“I agree. Norovirus sheds badly, and they won’t clear it from their systems for weeks. You and I and all those Iniquus people are likely candidates.”
“So if Abbie and Marna are in isolation. They won’t let you in to see them.”
“Possibly true. Probably true. I should go home and call them from there. If they’re sleeping, I’m not going to wake them.”
“Rerouting for home,” Gabriel said, backing out of his space.
“Thank you.”
As they drove, Gabriel reached out to hold her hand. The radio played pop music with the volume set low.
Sommer was in and out of sleep.
When Gabriel’s phone rang, he squeezed her hand and released her to answer.
Sommer only got snippets. From the shift in his tone to efficient and focused, Sommer assumed it was a work call, and something was brewing.
“I thought they were looking for them in the mountains,” Gabriel said.
…
“Three? What are their statuses?”
…
“I can imagine. But out of crisis and stable? What about the fourth? No sign?”
…
“Yeah,” Gabriel looked over at Sommer, catching her gaze. “I’ll come now. I need to drop my—” He cut himself off. “I have Sommer in the car with Whiskey and me. I’ll drop them off and come straight in.” His eye moved to the clock on his dash, then back to the road. “Depending on traffic, an hour, maybe an hour and a half.”
“That was work,” she said as he put the phone in his cup holder.
He worked for the FBI. It was Saturday afternoon. It must be something bad to pull him in like this.
“There’s something on my desk that needs immediate attention.”
“A picture, right? You need to geolocate a place?”
“Correct.” He looked over his shoulder at Whiskey, then back to the road. “Would it be okay if I drop you off at your house and leave Whiskey with you? It’s urgent that I get to my office as soon as possible.”
“Of course. I only have cat food at my house. If you tell me the brand, I’ll go buy something for Whiskey.”
“You don’t have your car,” he said gently.
“Right.”
“There’s kibble in my pack. I’ll hand it to you when we get there.”
“It sounds like someone’s in trouble. I’m glad you’re down from the mountain and able to go help.”
He focused on moving efficiently through traffic toward her house.
Sommer stayed quiet to allow Gabriel to stay on task. His brain was obviously churning thoughts.
When he pulled into her drive, she said, “Just the kibble. You can get my stuff to me later. You need to go.”
He rounded to his hatch while Sommer unloaded Whiskey from the back seat.
