“Funny how these things work sometimes, isn’t it?” John mused. “One day, a guy’s trying to arrest you; the next, he’s your partner.”
Dreya laughed. She certainly hadn’t seen it coming, that was for sure. But she couldn’t deny that she and Braden made one heck of a team. Sometimes, like when they were going through the shoot house, it felt like the two of them had been working together for years instead of a few days.
She opened her mouth to ask John when she could officially start working for the DCO when his cell phone rang. He dug it out of the inside pocket of his suit jacket and checked the screen.
“I have to take this. Excuse me.” He put the phone to his ear. “What do you have, Evan?”
Dreya wandered over to where Braden was standing with Clayne and Danica to give John some privacy. Despite having exceptional hearing, she didn’t usually make a habit of listening in on other people’s conversations, but she couldn’t resist eavesdropping on the director’s conversation with Evan, especially after she heard the guy say something about acrisis.
“And you’re sure?” John demanded.
“We’re sure,” Evan said.
John cursed. “I’ll be there in five minutes.” He hung up, then glanced at her and the others. “Something has come up. I’ll talk to you later. Good work today.”
Giving them a nod, John jogged around the shoot house to where he’d parked his car.
“What was that all about?” Dreya wondered out loud.
Clayne shrugged. “Who knows? If it’s something that involves you, you’ll find out soon enough. If it doesn’t involve you, then you’ll never have a clue what it was about.”
“Well, that stinks.” She frowned. “Aren’t you the least bit curious?”
The wolf shifter chuckled. “You ever hear about what curiosity did to the cat?”
Dreya sighed. She could have made some smart-aleck remark but didn’t. She supposed if she were going to work here, she was going to have to get used to people keeping secrets.
Chapter 11
“It’s not too late to change your mind and go to your room, you know,” Trevor said.
He was following Brooklyn as she skulked along the wall of the dimly lit common room, being careful to stay out of sight of the nearest security station as well as any video cameras.
“I appreciate you trying to help me get into the isolation ward, I really do,” he added. “But you’re going to get yourself in trouble.”
Brooklyn stopped abruptly and turned to look at him, her ponytail swinging over her shoulder. “Seriously? I saw the way those new doctors looked at me earlier. I’m already in trouble. Besides, you need someone to be your lookout while you snoop around.”
Trevor shook his head. If Brooklyn ever came to work at the DCO, John would have to be careful, because she’d be running the place within a year.
As much as he didn’t like the idea of Brooklyn helping him sneak into the isolation ward, he got the feeling he wasn’t going to be able to talk her out of it. Considering her friend Ian was in there, he couldn’t blame her. Regardless, they couldn’t stand here in the middle of the common room, waiting for an orderly to come waltzing through. In theory, most patients in this wing of the facility were free to move around the common areas at night if they wanted, but he couldn’t help noticing that none of them did. According to Brooklyn, that was because the orderlies tended to consider anyone they found outside their rooms troublemakers and treated them accordingly. Most patients quickly decided that getting up for a late-night walk simply wasn’t worth the hassle. Not that he could figure out why anyone would wander around out here. With all the lights off but one tiny lamp and the cloying silence that filled the place, it was kind of creepy.
“Well, if we’re going to do this, let’s get on it before someone catches us.” He motioned the teen girl forward. “Just promise me that if something happens, get to your room, and act like you never left.”
“I told you, I will.”
Then she took off along the wall, skirting the furniture and the camera coverage in a confident way that made him think she’d done this before. When she led him along a roundabout route to avoid the facility’s cameras, he was sure she’d definitely done it before. No doubt about it, this girl would fit right in at the DCO.
A few minutes later, they passed a row of barred windows that overlooked the darkened gardens. Brooklyn slowed as they neared a T-intersection at the end of the hall. Trevor frowned when he realized where they were. Going right would take them toward the therapy wing. Left would take them to the isolation ward. No matter which direction they went, they were going to be seen either by the video camera at the end of the hallway or by the orderly at the security station.
Trevor opened his mouth to ask Brooklyn if she knew a way into the ward or if she was making it up, when she stopped short of the T-intersection at a wood door marked with a little brown placard that readJanitorial Staff Only.
Brooklyn peeked around the corner to check the hallway that led to the isolation ward. Cursing silently, he caught her arms and pulled her back. His nose and ears told him there wasn’t anyone there, but he carefully poked his head around to check anyway. He was right. There was no one around, not even the orderly on guard. That was odd.
Brooklyn tapped him on the shoulder. When he turned around, she pointed at the door of the janitor’s closet. “We need to get in here.”
He frowned. “Why? What’s in here?”
“The back of the room shares a wall with the wacky ward,” she explained. “When you stand near the wall, you can hear people on the other side of it talking. You shouldn’t be able to do that if it was concrete block like the rest of the walls in this place.”
