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Chapter Sixty
Sloan’s eyes felt like two balls of burning mush in their sockets. All he wanted to do was lie down and close out the world. But first he placed a call to the hospital. “Hey, Ryan. Thank goodness you’re still on duty. I need a favor.”
“Whatever you want, dude, unless it’s against the law like the last time you asked.”
“You found out I’m not with the FBI any longer.”
“Roy mentioned something.” The peevishness in Ryan’s voice said it all.
“He forgot to mention I’m on special assignment. Look, he expected me to be there all night. As you know, I had to leave.”
“Yeah. He asked where you were.”
Worry slammed into Sloan and made the muscles in his stomach grip tight to fight off the rising bile. “What did you tell him?”
“Are you kidding me? I’m not completely stupid, man. The dude’s already unsteady, so you figure I’m gonna add to his problems by telling him you went after a bunch of murdering scum? I told him that Kean wouldn’t settle unless you were there and so you had to go home.”
“Good. Great. He believed you?”
“Not one lyin’ word.”
“Dammit. I knew he’d be a handful.”
“Not really. Once we knew for sure his concussion hadn’t done any lasting damage, I gave him a sleeping pill. Man’s in lullaby-land and will probably stay that way for a couple hours. By the way, Les and his lady just got here and they’re hanging out.”
“Tell them we’ll be there soon. I owe you. Big time.”
“Right. In case you weren’t aware, my family and I really enjoy barbecues like the one Roy was talking about earlier.”
“Consider yourself invited. See you later.”
***
When they arrived at the hospital a few hours later, Sloan watched Kean rush past everyone to hug Roy, his face lit with the excitement of seeing his old friend looking a heck of a lot better than he’d seemed the day before.
“Les took the kitty back to the garage, Roy. She has to stay there with you ‘cause Sloan sneezes when she comes near him.”
Les joined them and pretended to whisper. “He’s a real wienie about getting the needles to stop the allergies.”
Sloan turned his head and glared but saw three pretend angels grinning back at him. How could a man hold a grudge when all three pairs of eyes were filled with glee mixed with affection?
“You guys messing with me over there? I can tell by your expressions you’re up to something.”
“Nah! Just having a guy’s conversation. Nuthin’ ya need to worry your little head about.” Les at his best was a pain in the ass but when he was in a playful mood, like this morning, he ragged on a person something terrible.
Roy’s grin was worth being the butt of jokes. He looked positively radiant, if a grizzled-looking old Santa Claus could appear so glowing.
Sloan shot them his best pretend glare. Then he offered to go for coffees. “Ryan said that they’re waiting for the last x-rays to be delivered and if everything looked okay, you’d be free to go Roy. In the meantime, anyone want a treat from the cafeteria?”
Plus, he needed to check in with Don and see if they had picked up anything yet on the audio listening devices Sam was going to hide in the guest room.
“I’ll come with you.” Alia had appeared shy this morning, back to her reticent self, but he wasn’t letting her get away with it. He reached for her hand and hesitantly, she gave in.
“Good.” They gathered everyone’s orders; Kean’s plea for a milkshake got an eyebrow lift from his mom and a wink from himself, and they headed down the hallway.
“I couldn’t tell you earlier with the boy there, but Sam came to see me this morning.” He filled her in on their discussion and ended with his suggestion about Janna and the children coming to stay with her at the house. “That’s a good idea. Of course I kept Kean home from school again, so he’ll be glad to have the kids around later. He’ll be bored by then. I was hoping we could have Roy come home with us for at least a day or two, if you don’t mind. He can sleep in one of the twin beds in Kean’s room and I’ll sleep on the couch.”
“Good idea about Roy but there’s a much more comfortable bed for you to sleep in, sweetheart. It’s king-sized and the mattress is firm.”
