A few minutes later, a knock at the door brought Lily, Maverick’s woman (and Hawk’s daughter), and she scowled. “I got a call at the desk that you needed a 9-1-1.”
Lily was a labor and delivery nurse in the same hospital which, right now, couldn’t have been better timing.
“Hey, baby girl,” Hatch said.
“I need to get Maisie a new IV bag,” Brynnsaid. “But I need to do it without setting off alarms.”
“Go. I got this,” Lily said.
Brynn rushed out of the room without hesitation and Lily turned to me. “What do you need, Uncle Hatch?”
“Just guard the door.”
She nodded and slipped outside.
As soon as Lily was out the door, I leaned down and buried the needle of the syringe into the phony doctor’s neck.
“Vitamin B, huh?”
His eyes became wide as saucers.
“You look a little vitamin deficient to me.” I sneered. “How about I give you a full dose?”
“Please, no. Don’t. I’ll do whatever you want,” he plead.
“What’s in this syringe?”
“I d…d…don’t know. I s…swear.”
“But the Spiders sent you in here to pose as a doctor?”
“They kidnapped my wife and my little girl. They told me if I didn’t do this, they’d cut my daughter into pieces in front of her mother. I swear to God I never wanted to hurt anyone.”
“You’re lying,” I said, applying pressure to his neck.
Tears streamed down his face. “I swear to you. I’m telling the truth.”
“Check him for ink,” I said, and Razor ripped hisshirt open to reveal a pasty, white, tattoo free chest. His arms and neck were also ink free. This guy definitely wasn’t a spider.
“Who the fuck are you?” I snarled.
“Paul Sanders. I’m the woodshop teacher at Alder High School.”
“Why the fuck would the Spiders send a woodshop teacher to kill my wife?”
“I owe them a lot of money. I have a gambling problem. I’m an addict—”
“Believe me when I tell you that gambling is not your biggest problem right now. I’m your biggest problem. And if I find out you’re lying to me, I’m gonna press down on this plunger, and whatever the fuck is inside this syringe will be your biggest problem, do you understand?”
“Y…yes…sir.”
“Hold this,” I said, and Razor carefully took the syringe from me.
I stood up, pulled my phone out of my pocket again, and dialed.
“Hatch, what a pleasant surprise,” Warlock answered.
“Your plan failed,” I said.
