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“Yes, sir.” She slipped past the two agents.

“Excuse me, sir, but nobody except Dr. Allan—”

The edge of Gray’s hand connected solidly with the guy’s larynx. Another swift blow, and he was down. The other had turned to detain Barrie. Gray gave him a karate chop on the back of the neck. He went down. Barrie held the door open while Gray dragged them inside.

It had taken no more than a few seconds. Gray hastily switched his phony earpiece for the Secret Service agent’s.

He listened for a moment, then bent down and spoke into the tiny microphone the unconscious agent was wearing under his lapel. “Some excitement in the other wing, that’s all.” He paused to cough and clear his throat. “Leaking water pipe.”

He listened again.

“No, we’re under control.”

He clicked off the transmitter. To Barrie he said, “There’s another agent on the roof.”

“Won’t he notice the voice change?”

“I hope not.”

Working quickly, Gray divested one of the agents of his two-way radio kit, so that he would be clued to the actions of the agent on the roof, and any others who might be in the area. Then he taped shut the agents’ mouths and trussed them like turkeys, binding their hands and feet behind their backs with duct tape. For the time being, they were out of commission. But how long would it be before someone noticed they weren’t at their post and came to check?

Barrie had no time to entertain that concern. Gray had already moved across the dim room where Vanessa lay motionless on a hospital bed. Her slight form created barely any valleys and hills beneath the covers.

Barrie moved to the opposite side of the bed. “Mrs. Merritt?”

“Vanessa? Can you hear us?” Gray said with more force, shaking her shoulder. “Vanessa?”

Her eyes fluttered open. When she saw Gray, there was a catch in her thready breath. “You’ve come?”

“I’m going to get you out of here.”

“Gray.” When her eyes drifted closed again, she was smiling faintly, assured that now she was safe. She was so sedated that she didn’t even flinch when he ripped the tape off her arm and slipped the IV catheter from her vein.

Barrie didn’t have to look very closely to see that Vanessa was seriously ill. Her eye sockets looked like dark craters in her skull. Her lips were colorless. Gray slid his arms beneath her, catching her behind her knees and shoulders, and lifted her from the bed. She looked like a child in his arms.

“Barrie,” he ordered, “take the pistol.”

He’d laid it on the bed when he picked up Vanessa. Barrie stared at the weapon, loath to touch it. The long silencer attached to the barrel made it look even more menacing. But Gray’s expression looked more dangerous and deadly than the gun, so she did as he’d instructed. The weapon felt heavy and awkward in her hand.

“Careful with it,” he said. “It’s ready to fire. The service elevator is at the end of the hall. We’ll use that to get to the ground floor.” He glanced toward the two unconscious agents. “If you’re legit, I’m sorry,” he muttered. “If you’re Spence’s men, fuck you.”

As they moved toward the door, Barrie asked, “What about security cameras?”

“I haven’t seen any, have you?”

She shook her head. “What if somebody tries to stop us?”

“Shoot them,” he said matter-of-factly. He motioned her with his head. “Check the hall.”

She opened the door and looked around. The corridor was empty, although from around the corner she heard laughing and chatter about the flooded storage room. Apparently the absence of the Secret Service agents had not yet been noticed.

“Clear,” she told Gray.

“Get the elevator.”

She stepped out into the hallway and punched the button on the wall. Lighted numbers on the panel indicated that it was on the first floor. Barrie was sure it had never taken it longer to rise those two floors. She kept her eye on the corner, but no one appeared.

At last the elevator arrived, and it was empty. She stepped into it and pushed the Open Door button. Gray carried Vanessa across the hall in two long strides. Barrie pushed the Close Door button.