"Okay, you and Judge go after Abe. I'll get Cooper and Andrew to check on McDermott."
"Find us," I panted. It was rough talking on the phone and running down the stairs. "We're probably going to need backup."
"Don't shift unless you can't help it. This all seems a little suspicious to me."
I hadn't been thinking along those lines, but now that Ian had said it, he was right. For someone to knock someone out then take them out of the hospital was odd enough, but now I started to wonder if the elevator going to the cafeteria floor had actually been an accident or something planned to catch my interest.
"I think we're walking into a trap." All of the pieces fit. I was supposed to see Abe in the elevator. Why else would they be taking a "dead body" down to the morgue in the visitor elevator and not the service elevator?
"That would be my guess."
"I have to go, Ian." It was a really bad idea, but what other choice did I have? "Come find me."
I hung up and slid my phone into my pocket. We had reached the basement level of the hospital, which was where the morgue was supposed to be. The sign next to the door said so.
I glanced at Judge. "How do you want to do this?"
"I'd prefer if you stayed here, but since I know that isn't going to happen, stay behind me."
He was right. As long as these asshats had Abe, I wasn't going anywhere except after him.
"Can you open the door a crack?" I asked as I tapped my nose. "I can smell better than you can."
Judge stared for a moment before reaching over and pulling the heavy metal door open just a crack. I leaned forward and stuck my nose in the opening, drawing a large sniff of air into my lungs. I still got that hospital disinfectant smell, but I could also smell the cologne from the man in the elevator. It wasn't as strong this time, but we weren't caged in a small moving metal box either.
Considering we were walking into a trap, and that I was supposed to see Abe in the elevator, I had to wonder if the orderly's overwhelming cologne was part of the plan to trap us. He really had smelled as if he bathed in the stuff.
Of course, my overactive paranoid brain started working out all the reasons why none of this made sense, and the direction my thoughts started to go in began to make horrible sense.
We were so screwed.
I shoved the door closed and took a couple of steps away from it before pulling my phone out of my pocket. I quickly dialed Ian. "I don't know how they know, but these guys know what we are," I said as soon as he picked up the other line. "He might not know about you guys, but he definitely knows about me."
"Well, crap!"
I snickered because the situation was just too bizarre. "I don't know how they know. I don't even know whotheyare, although I have my suspicious."
"Atkins?" Ian asked.
"That would be my bet." The man was just a little too interested in getting to know me for my comfort. "I need to find Abe, but…" Honestly, I wasn't sure how to go about it. I wasn't a planner unless it had to do with computers.
Computers.
"I need to get to my computer."
"Where is it?" Ian asked.
"In Abe's room." At least it had been the last time I used it. I couldn't be sure of anything at this point.
"We're on our way to the hospital now," Ian said. "We should be there in ten minutes. Meet us in Abe's room. Get on that computer of yours and see if you can tap into the hospital's security cameras."
"I'll do what I can." I glanced at Judge, who was listening to my side of the conversation avidly, then tightened my hand on the phone. "Ian, I can't leave Abe out there alone. I have to get him back."
He was mine.
I had the ring to prove it.
"I know, Danny, but we need to know what we're working with here before we go running in. If this guy truly knows what we are, he's going to be waiting for us. We need to know as much as we can before we go or we could be putting Abe in worse danger."
