Page 19 of Rowe

“I am. Glaze gets slippery.” The thick man reached inside his jacket.

Kai moved first.

He did not lunge. He merely raised one hand, palm out, and shifted his weight onto the balls of his feet. Christopher set his coffee on the edge of the counter. Sonny handed the doughnut sack to the elderly man beneath the television. Jethro’s face emptied of humor. Patrick kept chewing, but his eyes fixed on the thick man’s wrist.

The motion stopped halfway.

Every person in the lobby understood, at once and with complete clarity, that the next two seconds belonged to the five men blocking the corridor. The tall stranger spoke without looking away from Patrick.

“Let your hand fall, Dean.” The thick man obeyed. Patrick swallowed.

“Dean, is it?” Dean said nothing. “Good. I was getting tired of calling you Sleeves.” The pale man glanced toward the stairs.

“We only want to speak to our friend.” Christopher’s voice remained mild.

“Name?”

“That isn’t your concern.”

“It becomes my concern when you ask directions and demand to speak to someone you’ve yet to name,” said Christopher.

“She’s confused. Injured. She may have said things she didn’t mean.” Kai’s eyes narrowed.

“Did she also chain herself to a concrete slab?” The pale man went still. It was the first answer any of them believed. Patrick set the unfinished doughnut on a napkin.

“There it is.” The tall man did not turn toward his companion, but anger tightened his jaw.

“We don’t know anything about someone chained in the bayou.”

“Nobody mentioned where she was found,” Christopher said.

“You said bayou,” said Dean.

“Miss Landry said you said bayou.” Odette smiled without warmth.

“I am an excellent listener.”

Outside the rear of the hospital, Beaux shut the van door gently. Rowe climbed in beside Mara and settled her head against a folded blanket. Tucker took the driver’s seat.

They drove slowly down the main drive of Belle Fleur. No one would think twice about the van from the convent. Even if they could see it, they wouldn’t suspect anything. Mara watched the hospital recede through the rear window. They were all praying that AJ, Hiro, Tucker, Code, Sly, and Pigsty would get the security nets, fences, and other secret spy materials up and running fast. Like yesterday.

“The men downstairs. They won’t leave.” Rowe tucked the blanket around her feet.

“They will.” He said it with confidence knowing exactly who was going to make sure of it.

“You don’t know them.”

“I know Patrick.” In spite of herself, she looked at him.

“Is that supposed to comfort me?”

“Not entirely but it will eventually.”

Back in the lobby, Patrick folded the top of the paper sack twice and handed it to the volunteer, who had reappeared beside the records door.

“These go to the nurses’ station.”

“Including the fritter?” Jethro pointed at it.