* * *
“Crescent 1 Leader to base,Mockingbird has made an unplanned stop at the home of Gabriel Matin. Package responding to messaging. All okay. Instructed to check in every half hour,” Zayne said over his phone.
“Crescent 1 Leader, hold please,” came the response.
Zayne’s gut fell; he saw his position evaporating if he lost the boss’s girlfriend. “Stinger, sit-rep,” Kip’s voice blasted his eardrum.
“Boss, she left the hospital without notification. I followed her to the Matin home. I can confirm one male, approximately thirty-five, and two small female children are present. She responded,oops sorry all goodto my text.”
“Keep me posted,” Kip grumbled.
“Roger.” Zayne requested two additional operators.
Zayne reported the new sighting of one female, mid-thirties, heading out on foot with the girls. One of his team followed. Harper texted,All ok.
An hour later, Zayne reported to Chad Thorn, “She’s still at the Matin house. Texted on time.”
“Hold your position,” Chad ordered. After Zayne’s first report, Chad was assigned to sit on the line. Quickly, he sent an update to Kip.
* * *
Elin stuckher head in the door. “Kip, Logan Shepard to see you.”
“Send him in.” He turned his computer screen to dark.
“Good afternoon. Grab some coffee,” Kip offered. He pointed to the chair in front of his desk after Logan declined the beverage.
“We successfully moved Chantal to our inpatient floor. We have a special air mattress for her to be comfortable. Her blood pressure is stable, and baby’s heart rate is good. We are administering meds for the baby’s lungs. Tuck doesn’t think she’ll be able to make it much longer, but every day is better for the baby. We’re prepared for her too.
“Tomorrow, we will close the women’s center at 1600 hours. We will turn the fourth floor into emergency space. The nursing home operations are stable. My staff ran an inventory, and we are in good shape. Now we wait,” Logan said.
Kip’s lips turned up. “Good work. If anything changes, let me know.”
“Are you feeling alright? You got popped pretty good,” Logan worried.
“Having the storm pass will cure it.” Kip lifted his briefcase onto his desk with a grimace.
“Keep me posted.” Logan used Kip’s words.
“Elin, could you page O’Mara and Stone to my office?” he asked over the intercom. The two men reported. “Josh and I have an emergency preparedness meeting at Belle Chasse. Tobey, you have ops.”
“Boss, Chad is in constant communication with Zayne. No changes.”
“Thanks.” Kip pressed up to standing. The crutch he was supposed to be using sat against the window behind his desk. His stare stopped Josh from reminding him, but he let him carry his briefcase. “O’Mara has control. I’ll be out of range.”
In the car, Josh asked, “Boss, you feeling okay? You seem off.”
“I’m sore and tired.” He sighed. “Ah, shit. Harper has me twisted up. Is it wrong to admit I’m falling for her at the worst possible time?”
“No. You haven’t missed anything.” Josh’s eyes stayed on the road. “Traffic is increasing. Looks like people are heeding the evacuation orders.”
“I hope so. My gut is already churning. There are a lot of variables not in our control.” Kip blew out a breath.
“Boss, we can only do so much.”
“If we didn’t own one of the safety nets, I’d be okay.” He unlocked his phone and waited for it to connect to the Bluetooth. “Call Bean.”
Construction noises filled the car. “Hey. Repairs to the bomb damage are going faster than expected. I’m not going to ask how the permits got expedited. I’m testing the generator at 1500 hours. We have fuel stores and spare parts for an in-case repair for as much as I can troubleshoot.”
