“Cate,” her father’s voice was clipped, the tone he used when he was working a problem that kept shifting. “My secretary notified me that Garrett Sterling requested emergency travel this morning. His assistant helped him book a flight to Europe. Zurich, to be specific.” Her father paused. “He’s coming here. I’m afraid for you.”
Cate closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. “I know, Dad. We’re ready for him.”
“I don’t think you are,” her father said. “You don’t know him.” He laughed. “I don’t know him. I thought I did. Now...”
“I’m starting to know him, Dad,” she said. “You don’t have to worry about me. I have good people around me. I’ll be okay.”
“You’re all I have, Cate. Be careful.”
“I will. I’ll call you tonight. I love you.” She ended the call and glanced at the people in the room, all staring at her expectantly. “Sterling is on his way as of this morning.”
“He can’t access the money online,” Brandt said. “If he wants to unfreeze the account or move the money, he has to go to the bank.”
Cate reached for her coat. “Inspector Brandt, I want to be at the hospital with Sanders when he wakes up. If Sterling’s tying up loose ends, Marcus and Sanders are next on the list.”
“Cate,” Draco’s voice said from over her shoulder, “you’re not going without me.”
“I know,” she smiled up at him. “Are you ready now?”
“Give me a minute to grab my phone and jacket out of the break room.”
“We’ll wait in the car,” Cate said and headed for the elevator with Brandt.
“Don’t leave the building—” Draco called out as the elevator doors closed.
Cate and Brandt waited on the first floor for Draco to join them and then left the building to climb into Brandt’s SUV.
During the short drive to the hospital, they didn’t say much, each apparently buried in his or her own thoughts.
Crusher and Fearghas Gordon weren’t in the hallway when they arrived on the third floor.
Brandt stopped at the nurse’s station to inquire about the status of their two patients.
Cate and Draco went directly to Marcus’s room, where they found Crusher seated just inside the door and Marcus sleeping soundly. Draco whispered a warning to Crusher that Sterling was inbound and to be on alert for him or another of his mercenaries. “Let Marcus know when he wakes,” he added.
As they left Marcus Calloway’s room, Brandt joined them. “Sean Sanders woke briefly this morning and was able to speak with the doctor. He has since slipped into unconsciousness. They’re monitoring him for a brain bleed.”
“Let’s check in with Fearghas,” Draco said.
All three of them entered Sean Sander’s room. Fearghas stood by the door. When they entered, he moved to block them. Once he realized who they were, he stepped aside and let them come in.
The man lay still, his swarthy tan dull in the overhead fluorescent lighting.
“I’d hoped to speak with him before Sterling set foot in the country,” Brandt said.
Cate sighed. “Me, too.”
A loudspeaker squawked overhead with the announcement: Code Blue, Code Blue, followed by the room number.
Brandt frowned. “That room is on this floor.” She hurried for the door.
Cate followed, afraid someone had gotten to Marcus.
Draco must have had the same idea. He raced ahead of Cate and Inspector Brandt as half a dozen medical personnel came running toward them, pushing a crash cart.
Draco made it through the door into Marcus’s room before the people and the cart reached them and blocked them from entering Marcus’s room and the one across the hallway.
The staff members waved at them, urging them to move back.
