“Should we have stayed for the drugs the doc promised?” Justin said, finally switching over to English. It was hurting his brain to stay in the Russian. He was too out of practice.
Gabriel shook his head. “No. Just need some sleep.”
“I’ll try to keep this quick.” When the doors parted again, they stepped out onto an empty floor. The reception area was dimly lit, and the receptionist’s desk was dark. Justin hurried over, jumping over the desk to land other side. Gabriel more sedately walked around to stand next to him as Justin woke up the computer from its end of the day slumber. He typed in the nurse’s login, not quite sure if it was going to get him in or if the computers were locked off from the various departments. The employees in billing usually didn’t have access to the same software as the nurses and doctors. Receptionists and clerks usually only had access to billing, check-in, and appointments. But nurses, he reasoned, likely had access to a lot of different things so they could fill in all the important information for all the other departments and doctors.
Hell, he’d never tried to hack the system at UCMC. He could be way off.
But this time…he wasn’t.
He nearly shouted his relief when he got into the system. It took him several minutes to stumble his way around until he found a directory. And then a list of names and vital information for the various research projects that were being conducted at the hospital. It wasn’t full records, but it looked like those might not actually be stored on the same server. Grabbing a notepad, he scratched out some critical information that would help to speed along his search. But it would have to be done from his home office. They were too out in the open in the hospital, and he didn’t want to catch the attention of security.
“Find what you need?”
And then there was Gabriel. He just sounded exhausted and in pain. The guy needed to get back to his hotel room for food and sleep before he could be of use to them both.
“It’s a start. It’s going to take me a lot longer to dig through these files and find something we can use.” Justin tore off the sheet of paper and the one below it, shoving them into his pocket. “I’ve got enough that I can use to hack into the system and snoop around from the safety of my own home.” Pushing back to his feet, he motioned for Gabriel to lead the way back to the elevator.
With his eyes closed, Gabriel leaned against the wall. “Two doctors dead. A miracle drug that’s potentially not a miracle,” Gabriel quietly listed.
“You mean a drug that stands to be a multi-billion-dollar blockbuster. I can understand why someone might want to make sure the FDA approves it. Iaso would own the market, and that’s a damn big market.”
“Sounds like something a CEO would push for,” Gabriel said. “He’s got the most to gain…and lose if the drug doesn’t live up to expectations.”
“True, but a lot of people who work on these teams get bonuses for drugs that successfully make it through drug trials and get FDA approval. Then there’s company insiders, board of directors. Iaso is a big company.”
“If you think I’m just going to start gunning down executives to save a little time—”
“Whoa there, slugger,” Justin said, pressing his hand into Gabriel’s chest. “I know you’re not just gonna whip out your weapon and mow down an entire C-suite for shits and giggles. We’re just brainstorming here.”
“And this job isn’t just a matter of finding out who ordered the hit on the two doctors,” Gabriel said, sounding incredibly stiff. “We need to discover what they’re hiding about the drug as well. Preferably before your FDA approves it on what has to be falsified data.”
“Sounds like a plan.” Justin stepped back as the elevator neared the ground floor.
“A plan? What plan?”
“You will go back to your hotel room and get some rest. Order a little room service. I’ll go home and start digging into the research files they have here. I want a list of the doctors that worked on it, along with a look at some of the patient files. Maybe there’s something there that will give away what’s so bad about this drug.”
Gabriel grunted. He didn’t seem happy about the suggestion, but he didn’t argue, and Justin was grateful. It was bad enough that Gabriel had stayed up most of the night watching over him after he’d taken out that bullet fragment. The lack of sleep and blood loss were definitely fucking with the man.
“Tomorrow, we meet and make a new plan,” Gabriel said in Russian the second the doors slid open, revealing a busy lobby area to the hospital.
“Da, comrade.”
“Fucking asshole.”
Chapter Seven
Gabriel simply wanted to sleep. He was exhausted, and his body ached. Hunger gnawed at his stomach. Lunch had been a salad. He’d not been in the mood for more food before he met Justin for their little hospital exploit. He hated to admit that he was a little surprised at how cleanly that whole thing had gone off. Justin’s ease with Russian, especially slang, made Gabriel more than a little positive the man was former CIA or special forces. But he’d unravel the puzzle that was Justin later. Right then, he just needed sleep.
Unlocking the door to his hotel room, Gabriel stepped inside and immediately stopped. The entire room was trashed. When he’d left, the place had been neat and tidy, as if no one was staying there. Now the sheets were ripped from the bed and the mattress pulled off the frame. Two of the pillows had been torn open, the stuffing strewn everywhere. His clothes had been pulled out of the closet along with his suitcase. Pulling the gun from where it was tucked in a holster at his lower back, Gabriel carefully closed the door behind him and slowly entered the room. He checked the bathroom and the small balcony to find that he was completely alone. Someone had broken into his room, looking for something. His Chaumet and Patek Philippe chronographs were still there, if only on the floor. Those two watches alone made a quick smash and grab worthwhile.
