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She turned back to him, her brow furrowing. “Are you sure?”
“I’ve never been surer of anything.”
She visibly relaxed.
“Will you be all right here alone for a few moments?” he asked.
“Where are you going?”
Teddy nodded toward Neno’s unmoving form. “I want to make sure our friend doesn’t try to go anywhere when he wakes up.”
“Of course.”
Teddy dragged Neno into one of the rooms at the end of the hall. Janic’s man had a broken arm, several broken fingers, one eye swollen shut, and a ragged wound on his nose that was leaking blood over his face. Though his breathing was raspy and wet, it wasn’t in danger of stopping any time soon.
Teddy pulled the man’s arms behind his back, and the unconscious man groaned in pain.
Teddy extracted several zip ties from his pocket. “If you didn’t like that, you’rereallynot going to like this.”
He bound Neno’s wrists together first, his ankles second, and then secured them to each other, hog-tying him. Even if Neno hadn’t been injured, he wouldn’t be going anywhere.
As Teddy stood up, the radio in his ear beeped twice. “Daniel Rivera for Mr. Barnett.”
Teddy activated his mic. “Go for Barnett.”
“Sir, we have a problem.”
“What is it?”
“Matthew tried to make a run for it.”
“Tried?”
“He’s hiding in a building near where you parked. Wehave it surrounded, so he’s not going anywhere. Do you want us to move in and capture him?”
“No. I’ll deal with him. Just make sure he knows your people are outside, so he doesn’t do anything stupid. Or, I guess, stupider.”
“Copy.”
“Daniel, I could use your help here. Can your men handle things there without you?”
“They can. Where are you?”
???
Matthew pressed himself against the wall, next to the third-floor window, and leaned over just enough to see outside.
A parking area stretched out to a chain-link fence, its surface veined by weed-filled cracks. Standing in the otherwise empty lot were two security men, one almost directly below Matthew and the other at the other end of the building.
He rolled back out of sight. “Dammit.”
He’d checked the other three sides already, and they were covered, too.
No chance he’d be able to get out unseen. His only choice was to find someplace in the building where he could hide and wait them out.
He’d already searched the third floor and the two below and found nothing, so he went up to the fourth. It turned out to be even more unsuitable than the others, as it was a mostly open space where he’d be spotted in a second.
On the fifth floor, he found a loose panel that gave him access into the space between walls. It might work in a pinch, but the idea of closing himself into such a confined spot was not appealing.
