Page 32 of Long Past Deadly

Hunt fought a smirk. “Don’t bring war into your kitchen.”

“Exactly.” She kept the swear words to a minimum and fished her phone from her back pocket.

&&&&&&&&&&

Somebody kicked him.

Quaid cracked an eye, tried to focus, failed, and rolled over. He knew this narrow sofa had been a bad idea.

“You will wake up.”

A woman’s voice – “Alanna?”

“Nope, try again.”

“Elizabeth?”

“Nope.”

He rolled to sitting and reached for eyedrops. Alanna had been right about his contacts.

“What the hell were you doing at my house?”

“Cait.”

“And I’m asking nicely. Hunt is with Harrison and Mackey in Operations.”

The moisture from the drops let him keep his eyelids open. Cait sat across from him in one of the green-patterned swivel armchairs. Dressed in jeans and a blue-striped button down shirt, her white coat and stethoscope were reassuring.

“Have you checked Alanna?”

“Yes. I’m waiting for the records from the hospital to review her ear examination. Answer my question.”

“Cliff notes or full story?”

“Cliff notes for now.”

“Parking lot. After wedding. Shot at. Didn’t want to try to get back inside. Too many people still here cleaning from your wedding. Took my car to your house, got armed. Niles has all of it.”

“So you brought this assassin to my house.”

“No, we’d lost him before we came to your neighborhood.”

“We?”

“Williams was with me.”

“Alanna?”

He huffed at the interruption. “Yes. She was in the parking lot. She thought they were after me and took me out of the line of fire.”

“Brave woman.”

“Yes. Without a doubt.” Quaid stood to stretch out the soreness in his muscles. “I’m sorry. As Mackey and I discussed, it might be time to put other drop boxes in place for emergencies.”

“My house is your house. Except you left our home defenseless, and I couldn’t back up Hunt while he was clearing the house.”

“I forget you’ve trained for backup.” At her expression, he tacked on more. “Honest. Sorry.”