Page 8 of Doyle

Behind her, the door opened.

No fear. No?—

As someone closed the blinds, they shook, and she along with them. She jerked away from Nevo and turned.

A man stood behind him. Dark hair, bearded, dressed in white pants, a Hawaiian shirt, and flip-flops. He cocked his head at her, smiled. “Hello, Miss Pepper.”

Sebold.Just a guess, but by the way he glanced at Nevo and smirked?—

“What do you want?”

“I think you know. Baptiste told me about your new toy.” He put a hand on Nevo’s shoulder. “We think probably you need some insurance to keep it safe.”

Insurance?

“On top of the fees, we’re going to need some... monthly attention.”

He turned her chair, crouched in front of her, his hands on hers, on the armrests. Ran his thumb over the back of her hand.

Don’t scream.

His unwashed odor swept over her.

A knock at the door, and then, suddenly, it burst open.

Doyle stuck his head in. “Hey, guys. So, I think we’re done here, Tia. Let’s go.”

She stood up.

The motion knocked Sebold onto his backside, and she stepped over him and nearly lunged for Doyle’s outstretched hand.

“Thanks, guys,” Doyle said and shut the door.

She turned to him?—

“Keep moving.” He nearly pushed her out the main door.

The truck was gone. “Where?—”

“Just keep moving.” He pushed her across the parking lot, around the back to the warehouse, where her truck sat, the X-ray machine in a box in the back, strapped in.

“My grandfather had a Ford like this. Easy to hotwire.” He clamped a hand on a skinny man, maybe early twenties. “Thanks, Ricky.”

Doyle got into the driver’s side of the still-running truck, and ahead, someone had opened another gate.

Shouts fell behind them, and Doyle floored it. Tia spotted Sebold running across the yard toward the truck.

They cleared the gate, and dust kicked up as drove up the road.

What just happened?She’d suddenly landed in a rerun ofMacGyver.

Doyle gripped the wheel, glanced back, then at her.

“What did you just do?” She too shot a look behind them.

Sebold stood, gesturing, yelling at one of the guards. She winced when he hit the younger man.

“I got your X-ray machine out of hock. And I’m not sure what was going down back there in the office, but from the looks of it, it didn’t look like you were making friends.”

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