Duke ran down Brian’s plan for the server. That all he had to do was notify Chef John when the guy placed another room service order. They could be there in less than thirty minutes, which would work, since delivery time for room service was roughly half an hour to forty-five minutes at dinnertime. Chef John was to alert only the minimum number of staff needed. Their team would enter through the kitchen, hurry along the back side of the restaurant—hopefully unseen—then up the west stairwell. Exiting that way would eliminate annoying hotel security, lobby cameras, overzealous ‘post junkies’ who loved to shove cell phone cameras into their faces when they rushed by with a jumper. All the things Duke avoided, if possible.
Marlow swallowed and raised his eyes to Duke.
“You got a question?” Duke’s posture was casual and open.
Marlow worked not to fidget, his eyes darting to Quick then to Duke. “This guy ain’t like dangerous or whatever? You said he’s Ivy League… but. Shit, I’ve seen American Psycho. This guy won’t go batshit, with an actual bat will he? Or you guys wouldn’t be two minutes too late like cops always are, will ya?”
Duke didn’t laugh at the kid but Dana sure didn’t hold it in. Ford elbowed Dana in his side, almost making him spit out crumbs from the blueberry scone he was wolfing down.
Dana balked, “What you hitting me for? Kid’s right. Cops do be late as hell.”
That did bring a crook to Brian’s lip. The young man was funny and wise to ask that question. He understood he should never volunteer assistance or go headfirst into a dangerous situation and not make absolute sure he was one-hundred percent protected. It couldn’t’ve been easy for Marlow to ask that given his present company.
Quick stepped forward. “We’re never late. Ever.”
“All you’ll do is knock,” Duke spoke as if this would be a piece of cake. “He’ll be less than two feet away from you, beside the door.” He pointed at Brian. “So will the other guys. When Clarkson looks through the peephole and sees you, he’ll start to unlock the door and you’ll be removed before he even opens it.”
“Who will remove him?” The chef asked this time.
Brian pointed at himself and Marlow looked fine with that. “Okay then. Let’s do this.”
After a few more details were outlined, the guys ate some more of John’s pastries and drank his expensive coffee, not wanting to keep refusing when he was offering up his prestigious establishment to help them. Trust. That didn’t happen often. They were usually shunned. People hated bounty hunters, especially the way they sometimes tore up shit.
In the parking lot, Duke gave everyone strict instructions that they were all on immediate call from three to midnight. Available no matter what. That meant Brian couldn’t be at Sway’s because he didn’t live close enough to the hotel and Sway wouldn’t be able to come to his place because of the hours. Duke would be expecting them to be in the office waiting on the call and working on their backup plan. This wasn’t what his and Sway’s relationship needed, but this was their reality. It was best to put everything out there now.
“You going back to the office with us?” Ford asked Brian once they were back in his truck.
“No. Take me to the hospital. I got some business to handle.”
Ford narrowed his eyes. “You think that’s a good idea?”
Brian could tell Ford suspected that Sway was the cause of his panic attacks but he didn’t know what he was talking about and needed to let him run his life.
“Babe,” Dana murmured in the front seat. “He’s got this. Let B do his thing.”
Ford tightened his jaw and drove his truck in the direction of Emory Hospital. He let Brian out in the visitor’s lot, his mouth twitching as if he had more to say, but he refrained. Brian was glad he had Dana on his side. He’d said it time and again. Dana was going to make an amazing brother-in-law.
“I’ll be back by three.” Brian slammed the door and fastened the middle button of his coat. The chilly air blasted his face, cooling him. He took a minute to gather what he was going to say before he went inside. He bypassed the help desk and went directly to the elevators, pushing the floor for Nephrology.
Sway stood at the nurse’s station going over the schedule changes for next week. He’d been juggling it for the last two days, now he feared he may need to call a couple of the fill-in nurses. There was a forty-eight hour bug running rampant through the hospital and so far it’d attacked two of Sway’s best nurses. They all were great, but Rebecca was one he could rely on to cover for him when he needed it.