

  “No, I’m not. He didn’t get through the door. I was safe. I had my gun in my hand and Quentin had his gun. If he had stepped a foot inside, we would have nailed him.”

  Nick stared at her. “You knew he was coming here, didn’t you? You sent us all away so you could confront him on your own.”

  Sable paused. “I was hoping he would come.”

  Nick began to pace while he thought about what had taken place. He stopped and stared at Sable. “What did you find out?”

  “Ben wounded him. He knows we found Brandi and now to get the upper hand he may be looking for a way to get his hands on Marie. I’m not about to put her in his clutches,” Sable said. “What did you find at Marie’s?”

  Nick stopped pacing. “There was quite a struggle at Marie’s house. He broke in the back door and confronted Ben in the living room. The officers told me Marie’s mother said they fought in there and in the kitchen. They found blood in both rooms. Ben used a knife to defend himself and after Noah stabbed him, the only thing that saved her was the wail of the police car. She got on the phone as soon as Noah broke into the house and called 911. Noah raced out of the house seconds before the police arrived.”

  “Yeah we know. Noah is bleeding. He left drops of blood in front of the door.”

  Nick’s phone began ringing and he frowned when he answered the call. “It’s Mason.”

  Sable turned away while Nick took the call then walked to the window and looked out over the city.

  A few minutes later Nick called out, “Marie’s father is in surgery but the doctors think he’ll live. Noah stabbed him in the side. He was able to tell Mason he stabbed Noah before he got away.”

  “I think Mason should recruit some officers to watch over Marie and her mom. Noah has fixated on Marie. She will be in danger until he’s caught.”

  “Mason needs to know what we want to do next.”

  “We have to take Noah’s safety net away from him,” Sable told him. “We know he’s wounded, how badly is anyone’s guess, but now we have to turn the tables on him and put him on the defense.” Sable spoke what she was thinking.

  “How do we do that?” Quentin asked.

  “We have to take away his hiding spot. We have to show him he can’t get away from us. We need to put him on the run."

  Nick chimed in his agreement. “We have to flush him out of his hole. We need to invade all three of the warehouses.”

  “All three of them at the same time,” Sable said. “We have to hit them all together so he has nowhere to hide.”

  Nick reached for his phone. “I’ll see if Mason can coordinate it from the hospital.”

  While Nick made the call, Sable checked the addresses for the warehouses. There was one warehouse a few blocks away and two more on the north side of town. There hadn’t been any activity at any of the warehouses for years but Micah would have snuck in and out of town. He wouldn’t have drawn any attention to the fact someone was living there.

  When Nick returned, he said, “Mason asked for an hour to get his men in place.” He glanced down at the computer with the addresses on it. “Which one do you think it is?”

  Sable pointed to the address a few blocks away. “This one gives him a better escape route both in and out of town. Here, he’s blocks away from the interstate, easy access to stores and food.” She glanced at the computer, “I think this one is where we’ll find evidence of someone living there.”

  “Ok, then that’s the one we’ll start with,” Nick told them.

  The warehouse in question was an old furniture factory/showroom. The building itself was a three story brick structure. The structure was old but in relatively good shape. Someone had over the years plastered the outside with graffiti up to the second floor, but you could still see the original furniture signs that had faded with time.

  As Sable, Nick, and Quentin stood waiting across the street for the okay from Mason to enter the building, Sable looked around the neighborhood. It was a mixture of old and new buildings. They were standing just out of sight in a parking garage; across the road was another hotel and next to that was the Omni Center. Next door to where she was there was a communication company and a bakery.

  Traffic in front of them was one way. Sable looked down the street and could see fair grounds. As she past that way yesterday, she noticed advertisements for Oktoberfest behind the large wooden gates secured at street level.

  Sable checked her watch again and glanced over at Nick. It was time. They came out of the darkness and rushed across the street. Moving steadily, they made their way through the parking lot and to the doors of the warehouse. The police had their equipment in place and on cue they rammed the doors open and entered, calling out their positions and intent.

  Sable went inside the building with her gun raised. She saw the first floor was empty. There were remnants of the building’s previous owners in the form of broken furniture scattered everywhere. Long display cases lined two walls and there were several ceiling fans and lights mounted on the ceiling. In one corner there were dust covered floor lamps and rugs were rolled up in
another corner. Dust was thick in the air from being disturbed, but she watched as the police lights searched the first floor.

