“Yes,” I said not offering any more information.
“Wow, you know how unusual it is to see a tame coyote? They’re part of the canine family, but they’re not known to become domesticated at all,” he said all this while walking a few steps closer to me. “You’re not from around here are you?”
I ignored his questions and decided enough is enough. This guy wasn’t getting the hint and no matter how blue his eyes flashed in the moonlight, or how handsome his smile looked—I needed backup. My fingers flew up to my mouth and let out a sharp whistle.
Now it was his turn to look startled. Maze flashed over the bushes some fifteen yards away and bolted straight toward him. A low whistle from me had him change course and speed. He trotted right up to my side, licked my hand and glowered at the stranger.
“This is Maze. He doesn’t much like strangers and neither do I,” I said sternly, “Goodnight.” I turned and walked back toward to the hospital’s sliding glass doors with Maze right at my side and the stranger’s eyes boring a hole in the back of my head.
“Creed!” He yelled over to me.
Maze turned and growled. I stopped one last time, surprised my iciness didn’t scare him into the silence it should have.
“Did you just say, ‘Creed?’” I called back.
“Yeah, it’s my name. Creed Young. Now I’m not so much a stranger.” He smiled widely, waved and walked away.
“That was a little weird, wasn’t it?” I asked Maze as we rode the elevator back up to the seventh floor of the hospital. Maze looked up at me and cocked his head to the left like he was trying to understand what my problem was. “I know we could have taken him in a heartbeat so unless he had a gun in his back pocket, there was really no threat, but still. Something about that guy was scary—in a cool sort of way.” Maze was ignoring me now as he sniffed a meal tray one of the patients had left on the floor just outside their hospital room door.
“Come on, you. No digging through other people’s leftovers. It’s bad manners,” I said sleepily.
A few doors down, and we were back in mom’s room. I locked the door behind me and checked on mom. She was breathing softly and her monitors showed her heart rate, oxygen levels and blood pressure all normal. Evan hadn’t moved since I saw him last. I found my pile of blankets on my cot and flopped down. Maze curled up at my feet. The night was still, again.
Back down in the lobby, Creed watched the numbers light up above the elevator she had taken. It stopped on the seventh floor. He smiled to himself remembering their conversation and how guarded she was. He began whistling as he shuffled casually out of the building and back to his rental car waiting in the lamp-lit hospital parking lot. Something about that wild-haired beauty made Creed’s heart leap in his chest. Tomorrow he would have to find a way to bump into her again. Maybe this assignment wouldn’t be that bad after all.
Of course, there was the small issue of killing the woman. Creed shoved his hands into his pockets frowning now against the thought. He sat in his car and leaned his head back staring up through the sun roof. The stars were faint here compared to back at the Facility. Things seemed much less clear cut.
Sitting in Williams’ office, it didn’t seem too hard to agree to terms of this arrangement: one thief killed and three metas returned in exchange for information about his long lost parents. The ends justify the means, right? Williams gets back the metas that were rightfully his. Creed gets to be reunited with his kin. Thief gets her comeuppance.
He found the more he watched the Winter family and how they interacted, the more he liked them. They were good people. They were a family. And, now that he looked into the girl’s dark eyes and watched them flash with anger. Now that he heard her voice, angelic and soft even through her attempt at sounding irritated. Now that he could imagine her smile, her laugh. Now everything felt as hazy as this night sky looked.
In his pocket, his cell phone began to vibrate. One glance at the caller I.D. confirmed it; it was Dr. Williams. Creed touched the screen accepting the call.
“Sir.”
“Status report.”
“Surveillance still successful. First contact with M57 has been made.”
“Excellent. Your condition?
“Ninety percent recovered.”
“It’s been long enough. It’s time to complete your assignment.”
“Yes, sir.”
click
Creed sighed deeply, slipped his phone back into his pocket and started the car. He needed a little shut-eye before trying to figure out what to do next. Hopefully, Farrow would leave him alone when he got back to the hotel. He made sure she did not have a key to his room, but she was resourceful. If she wanted to, she could be sitting on the edge of his bed ready to pounce him for information when he got back.
He pushed Farrow out of his mind and focused instead on the girl—Meg. Creed had to think of a way to get the girl to trust him, and fast. She was the key to the brothers.