As if they were hired to spy, they eased to the side window and observed. Inside, a group of ten or twelve men congregated. Their women loitered nearby, some with Styrofoam coffee cups in hand. Others texting or talking on the phone.
“What the hell is this, some kind of intimidation tactic?” Ryan asked.
“That’s exactly what this is,” Allister said, walking ahead of him.
They entered the hospital and made a beeline for the double doors separating the emergency room from the waiting room. Feeling the burning gazes at his back, Allister squared his shoulders, steadied his pace, and slowly turned his head. “Might as well put it out there.”
Noticing the eyes of evil men following his every move, Allister smirked, thinking it was all right to tempt the devil when he’d already wandered a little too far from hell. Allister didn’t have to guess which one had earned his horns. The leader of the pack stood out in size and build but he also wore the evidence of a recent fight.
Apparently Sable had given her former husband one damn good clawing. His cheeks were streaked with the proof.
“Don’t do it,” Ryan warned him.
“The devil made me,” Allister muttered, stopping at the information desk. Once more, he turned to the McCoy clan. This time, he shot the ringleader a smirk.
The reception window opened and a cheerful little woman asked, “May I help you?”
“Yes,” Allister replied, turning his head sideways so he could keep an eye on the waiting room. “I’m here to see Sable Samms. My brother is with her now. My buddy and I would like to go on back now, too, please.”
* * * *
Markie heard them before he saw them. The McCalls were a different breed and when they were agitated, it was like a stampede complete with the stomping of hooves and snorting to match. Allister might as well have grabbed a megaphone. From the time he hit the doors down the hall, Markie could hear every word he said.
“They aren’t half as intimidating as they’d like for us to think.” His boots struck the smooth floor. “Did you see the way the big guy looked at me? He’s more afraid of me than I am of him.” Another stride or two and he added, “He knows he’s met his match.”
Allister and Ryan entered. Ryan removed his hat. Allister hadn’t worn one.
“Mighty nice of you to show up,” Draegan said, never looking up from his phone.
“Ma’am,” they both said in unison.
“Hello.”
Markie sighed dramatically. “Where are the rest of you?”
Allister looked behind him. “As far as I know, I’m in one piece.”
“For now,” Draegan said. A quick exchange between brothers led Markie to believe it wasn’t by chance that two of Trouble’s strongest were there in this little woman’s room.
“How bad is it?” Markie asked, avoiding eye contact with the weeping willow. Since Draegan had arrived, he’d asked all the difficult questions. She’d been in tears for the last thirty minutes.
Allister studied her and stroked his chin. “Why don’t you tell him?”
Draegan tucked his phone in his shirt pocket. “We’ll have plenty of time for that later. Where’d you park?”
“Front and center. When we walk out, everyone will know it.” Ryan made the announcement like the choice had been deliberate.
“Well then go move the damned car,” Draegan said, shaking his head. “There’s an employee entrance ‘round back. Go there and wait.”
“Not a chance,” Allister said. “If we walk out of here with her, we’re walking out the front. No reason to get ambushed around back. We’ve been here more times than we can count. You know how dark it is back there. The only lights are in the parking lot and at the side door.”
“Since when are you afraid of shadows in the dark?” Markie asked.
Sable lifted her head. “Since he found out I’m married to a killer and that killer has as many guns at his back as he’ll ever hold in his hands.”
“Really?” Markie leaned forward and narrowed his eye. “Sounds like you’re impressed, sweetheart.”
“My momma was. That’s why I married him at sixteen. I don’t care for the McCoy brothers or what they stand for. Never have.”