No Quarter by Blake Pierce

Author:Blake Pierce [Pierce, Blake]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Blake Pierce
Published: 2022-10-14T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Valerie’s head still throbbed, and whenever Charlie took a sharp corner in the car, she felt like her brain was bashing against the inside of her skull.

But the CT scan had been all clear.

Peter Torben, their suspect, lived in a small village not far from Buford. The hills sped by in the morning sun, shining on golden cornfields and tall bails of straw, piled high for when fall gave way to winter.

“A little more delicate, please, Charlie,” Will said from the back seat, his skin pale as though he was going to throw up his breakfast.

Charlie winked at Valerie in the passenger’s seat and took another corner a little faster than he needed to.

Will groaned. “Very funny. If I vomit, it’s going to be down the back of your neck.”

Charlie slowed down slightly. “Sorry, Will. You would have three portions of scrambled eggs for breakfast and a bowlful of bacon.”

“Don’t remind me,” he said. “The retreat is beautiful on the outside, but the cook should be committed too.”

“The scrambled eggs weren’t that bad,” Valerie said.

Will shot her a look of disbelief. “They had onions in them.”

“They were chives,” Charlie said.

“No, they were onions,” Will insisted. “I could taste them.”

“You’re just being picky,” Valerie said. But the truth was, she had found the eggs a little heavy on the onions too.

“I’m not being picky, I have a sensitive palate,” Will retorted.

Charlie chuckled and pulled up outside Peter Torben’s house. It was a small, neat bungalow with a well-tended garden. There was no car in the driveway, but that didn’t necessarily mean anything. Charlie killed the engine and they all sat for a moment, taking in the scene before them.

“What now?” Charlie asked.

“You go around the back,” Valerie said, “Make sure there’s nowhere for him to run. Will, you’re with me.”

“Delighted.”

Peter Torben’s house looked like something from a fairy tale. All crooked windows and even a tin roof on a shoddily constructed extension.

“Reminds me of Harry Potter,” Will said, as Charlie disappeared around the back.

“As long as there are no Death Eaters, we’ll be fine,” Valerie said. But she did understand the sentiment. The house looked like something out of time. All of them did. A row of eight, sitting on the outskirts of an old cornfield. Each house was of a different design, and each one was as crooked as the next.

Valerie and Will headed into the overgrown yard. Chicken’s clucked from a nearby coop.

“More eggs?” Valerie whispered as they passed it.

“This is probably where the retreat got theirs,” he joked.

Valerie enjoyed the back and forth with her friends, but as they moved up the path to the front door of the crooked house, she said quietly, “It’s game time, Will.”

She nodded to a twitching curtain on the second floor. Someone was watching them.

“I see it,” he said.

Valerie knocked on the door. “Peter Torben, this is the FBI.”

She waited a beat, but there was no answer.

“We know you’re in there,” she called out. “We just want to talk to you.”

Still no answer.

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