  She noticed a wide staircase going upstairs and caught Nick’s attention. Several police officers followed them up the staircase to the second floor. Here they found living quarters.

  Micah had built a kitchen area complete with a sink, stove, and refrigerator and a living area with a sofa, love seat and two other mismatched chairs. An old console television separated the living area from the rest of the room. She could see Micah had built temporary walls separating the rest of the living space. There were three doors leading to another area beyond the living room. Carefully opening each door, Sable found separate bedrooms. From each room she was able to see the different personalities of their owners.

  The bigger bedroom was for an adult. A large bed dominated the room and the small bookcases on either side were filled with books. Upon closer examination, Sable read the titles of the books. She found many of them dealt with the justice system. She also found several hand written journals. The windows in the rooms were dirty and stained. They hadn’t been cleaned for several years.

  In one of the smaller bedrooms the window was cracked open and there were signs someone was sleeping in there. There was a sleeping bag on top of the bed and an opened duffle bag sitting in the corner. Sable glanced into the bag and saw several items. She reached into the bag and brought out a rolled up leather bundle. She placed it on the bed and unrolled it. She found several wicked looking knifes in the leather pouch. Sable stared at the knife handles for a moment before she rolled it up again and stowed it back in the duffle bag.

  The whole warehouse smelled musty. Sable holstered her weapon and walked back toward the kitchen. She opened the refrigerator door and saw there was food inside and the light was working. She looked over at Nick. “We found a generator in the corner of the first floor. It’s far enough away to be silent up here yet provide a steady electric current.”

  “I guess we found where Noah is staying,” Sable said.

  “We don’t know who is staying here. This could be a street person squatting here,” Nick commented.

  “I don’t think so.” Sable went back to the bedroom that someone was staying in and brought out a duffle bag. Unzipping it, she whipped out the leather roll she had found before.

  Nick looked at her and unrolled it. He whistled when he saw what was in the leather. “It does look like something only Noah would have.”

  “Do you think?” Sable asked. “If this stuff isn’t Noah’s, we are dealing with a very disturbed individual.”

  She wandered over to the windows facing the street. The late afternoon sun bathed the city in its golden aura. “We need to keep Noah out of here.” She turned to Nick. “Right now he thinks of this place as his safety net. He can come and go as he pleases.”

  “If we take that away from him, he’s going to retaliate,” Nick said.

  “I know. Marie will be protected at the hospital and I have you guys. You know I can take care of myself.”

  Nick stared at her. “I know you think you can, and I think if we were dealing with the normal kind of thief, you could, but Noah isn’t a normal person. He is a killer and he learned from the best.”

  “I want to take everything useful back to the hotel. Noah said he read Micah’s earlier journals. I want to read them too. I want to know as much about Noah as I can.” She looked around the room, “Has anyone seen anything that could be used as a safe?”

  Nick glanced around. “I don’t think so. At least no one has said anything.”

  Quentin joined them. “Mason just called. His men found the other two warehouses empty and he wants to know what we should do.”

  “We’re going to post police officers at all three warehouses tonight. We want more than one for their own protection and we want them visible at all times,” Sable told him. “I don’t want Noah to be able to slip inside and hide.”

  A short time later Sable, Nick, and Quentin were back at the hotel going through the stuff Micah and Noah left behind. Sable found Micah’s journals interesting to read. The journals told her of the time before she knew of him.

  Sable set the journals aside. They would keep for another time. She tipped Noah’s duffle bag out on the coffee table and gazed at the contents. The leather roll that held the knives fell to the floor and as she picked it up, she noticed something odd in the pile of stuff. It was a small notebook. She picked it out of the pile and sat down to see what was inside.

  Several pages on the notebook had writing on them. Each page had a name on the top of it. She looked down the list of things and a time of day. Sable recognized the things listed were things a person would do everyday. Emily stopped for coffee at Starbucks every day at 8:15 and she stopped at the library twice a week.

  Sable flipped through the notebook and found several names, most of them were crossed off. She stopped when toward the middle of the book she came on Maggie’s name. She was upset to find Noah had her name in what she took for his hit list book. Turning the page, she found her name written there.

