"Here we go, then," Michael said, standing wearily. "This is getting tiresome." I pulled out my phone and handed it to him. He consulted the map and we were off.
I chuckled and took his hand. This time we appeared in the man's back yard. "You got surprisingly close," I said.
"I've had lots of practice lately," he replied.
Gabe knocked on his door to no answer. With a trickle of magic, he unlocked the door and took a look around inside. "Not home."
I checked my notes. "He does patient transport at the Children's Hospital in the city.
Michael tapped his nose and took my hand. We appeared in a hospital corridor. Spotting a nurse's station, I motioned for the guys to wait at the end of the hall and walked up and gave them my most weary smile. I probably looked like any other worried parent in the place.
It helped that I was just as worried as all those parents. "Excuse me," I said softly.
The older lady gave me a sympathetic smile and leaned forward. "How can I help you?"
"I'm looking for Vincent Bird," I said. "He's a patient transport tech. He's supposed to be coming to get my daughter soon."
The nurse checked her computer and shook her head. "No, he's not clocked in."
I twisted my lips and clasped my hands on the counter. "I must've gotten mixed up about the time. What time does he come in?"
She clicked around and smiled. "Looks like he's on lunch. It's probably soon."
"Thank you so much." I gave her the most appreciative look I could muster and returned to the guys.
"Let's head to the cafeteria. He's on lunch."
"He may be in a break room or something," Lucifer said.
"Let's try the cafeteria first," I said. "Otherwise we might be out of luck."
We hit the nearest elevator and went straight for the cafeteria. Pulling out my phone, I found the hospital's security policy. "I knew it," I whispered as we sat at a table in the middle of the floor so we could all have a view of part of the room. "Children's hospitals always have color-coded scrubs. Patient transport coordinators are light teal," I told my guys. "And here's his picture." Setting my phone on the table, I let them pass it around and look at his photo.
"I got him," Luc said seconds later. "At the booth alone."
We all surreptitiously looked around until we all had spotted him. "You three go wait out in the lobby," I said. "I'll wait here and follow him out. All four of us would be way too obvious."
We tiptoed around the hospital with one or more of us having eyes on Vincent, with Gabe, and Michael using various glamours throughout the afternoon until he went into an employee’s-only room. A quick walk by it showed me a few lockers as someone exited, so I figured he was probably getting his stuff.
We hit a bit of luck as he walked out of the building. We didn't have a car with us, so I wasn't sure how we'd follow him. "Hey, Vinnie, wanna get a beer?" Another man in light teal scrubs intercepted our man on his way out the door.
"Not tonight, man. I'm wiped." Vincent walked on out the door. "I'm going straight to bed."
We let him get to his car, way across the parking lot, before any of us spoke. "I vote we're in his living room when he walks in," I said.
"Agreed," Lucifer pulled me into a hug. "I'm ready to get this figured out and sleep for about a month."
That sounded nice. My human body was wearing thin. Lucifer's had to be as well. They took us directly to Vincent's living room, and we collapsed on his couch to wait. I draped myself over the three of them.
When I was nearly dozing off, a door slamming jerked me back to full alertness. "Vinnie's home," Lucifer said with a gleeful smile.
We jumped up and whirled to face the doorway between the living room and kitchen. He'd come in the back door, through the kitchen. Luc and Michael flanked the door, leaving Gabe and me in the middle of the room to draw his attention.
He rustled around in there for a minute, then the noises went silent. "Hello?" He called.
A man appeared in the doorway, and almost immediately his eyes widened in shock. His tawny skin paled considerably. "Demons," he gasped. "Et abier—"
Luc cut off his words by wrapping a strong hand around his neck. "No. You won't be cursing anyone today."
