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“Got it.”
Mancuso taps on my shoulder when we get to the parking lot. “My ride.”
“Need more units?” Hugo, who followed us outside, asks.
“Not at the hospital,” the agent orders as he unlocks the doors of his Bureau-issued SUV. “Don’t wanna spook the man, but have them close by, in case he slips through the cracks.”
“Will do.”
I hop in the passenger seat and try not to panic as Mancuso speeds through the streets of Silence. We make the drive in record time.
“Let’s not go in there guns blazing. A casual walk through the lobby.”
I keep an eye out for Sal to see if he’s taken up a position outside of the clinic, but I don’t spot him anywhere around the lobby.
The door to the clinic is closed, but I can see the silhouette of someone leaning against the frosted panel on the side. The deputy’s uniform is unmistakable and I softly tap the panel to alert Sal to our presence.
A second later the door opens and he slips outside, whispering as he updates us.
“Can’t see anyone but I can hear him talking to a woman. She only spoke a few times, he’s doing most of the talking. I think they’re in one of the treatment rooms down the hall. No one at the front desk, so I decided to wait inside, pretend to wait for a nurse while I keep an ear out.”
We’re quietly strategizing on how to proceed, whether to go now or to wait and see if we can surprise him coming out of that room. Normally, I’d rather let him come to us, so to speak, but knowing it’s likely Dana in that room with him, I am fighting the urge to go in there guns blazing. I have no idea what role this man may have played. For all I know, he’s right up there with Merrick, henchmen for fucking Hudson.
“If he’s in there with Dana, I don’t think he intends to hurt her,” Mancuso suggests. “Think about it. Why would the man call her and lie to try and get her down that mountain, if not to keep her from harm?”
“You’re making a lot of assumptions,” I point out.
“Nothing else makes sense. What other reason could he have had?”
He makes a good point, but what I don’t get is why he would seek out Dana now? What does he want with her?
A nurse walks up smiling, a paper bag and a cup of coffee in her hands.
“Can I help you, gentlemen?” she asks. “I apologize, the line at the coffee shop was long.”
She reaches for the door handle and starts to open it before Mancuso can stop her.
“Ma’am, you can’t go—”
He is cut off by a sharp crack from inside the clinic, immediately followed by a blood-curdling scream.
For a fraction of a second, we all freeze. Then we move as one, Mancuso forcefully shoving the nurse aside, as I push my way through the door, my weapon already in my hand.
“Slow down,” Mancuso yells behind me, but I ignore him.
With the gunshot still ringing in my ears, I rush down the hallway, ducking into the first partly open door I encounter. It’s a treatment room, empty. Mancuso does the same on the other side of the hallway. Two closed doors are left.
Mancuso picks the one on the left, pausing with his hand on the doorknob until I give him a nod. The moment he opens the door, I go in low, scanning the small office, which is empty as well.
One more door.
I take a deep breath, trying not to imagine what I’ll find behind it, as we go through the same routine. Mancuso with his hand on the knob and me crouching low.
Except this time, the door won’t open. Even when the agent throws his whole weight against it, it barely moves.
“Somebody’s behind it.” He points at the floor, where blood is visible seeping from under the door.
I have to swallow Brenda’s bitter black tar I was slinging all morning back down, and force my mind to blank.