Was this related to his current job? Or something from his past? There was always someone somewhere hunting him, but he couldn’t imagine how anyone could possibly know he was in Cincinnati. But if it was this case, how did they know where to find him? More than one person could have been watching the doctor’s house the night before. A smarter assassin could have followed, and they’d not known it because they were focused on the other car. And then after the shooting, Gabriel’s attention had been on getting Justin to the safety of his room rather than watching to see if they were still being followed.
Fuck. He had to call Justin.
Putting his gun on the desk, Gabriel pulled his cell out of his pocket and dialed the number Justin gave him.
“G, my friend,” Justin’s easy voice came through the line after one ring. “I’ve been gone less than five minutes. You can’t miss me already.”
“Someone searched my room.”
“Not housekeeping?” Justin asked, but his voice was dead serious.
“Definitely not housekeeping.”
“Pack up. I’m turning around now. I’ll be there in about ten minutes. You’re going to stay at my place.”
“No. I’ll get a new hotel room. I just wanted you to know that we’ve very likely been spotted.”
“I’m not thrilled about it either, but my house is secure. It’s set up to be protected. You’re with me. I’ll be there in seven minutes.” Justin ended the call, leaving Gabriel to growl at his phone. This was not what he wanted. He might have wanted to peel away some of Justin’s secrets and figure the man out, but he wasn’t excited about the prospect of sleeping in the same space with the man. Being in constant contact wasn’t great for his sanity.
Grabbing his roller bag, he winced as the handle bit into the stitches that laced the heel of his left hand. Careless. He needed to remember the damn injury. He quickly started piling clothes and his other belongings into the bag. All his things were tossed in various directions and hidden under fallen sheets. He didn’t want to leave anything behind, but there wasn’t much that could be tied directly to him. No identify
ing names or labels. He’d learned to live like a ghost. He didn’t exist and that was what kept him alive for so many years.
In the bathroom, he removed the ventilation grate to reveal the small bag of weapons he’d hidden there. The bag was untouched, no fingerprints in the fine powder he’d placed on it to reveal if someone had found it and then put it back. He collected the stray weapons he’d stashed around the room. Not one of them had been disturbed. Whoever had searched the room had done a really poor job of it, reminding him greatly of the gang members they’d encountered the previous night. He had placed the last item in the bag when there was a loud knock at the door.
With his Glock held behind him, Gabriel peered through the peephole to find Justin standing on the other side looking less than thrilled to be back at the hotel. The other man likely noticed how Gabriel’s head blocked the light from the peephole because he suddenly grinned.
“Housekeeping. You want fresh towels?” he asked in a high-pitched voice. It vaguely reminded Gabriel of a movie he’d seen years ago, but his exhausted brain couldn’t pull it up. He unlocked the door and held it open for Justin. His new partner smirked at him, but it died away the second he stepped fully into the room.
“Well, this is a fucking mess,” Justin muttered. “I’m beginning to think we’re the only professionals in this damn town.”
“That’s the way it looks,” Gabriel agreed. He walked back into the room and zipped up his roller bag. He would need to iron all of his clothes again when he got to Justin’s…assuming the man owned an iron and ironing board. He wasn’t hopeful. “Whoever searched the room didn’t find any of my hiding places as far as I can tell.”
Justin opened his mouth and then promptly closed it again without saying a word. He shook his head. There was something more eating at the man, but for some reason he didn’t want to say it out loud. At least not yet. “Let’s get the fuck out of here.”
Nodding, Gabriel shouldered his computer bag and then grabbed the roller bag, following behind Justin. This had not been a part of his plan when he took this job. When Marilyn had contacted him about the contract, he’d known that it wouldn’t be a quick in and out, but he’d not anticipated these complications. He was not sloppy in his work, and Justin didn’t appear to be either, despite his loose and careless demeanor. Something else was at work here, and he didn’t like it.
They remained silent down to the garage and while loading his luggage into the trunk. It was only when they were on the road, gliding across the Ohio River toward northern Kentucky, that Justin finally spoke. The windows to his car were down and the warm air ruffled through Gabriel’s hair. It was still warm and humid from the afternoon’s heat, but there was a refreshing feel to it, like a lover’s embrace at the end of a long day.
“Unless you’re the world’s best mercenary, how likely is it that a professional wouldn’t have found at least something hidden in that room?” Justin asked.
“I am the world’s best,” Gabriel said without a hint of bravado, earning him an irritated glare from Justin. “And I know how to hide my gear.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Justin prompted with a wave of his hand as if motioning for him to get to the damn point.
“But a professional…like yourself…” Gabriel said with a slight pause, “would have been able to spot one, maybe two items. Of course, a professional searching a room wouldn’t have made it obvious that he or she had been in the room. A professional wouldn’t have scared his target into flight—”
“Unless he wanted him to run,” Justin finished with a growl.
“I don’t understand how I was spotted so quickly. There was only the run to the doctor’s house, and that got us the four morons from last night. Is it possible that there was a second car following us?”
Justin sighed. He relaxed in his seat, right hand on the steering wheel and left hand holding his head while his elbow rested on the door. He looked tired, but Gabriel wasn’t sure he believed it. Fuck. He didn’t know what to believe. This job was twenty-four hours old, and they had both sustained injuries already and had zero solid leads to speak of. It wasn’t reassuring.
