Page 79 of Rules of Engagement

"How do you know he's not following us right now?"

Maddox rolled his eyes. "Because I'm looking for him," he said. "I am trained for this, though, thinking about it, they should give every cop or agent a Lexi Graves to train with because there's nothing they can't learn with you."

"Aww," I said, brightening.

"It's not a compliment! You're terrifying!"

"Oh."

"Did he say anything?"

"No."

"I suppose it was too much to hope for a soliloquy on why he wanted to kill Solomon." Maddox sighed, then hung a hard right and I bounced against the door.

"Where are we going?" I asked, splaying my arms to steady myself.

"There's a safe house not too far from my apartment. We'll go there and lie low."

"My family will be freaking out! I need to call them. And the hospital! I need to call the hospital!"

I reached for my phone and found my pocket empty. I thrust a hand into my other pocket and also patted my jeans. "I must have dropped it," I said. "Now they'll definitely think I've been kidnapped."

"I'll get word you haven’t been. It's a good thing you lost your phone. No one can track you now."

"You have your phone."

"No one is trying to kill me!" Maddox scrambled for his phone. I reached for it, but instead of handing it to me, he pulled the SIM card out and switched it off, dropping it into the door pocket. "Just in case," he explained. "There's a burner in the glove compartment. Every cell number you need is plugged into it."

I popped the compartment and scrabbled in the near empty area until my fingers connected with a small, plastic rectangle. I powered it on and scrolled the phone list, deciding on Delgado. I hit the button and he answered with a terse, "Yes?"

"It's Lexi," I said.

"Le —"

"Don't say my name!" I hissed as Maddox flapped a warning hand.

"What happened?" asked Delgado. "Fletcher and Flaherty came back. They had your phone but said there was no sign of you. We thought you and Maddox were both kidnapped."

"Someone took a couple of shots at Maddox and me," I explained. "I think it was the same guy I interrupted. How's Solomon? Are you with him?"

"I'm here and he's fine. A real doctor checked him over and switched out the drip just to be sure. There was a syringe on the floor that hadn't been dispensed. Garrett bagged it. Solomon is completely unaware. His pulse is strong and he's stable."

"Thank heavens," I said, the tension draining from me at last. "Does anyone know what was in the syringe?"

"No clue. Garrett turned up just after the fight and said he'll get it tested. This guy just walked past us! I can't believe I let it happen..."

"He walked past all of us. We were so distracted that the white coat just looked like any other doctor."

"Doesn't matter," said Delgado. "I didn't do my job. Where are you now? Are you coming in?"

"No. Maddox is taking me to a safe house. He thinks they'll have concerns about me identifying the man and that he’ll come after me again especially if he got into the hospital that easy..." I trailed off, waiting for Delgado to tell me to come back, and promise to guard us both.

"Maddox is right," he said. "You need to stay out of sight until we figure this out. I can't help but think this must be a warning to you after all."

"But I haven't done anything!" Delgado snorted and I continued, "Not recently anyway. Was there a note?"

"What kind of note?"

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