Reunited By The Badge. Deborah Fletcher Mello

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      “You better,” the other man said with conviction. “She’s already a target. They know she’s connected to you. If they can’t get to you through regular channels, they’ll get to you through her. I know I would.”

      Like all the members of the Black family, Mingus was just as dedicated to the municipality. But he usually worked alone, sometimes in the dregs of the community, beneath the cover of darkness, getting his hands dirty. He sometimes did what others weren’t willing to do and he did it exceptionally well. Paul had no doubts he knew what he was talking about.

      “I need to go to the hospital. I have patients there I need to check on. I also need to get my hands on some of my files and maybe a new sample or two.”

      “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

      “I don’t have a choice. I have to go, but I’m not taking Simone with me. She can stay here until I get back.”

      “If you get back.”

      “Such faith!”

      “In my line of business, we deal in facts, not faith. And the fact is someone is gunning for you. And maybe it’s because you know something about that pharmaceutical company that they don’t want you to know. Or maybe not. For all I know, it could be a spurned lover out for revenge.”

      “Your sister had an alibi. She was with me, so she didn’t have a reason to try and kill me.”

      Mingus chuckled. “Touché!”

      Paul sighed. “I need to print the emails my brother sent me so I can study the results from the tests he was able to run. I’ll swing by a FedEx office first and then head over to the hospital. I’ll be in and out in thirty minutes. Forty-five max. Then Simone and I’ll get on the road.”

      “The print shop is going to want a credit card. Go here,” Mingus said, jotting an address down on the hotel notepad that rested on the desk. “Ask for Liza. Tell her I sent you. She’ll print whatever you need. You can also use her computers. She can back-door you into any system you need to get into. Tell her what you need, and she’ll find it for you.”

      “And she can be trusted?”

      Mingus shot him a narrowed look but didn’t bother to answer. Instead, he passed him a set of keys. “I’ll take Simone’s car,” he said. “There’s a black BMW parked outside beside it. The registration won’t come back to either of you. If you get stopped, the car belongs to Black Investigative Services. Tell them to call and I’ll confirm you’re authorized to be driving it. But don’t get stopped. I did a little digging last night and the men at the restaurant were a professional team. They didn’t miss by accident. They wanted to scare you, not kill you. But if they had wanted you dead, you would be.”

      The sound of the shower suddenly came to an abrupt halt, Simone cursing loudly about there being no more hot water. The two men exchanged a look and shook their heads.

      Mingus continued, “Lender Pharmaceuticals has deep pockets. They can afford to pay well to silence you. If you keep digging and they get pissed off enough, whomever comes next might not miss.”

      Paul rose from his seat and Mingus stood with him. Both stole glances at their wristwatches.

      “One hour,” Mingus said. “Go to the hospital. Get in, get what you need and get out. Simone and I’ll meet you at that address I gave you in one hour. Then you two need to put some distance between you and Chicago.”

      Paul nodded and the two men shook hands. “Thank you,” he said. “I really appreciate your help.”

      Mingus chuckled. “Don’t thank me. Thank the nuisance in there. If she didn’t love you, I’d kick your ass for getting her in this mess. I still might. No telling about me!”

      Paul hesitated as he pondered Mingus’s comment, wondering if it were possible that Simone did still love him. If they might be more than old friends. If when all of this was finished, Simone would still find favor with him. He suddenly wanted it more than he’d ever admitted to himself previously. He felt a mist of saline press hard against his lashes and he swiped at his eyes with the back of his hand.

      Paul gave Mingus a wry smile and then he turned to leave, his hand on the doorknob. For a split second he thought about telling Simone goodbye. Just in case they didn’t make it back to each other. Then he reasoned there was no point in tempting fate.

      He turned back to face Simone’s brother. “I really love your sister. I hope you know that. I never meant for any of this to happen,” he said.

      “Yeah, I know,” Mingus replied. “We all do.”

      Paul spun back toward the exit, then he stepped out into the early morning chill, closing the door behind him.

       Chapter 4

      It was the new day shift change, the hospital employees focused on updates about patients and not on him. Paul managed to enter the building and make his way to his office with only two nods of his head and one good morning to an elderly man rolling his way down the corridor in a wheelchair. Paul stole a quick glance out the glass partition before closing the blinds.

      There were manila folders resting on the center of his desk and a boatload of pink message slips. He didn’t bother to look at either pile, instead reaching to unlock the bottom drawer with the smallest key on his key ring. At first glance, it appeared that the drawer held indexed files and nothing more. What Paul was after was duct-taped to the underside of the inner drawer. He pulled the flash drive from its hiding spot and slid it into the back pocket of his denim jeans.

      Just as he relocked the drawer, after pausing to grab his calendar from the desktop and sliding it into his briefcase, there was a knock on the door. Paul froze, his eyes skating from side to side. There was a second knock, someone calling his name. He took a deep breath and held it as he considered his options.

      Paul secured the zipper on the briefcase and rested it in the seat of the chair. He moved from behind the desk to the door and pulled it open. The voice that greeted him was overly exuberant for such an early morning hour.

      “Dr. Reilly! You’re back!” The nurse standing before him looked relieved. “Kelly said she thought someone was in here, but she wasn’t sure. I wanted to make sure we didn’t have another intruder.”

      “Good morning, Grace. Another intruder?”

      She nodded. “Someone was in here yesterday, rifling through the files on top of your desk. We called security but by the time they got here, the men were gone.”

      “Men? There were more than one?”

      “There were two men actually. Both white, dark hair, wearing dark suits,” she said.

      Paul nodded his head slowly. “Do you know what they were looking for?”

      “No, sir. I checked everything afterward and nothing was missing. All the files there for you were exactly as you left them. They made a mess, but they didn’t take anything. At least I don’t think they did.”

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