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He rattled it again, then whispered under his breath. "Open the door, guys."
I clicked on my feed to his earpiece. "Once you tell her who's opening it."
He jiggled the knob again.
"Playing lone white knight isn't going to fly," I said. "She needs to know we're here, so if things go wrong, she knows who she can run to--"
"Is Gordon still in there?" Giles rounded the corner. "He'd better not have touched her."
"He just seems to be talking, sir," Adam said. "I think he needs a few more minutes--"
"Too bad. The show is about to start. You two get back to your posts."
Giles opened the door. "Ah, I see she's up. G
ood. This will work better if she's feeling more herself." He turned to us. "Still here? Go in and bind her then."
Giles handed us rope as we went in.
"I'm a big fan of yours, ma'am," Adam said as he walked in. He stopped in front of her, his back to Giles, blocking his view. Then he lifted his glowing fingers and grinned. "A really big fan."
It could have been the fingers, but I'll bet anything it was the grin, so unmistakably Adam. Hope nodded quickly and dropped her gaze. "Thank you," she said.
I went behind her to tie her hands. Adam tried to block Giles, so I could whisper to her, but Giles said, "Her feet, Smith. Get her feet," and Adam had to bend.
Damn it. I'd wanted to tell her Karl was alive. That wasn't possible, though. So I bound her hands. I didn't dare do it too loosely. Sure enough, when we finished, Giles checked. I had left her a little wiggle room. Would it be enough if she needed it? I didn't know.
Giles pulled a wheelchair from the corner and we loaded Hope onto it.
"Good," Jaz said. "She's all set. Now, I just need about twenty minutes to prepare--"
"You've had all the time you're getting. Your audience awaits."
"Er, no, I can't just--"
"You aren't ready?" Giles turned, his face coming close to Jaz's. "Then maybe you should never have left. I don't need your theatrics, Gordon. Just get in there and perform."
Jaz argued. Even I tried, carefully interjecting a suggestion that maybe they could compromise and give him ten minutes.
"I don't believe anyone asked you," Giles snapped at me. "Now get back to your post."
"Sorry, sir, I didn't mean--"
"I've told you to get back to your post twice already, Walker. Now get back there."
"Sir?" Adam said. "I understand you need people on the doors, but I really wanted to watch--"
"Back to your posts!" Giles roared.
A group heading into the meeting room stopped to stare. The oldest was a guy I recognized as one of the leaders from when Giles kidnapped me.
"Is there a problem, Giles?" he asked.
"Nah," Adam said. "Sorry. We just got a little carried away. Hoping we could watch the show from down here. But I guess someone needs to stand guard . . ."
Giles pushed Hope's wheelchair away, taking Jaz and leaving us standing with the other man.
The man waited until Giles was gone, then whispered, "We do need all the guards on the floor, but there's the video feed in the back room. Just wait until Giles has gone."
