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“You think it was that idiot who had a hold of her?” Simon asked.
“Smith? Doubt it. Dunno, though. You see where he got off to?”
“No. Hopefully, the bouncers got him. Who the hell is he? Does she know him?” Simon asked, nodding toward the unconscious woman.
“Works with her. Been weird toward her since they started working together,” he said. He relayed the bits that Lesley had shared with him about the hallway and her computer being tampered with.
The medics arrived and immediately strapped Lesley to a stretcher. As they wheeled her out, Simon clapped his hand on Antony’s shoulder. “Go. We got this part. Let us know how she’s doing.”
Antony nodded and walked into the night. Once he settled in the back of the ambulance with her, he pulled out his phone and called Oliver.
They raced down the road to the hospital. A black Honda followed closely.
***
For the second time in far too short a time, Antony sat in an uncomfortable waiting room. Oliver had shown up and filled out all the paperwork for his sister while Antony called her company commander. While the men waited on her leadership to show, they began to sketch out a chain of events.
Oliver told Antony about Smith’s alleged involvement with some drug running from the border and asked him to keep that information out of their public records for the time being.
“Of course. I’ll send over a copy of the video from when this happened to Charlie, as well as a copy from tonight’s when we get it,” Antony told the man.
Oliver stepped away to talk to the doctor, to check on the status of his sister. He came back a moment later. “She’s coming around,” he said. “I tell you what, I’m going to go back there now for a few, and once she’s fully awake, I’ll let you go stay with her.”
Antony nodded. “Thanks. Take your time. Her people should be here soon, and I’ll fill them in.”
Ten minutes later, the reinforcements arrived. Smith had somehow gotten out of the club and vanished, a fact that didn’t look good for his presumed innocence. Lesley’s Sergeant Major seemed like a solid man, and it visibly shook him that this had happened to one of his people, potentially by another one of his people. Drama like that in the Intelligence community didn’t happen often, but when it did, it sent shock waves throughout the agency. They were a small group, and Antony had no doubt that Lesley was well known in her field.
Oliver came out just before the men left and spent a moment off to the side talking to the Sergeant Major and Battalion Commander. Once they finished, he came back to Antony. “She’s awake. Still groggy as hell, but awake and okay,” he said.
Antony let out a breath and felt some of the tension leave his shoulders.
Oliver pointed down the hall. “Go. Be with her. Stay the night, whatever. I don’t want her to be alone.”
Antony nodded. “Me either. Thanks. I’ll let you know if anything changes.”
“Of course you will. I’ll get Carwell to grab some stuff for you,” Oliver offered.
Antony tossed him the keys to his Trans Am. “Would you do me a favor and either bring me my car, or get Simon to drive it over?”
Oliver smiled. “Hell yes, I’ll drive your car,” he said with a laugh.
Antony returned the smile. “Cool. I’ve got extra clothes and stuff in there,” he said.
“You agents,” Oliver said. “Anyway, I’ll be back in a bit with that. I’ve got Mel on the way so we can get Les’s car, too. I’ll see you soon.”
Antony walked down the hall, speeding up as he heard a familiar and wholly unwelcome female voice go up in volume. One of the nurses watched him break into a trot and followed when the voice turned into a shriek.
“So, Lesley. It’s Lesley, right?” the voice was saying. It was icy and sent a shiver down Antony’s spine. “What’s it going to take to get you to fuck off? Antony belongs with me. He always has.”
He slowly came around the corner. Victoria was standing at the foot of Lesley’s bed. Lesley was agitated, her eyes wild and out of control. Victoria was the picture of calm evil, and it looked like she’d been there long enough to stir Lesley into a frenzy.
Antony walked up behind Victoria. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing, Vicky?” he said, anger breaking his voice. “How the hell did you even get in here?”
She spun around, catching him off guard as she flung her arms around him. “Darling! I saw what happened at the club and just had to come make sure she was okay!” She tried to press herself to him, and he grabbed her arms from his waist and held her at arm's length.
“Obviously,” he said dryly. He looked at the nurse, who had made the universal sign for phone and nodded. Good, she’d called security. Victoria was still trying to twist around to face Antony. She was whimpering. “Baby, let me go so we can talk about this.”
The baby turned his stomach. That was one term of endearment that he couldn’t handle from anyone after being with her. “Shut it, Vicky,” he said. “You’ve said quite enough for the night.”
