“We will put eyes on them. With us blowing up the trial, I don’t think they’re going to start murdering patients. I think Harper, Chantal, Kyle, Babette, Desirée and I are the targets. The site visit for the adoption is tomorrow, and after that, we will tell the girls we are their new parents. Harper wants to take two weeks to gradually slide them into a day care schedule. We will start interviewing nannies too.”
“Kip, I don’t think you realize one key piece of the site visit. You are a single male whom the guardian is living with. Crescent 1 has two women out of sixteen,” Hunt told him.
“I never thought of that.” Kip swiped his face.
“You’ve never adopted kids before,” Hunt said sympathetically.
He loosened his tie, swallowing hard. “What do I do?”
Hunt opened his palms. “Postpone it until you get your house in order. I don’t want to push you, but what are your intentions with Harper?”
“You sound like a dad with his daughter,” Kip said.
Hunt leaned forward. “You didn’t answer my question.”
Kip realized that was exactly how Hunt was behaving, and Hunt knew it. “I love her. I told her that. I’m trying to take things slow, so I don’t overwhelm her any more than she is.”
“Don’t you think the insecurity of you putting her out doesn’t overwhelm her?” Hunt asked. “Especially now that she has two little ones to care for?”
“I would never do that,” Kip said. “I’ll put it in writing.”
Hunt sighed and shook his head. “Think. Don’t speak. Use your organized brain and think.”
“I’m ready. You really think a proposal won’t stress her out more?” Kip asked.
“Couillion.” Hunt laughed.
“You too.” Kip laughed. “Now that my love life is sorted. Business.”
Kip and Hunt went through each ward. Staffing. Supplies. Support services. Supervisors. “We could use another CT scanner,” Hunt said.
“One issue, space. Can we reconfigure something? I’ll ask Bruce to help you explore options. If we can’t do it internally, I think we may have the space for an addition. We will find a way.”
He got up to leave. “I’m heading to the site of the burned Sommerstone Manor to meet with the architects, environmental people, and the city planners. If I get the approval, we can break ground on the fifteenth, the same day we cut the ribbons here and the main building.”
“Good luck. And, Kip, if you truly love Harper, well, make the jump. If you’re not ready, as you said about the building, you will find a way.”
“Thanks, Hunt.”
* * *
The driveonto the grounds felt surreal. The beautiful old building was gone. The new sketches maintained the old-fashioned exterior with all modern, updated, state-of-the-art equipment inside. Now, all that remained were parking lots and an enormous dirt pile. Six cars were parked in a circle around where a group of men and women were clustered next to the tailgate of a white pickup.
Kip disembarked, along with an eight-person security team and Josh. “Good morning.” He smiled.
“Morning,” one member of the group said.
Kip took a step back. Something was off. One of the security team said, “What a beautiful day in the neighborhood.” It was a warning.
Kip and Josh slowly reached for their weapons.
Too late.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” The man closest to Kip, standing just out of his reach, raised a gun to his head. A swarm of masked gunmen emerged from inside the cars in the parking lot, surrounding them with automatic rifles. “If you want your boss to live, drop your weapons and phones.”
“Kick them over here,” another of the group said.
“What do you want?” Kip asked.
