Page 56 of Every Which Way

“If you say so.” Ramon followed her up the steps. Maizie walked behind him with Stairns next to her.

Stairns headed for the staircase with Maizie behind him.

Kenna eyed the girl’s hold on the shotgun, even though it wasn’t loaded. The fact Maizie wanted training was good. She should know how to handle a weapon. But it would be better if she didn’t go anywhere near a situation where she’d have to use it. Kenna would be much more comfortable with Maizie in the office than in the field.

“Kenna!”

She jogged to catch up with Bruce and found him in the hall.

“Coming?”

“Yeah, yeah.”

He ducked out of sight through a doorway into a dark staircase that went down and then doubled back on itself. His boots echoed in the quiet. “Remind you of that house in France?”

“Hopefully, none of our friends are in the basement.”

Bruce chuckled. “We got them out. How is Preston, anyway?” He clicked on a flashlight and held it under his gun hand, pointing both at the space in front of him.

Kenna turned on the flashlight on her weapon. “He’s good. He’s been emailing from his house in Washington state. A young woman with a baby that we met in New Orleans also lives there since she needed somewhere safe to stay. He’s been helping her find a job and a place to stay and a good daycare. All while he recovers from the wounds he sustained.”

Bruce opened the door at the bottom of the stairs. “He’s the reason I got back into the US, so I can’t really fault the guy.”

“Mmm.” Kenna had been contending with the fact Preston had lied to her about why he wanted her to go to England. He’d hired Miami Security International, and all of them had withheld information from her about why. They’d known about the company but needed her to discover her personal connection to it. She’d found out a lot that she hadn’t known about herself, but the journey to get there had been tough.

“But if you want him to die mysteriously of natural causes…”

Kenna said, “I won’t be asking you to do that. Not even with people I hate.”

“Fair enough.”

“Bruce—”

“It’s fine. I get it. Protect the kid, help you do your thing. It’s fine.”

Kenna followed him down the basement hall. “Can we focus? We can do your job performance review later.”

“That’s probably a good idea.”

She spotted the shift in him. “Why?”

“Because there’s someone down here with us.”

ChapterFifteen

Kenna listened long enough she could hear it. Down the empty stone corridor, the faint sound of rhythmic breathing. “I don’t hear anything else.”

She grabbed her phone and used the walkie-talkie app they all had. “We found someone down here.”

She left it open and crept forward, her volume low on her phone. Gun-first. Taking easy steps that made little sound on the floor.

Bruce made no sound. He stepped in front of her as if he had every right to take a bullet for her.

She didn’t like it, but she also did. Kenna would do the same for any of them.

He stopped near an open door. There was nothing else down here. The whole hospital seemed abandoned, and if this was where Carlton Hadley had been brought after his abduction, she didn’t see the cells he’d mentioned. But they could be in these rooms. Or the rooms themselves. They needed to take photos to show the fire chief to be sure.

If this place hadn’t been used for anything nefarious, why did it sound like someone in the room had a machine turned on?

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