  Noah had taken special notes on her. She hadn’t realized he had been following her. Some of the dates were three years old. He had noted she ran three miles every morning, she took Taekwondo classes three nights a week, and where she shopped.

  She caught her breath as she read the note on the bottom of the page, Make her death slow and painful, she deserves it!

  Sable glanced up at Nick but didn’t draw his attention. Noah’s threat could wait. She began to separate the other items. She found several items of clothing and several more knives. She also discovered he had a small pouch of bar chips from different bars in different towns.

  A knock at the door caught everyone by surprise. Nick grabbed his weapon and glanced through the peep hole. He reached for the doorknob and opened the portal. Mason Nix stood on the other side.

  He stepped through the door and turned to look at them. “Ben Thomas made it through the surgery. He’s going to be fine.” He looked at the stuff they brought back with them. “My men told me you found Noah’s hiding spot.”

  “We did find the warehouse Micah bought,” Sable said.

  “They also tell me you want officers to stake out the warehouses.”

  “We don’t want Noah to be able to slip in and use the property as a hiding place. Is that going to be a problem?”

  Mason shook his head. “No, I don’t think so. I’m still worried about Marie. This creep has focused too much of his attention on her.”

  “I think you should post an officer or two to protect her and her family,” Sable said.

  “Did you find what you were looking for at the warehouse?” Mason asked.

  “We found where Noah was staying, but we didn’t find the safe. We didn’t really have time to look for it either,” Sable said.

  “Are you sure the safe really exists?” Mason asked.

  “I think it does. Micah and Richard wouldn’t have trusted a bank; hell, they robbed banks. They would have to have somewhere to keep their money safe and I found a key in the handle of Richard’s knife. I’m sure that’s why Noah wants the knife back so badly.”

  “Where do you think the safe is?” Mason asked.

  “I think its somewhere in the warehouse,” Sable said.

  “But no one found it today,” Mason said.

  “No one really had time to look for it. They were too worried about being ambushed. I’d like to go back and see if it’s there,” Sable said.

  “But we didn’t see anything today,” Nick said.

  “It’s not like its going to stick out. Micah was too clever for that. It will be hidden in plain sight,” Sable said.

  “It’s getting late now. Maybe we should sit tight and go in the daylight,” Mason said. “I’m going to check with the hospital and call it a day.”

  Sable was almost tired enough to sleep, hopefully without the all too familiar nightmares. She picked up the notebook she
had been reading earlier and sat down to look it over again.

  “Damn,” Mason swore as he ended his call.

  Sable and the others looked in his direction. “What’s the matter?” she asked.

  “Marie is missing,” Mason said.

  “What do you mean she’s missing?” Nick asked.

  “I mean she’s missing,” Mason told them. “I left two officers at the hospital with her. After Ben came out of surgery, Marie went to the cafeteria for coffee. An officer accompanied her and was found unconscious in a janitor’s closet by hospital personnel a few minutes ago. No one has seen Marie for about twenty minutes.”

  Sable looked down at the book in her hands. She began flipping through the book until she came to Marie’s name. Reading the surveillance remarks, she found Marie liked yoga. She rented movies a couple of times a week and she shopped at Quillian’s Food stores. She liked to garden and go for long walks. He also noted in his book she entertained her parents a lot.

  “Do you still have officers at her house and the warehouses?” Sable asked.

  Mason turned and nodded. "Yes, why? Do you know where he might take her?”

  Sable handed him the book. “I found this among Noah’s things from the warehouse. It’s his personal tally card.”

  Mason took the book and began skimming through it. He glanced at her when he came to the end of the book. “So he likes to follow his victims for a few days before he actually murders them. That still doesn’t tell us where he would take her if his place and hers was swarming with police.”

  “Where is the one place he knows is empty?” Sable asked. “The one place that’s out of the way, where there’s no chance anyone would bother them?”

  “What do you think you know that we don’t?” Mason asked.

  “I think he took Marie home.” Sable said. At their frowns, she went on. “Think about it. I think he took her to her parent’s farm. He must have followed her out there on several occasions. He found the caves out there. He could have watched her interact with her parents. I think he took her to the farm.”

  “You could be right,” Mason said after he thought about her suggestion. “He knows her parents are here in town. He would have complete freedom out there.”