“I’m not a fucking moron,” he growled. But I heard the defense in his voice. I looked at Cowboy.
“Same for you. No phones, no nothing. Not even your mother can know you are out.”
“No one for me to call,” Cowboy said flatly. “Family is all gone ’cept for a cousin that now I’m thinking might have got a payday for handing me over.”
I stared out the front window and twisted the rearview mirror so I could check it every few minutes. Lights came into view and we were suddenly on the interstate with other cars around us.
“Two more exits, then the hospital,” Peter said.
“Hurry,” I said, rubbing at my neck. “They’re on us already.”
“Shit, can you see them?” Cowboy twisted around in his seat to look.
“No. But they are. I can . . . feel them.”
They both looked at me, but neither questioned me. Because as weird as that sounded, it was our world. And I wasn’t lying. There was a sense of being hunted that you only knew if you’d been hunted repeatedly. The tracers were already doing their job, almost humming under my skin, only for me it was everywhere. The hum was everywhere.
Peter took the exit we needed and drove quickly through a series of suburbs before the hospital came into view.
“Carlisle Hospital,” Cowboy said. “Doesn’t actually say where we are.”
I snorted. “You didn’t look at the license plates on the cars? We’re in Pennsylvania.”
Which was good, not too far from New York in the scope of things. I needed answers, and I was going to get them one way or another. I’d start at Killian’s bar in New York to see if there was any clue as to where he’d taken Bear.
Peter pulled into a parking lot and we filed out. “Leave the windows down,” I said, and looked at the dog. She needed a name.
“Wait. Guard,” I said, and she sat and gave me a look that said it all. She thought it was foolish but would do as she was told. I smiled and tucked Dinah into the waistband of my loose uniform pants. At least the crappy clothes would help me blend in with the hospital staff. Same with Peter. Cowboy, on the other hand, looked like shit, his pants and shirt ripped and his wounds obvious.
“Follow me.” I pulled Cowboy toward me, sliding his arm over my neck and mine around his waist. He startled a little but settled into letting me help him.
“You know where you’re going?” Peter asked.
I didn’t bother to answer him, and Dinah snickered. “He asks as if you’ve been here before. Shut up, Magelore, and follow the boss lady.”
“She always this mouthy?” he muttered.
I smiled, and even if it was tight, it was at least real. “She’s been nice, so far.”
The doors to Carlisle Hospital slid open and we walked through. It was a big hospital, which would work in our favor. The staff in a smaller place would notice visitors, but in a bustling hospital like this, no one was likely to acknowledge that we’d walked through the doors.
I started to the left and the elevator bank that waited for us there. Peter kept up and the three of us—four if you counted Dinah—stepped in. A young doctor slid in as the doors closed.
“Oh man, almost got the pinch there!” He pushed up a set of glasses on his nose and straightened his overcoat. He had short dark hair and a smooth face that made me think he was barely out of his teens. Young, so young and fresh and he had no idea who and what he stood next to in the elevator. His nametag read Dr. Lee.
“I’m a new nurse,” I said. “What floor is the X-ray machine on?”
“Oh, that’s the subbasement. You’re going down for that.” He hit the appropriate button and flashed a smile at me. I made myself smile back.
“Thank you.”
“No problem.”
I waited for him to ask what we needed the X-ray for, but he didn’t. I’d take a bit of luck thrown our way.
He got off on the third floor and then we were headed back down. The doors opened on our floor and we stepped out.
“I don’t really need the help now,” Cowboy said.
“It’s part of the image,” I said. “I’m a nurse, you’re a patient.”
“Sexy nurse helps wounded cowboy,” Dinah mused. “Not as kinky as I like it, but sure, we could run with that show.”
I rolled my eyes, but secretly had to fight a laugh. “I missed you too, Dinah.”
“Bitch, you didn’t have wax stuck in you for the last year,” she said. “I’ve gotta make up for lost time.”
“I had someone monitoring my every thought,” I said. “I win the shit year award.”
“Fine,” she muttered. “You win this time.”
Peter stayed close behind me, guarding our rear. I didn’t look back at him. I didn’t have to.
We were in this together, the three of us, for good or for bad, till death did we part.
That thought did make me smile, which was good since we’d reached the nurse’s desk. She looked up as we drew close, and her smile answered mine.
“Which doctor sent you down?”
“Dr. Lee,” I said.
She frowned as she looked over her paper. “I don’t see it here. Maybe he hasn’t had a chance to send the order down.”
We didn’t have time to sweet-talk her, nor did I have the inclination, so I moved around the desk and pulled Dinah out, pressing her against the nurse’s back. “Move real quiet. You’re going to help us run the machine now.”
Her back stiffened and I helped her stand. She had boxed blond hair that wasn’t fooling anyone with the dark roots, and her body was less than firm. Early fifties was my guess. I didn’t hold those things against her, but they assured me she was no threat. No FBI agent in hiding. No monster in