“Possible. Not particularly likely, but possible.”
“Other thoughts?”
“Marilyn betrayed us,” Justin tossed out, but Gabriel was already shaking his head.
“She’s got nothing to gain by taking us both out. She makes far too much money off me.”
“Plus, if word were to get out that she burned clients…well, she knows that she’d be putting herself out of business.”
“True.” Gabriel rubbed his face with his good hand, trying to push past the building frustration to see the answer that was just beyond his fingertips. “Someone else could know about the contract. Know that Marilyn has promised delivery.”
“Marilyn is good,” Justin snapped. “I’ve worked with her for years and she’s never slipped up. She’s not a freaking noob at this.”
“I’m not saying she is,” Gabriel said calmly. He could feel the smile pressing against the corners of his mouth, impressed by Justin’s fiery defense of the woman. Either Justin cared for her, or he regarded her as a friend, and the man was protective of his friends. Interesting.
Justin grunted like he suddenly realized where Gabriel’s train of thought was headed. “You’re talking about the person who put out the contract.”
Gabriel nodded. “If you’re new to this, or at least not careful, and go through the wrong channels, then the trail might not be too hard to follow.”
Justin shifted in his seat, straightening while his hand tightened on the wheel. “I don’t fucking like this,” he muttered. “I’m more accustomed to working in the dark. No one knows when I’m on a job, and I’m definitely not hitting resistance this damn early. What the fuck!” He slammed his left hand against the wheel.
As much as he hated to admit, Gabriel had to agree with Justin. It felt like this whole job was already heading sideways, and they hadn’t even made any forward progress yet. They needed time to go over the information they had, dig up some additional intelligence, make plans, do a little reconnaissance, shake some people down. So far, all they’d accomplished was breaking into a dead man’s house and grabbing a backup hard drive and prints for hoodlums who tried to kill them. Lovely.
“Were you able to check the doctor’s hard drive? Or run the prints?”
Justin sighed heavily. “The hard drive is encrypted. I’ve got code cracker running on it now, but it’ll take a while. The prints on the dumb fuck that shot at us revealed what we thought. Just some stupid punk. His rap sheet was filled with petty theft and drug charges. Nothing that would indicate he would know how to handle a hit.”
“So, we’ve got nothing.”
“No, we’ve got leads,” Justin corrected sharply. “The only problem is that we’ve also got some psycho on our asses at the same time when we really shouldn’t.”
“We should have expected this.”
“Really?” Justin hit the turn signal and crossed over a lane on the sparsely filled expressway to take the next exit.
Gabriel looked around at his surroundings for the first time as they paused for a red light. There really wasn’t much to see at all. The last sign he saw was marked for a town called Ft. Mitchell, but the place looked largely residential and quiet. He glanced over his shoulder to see one other car get off at the exit at the same time. A white minivan driven by a woman. She pulled up in the lane beside them, revealing a baby in the child seat in the back. Not a likely tail.
“There’s a lot of money on the line if this new drug is approved by the FDA. Throwing around a few million dollars here and there to eliminate obstacles is just a drop in the bucket in comparison to what will be made in the future.”
A low grunt came from Justin again before he accelerated through the green light. He turned left, heading deeper into what appeared to be a sleepy suburb. “I’ve dealt with politicians that were less problematic. I never expected big pharma to be wors
e. Joke’s on me.”
“Joke’s on both of us. I wasn’t expecting to run into trouble this early either.”
They rode in silence for several minutes, the car winding through a sleepy little town filled with mature maples, quaint middle-class homes, and even a red brick firehouse. Gabriel fully expected there to be a dalmatian lounging somewhere inside near one of the fire trucks. They continued on until they reached what appeared to be a large mall and gathering of restaurants. Justin pulled into the parking lot, and Gabriel sat up a bit. It was nearly ten in the evening after their adventure at the hospital and then the hotel. The shops were all closed and only a couple of the restaurants still had on their lights.
“What are you doing?” Gabriel asked, working to keep the concern out of his voice.
“Easy now. We’ve still got our truce,” Justin said, but his voice didn’t have any of the playfulness it had contained when they’d first made the truce the night before. The man was worried, and Gabriel couldn’t blame him. Their uphill battle was already looking far steeper than it should have been.
“But…”
Justin grinned now. “It’s not that I don’t trust you, but I don’t trust how well you went through all your shit when you repacked. It looks like we’re up against an idiot and a professional, and I’m not sure which one got into your room. If it was the professional, he could have slipped a chip into your shit and is using it to track us.”
Gabriel sighed. As much as he wanted to argue with Justin, he had to admit that it was a possibility. And if Justin was going to take him to his own home, then it was only fair that he took precautions. “Are you going to be able to make the checks without destroying my possessions?”
Justin pulled into a parking spot at the back of the lot under a light. He put the car into park and turned off the engine. “Yep.”
They got out of the car at the same time, and Justin popped the trunk. From a little black bag, he pulled out a handheld device that looked just a little bigger than a phone.
The Exit Strategy Bundle Page 7