Page 46 of Hidden Chance

“Don’t worry. She’s off the hook.” Robby lifted his phone to his ear.

“Who are you calling?” Hannah said, ready to smack the phone from his hand.

“Stand down,” he said into the phone. “It was a false alarm.”

“Stand down?” Hannah said as Robby listened to whoever was on the other side of the call.

“I still need to get my head around a few things,” he said. “I’ll let you know.”

“Who were you talking to?” Hannah said once he put his phone away.

“My team. They were outside waiting for my signal.”

“For what?”

“To blow the door.”

“Are you serious?”

“You didn’t think I’d come in here without backup.”

“Why would you need backup?”

“In case this was an ambush.”

“Whoa,” Sal said. “Now hang on a second. I have never hurt anyone…well…not lately. I certainly wouldn’t have hurt you. Not unless you tried to do something to Hannah, anyway.”

Robby shrugged. “I didn’t know what to expect. Certainly not this.”

“You are incredible, do you know that?” she said.

“Why thank you.”

She shoved him. He looked surprised but didn’t react. “The one thing you didn’t expect was that I was telling you the truth?”

“Based on the information I have, this scenario was the least plausible.”

“Then the information you have is wrong. I think it’s time for you to givemesome answers.”

“You’re in no position to demand anything from me. You still have a lot of explaining to do.”

“You said if I was telling you the truth about Sal, you’d believe everything else I said.”

“Did I say that?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, then I’d like to hear what else you have to say.”

“That’s the whole problem. I have nothing to say. There is nothing else to tell you. I’d like to go home. I was telling the truth about Sal and everything else, and I’m tired.”

Robby looked at Sal. “We don’t need to involve you in this anymore. You can go back to sleep if you want.”

“Only if you can assure me that Hannah is in no trouble. If you hurt one hair on her head, I will hunt you down.”

Hannah winced. Sal was trying his best, but he was no match for Robby. Not that she wanted him to have any more involvement in this. “It’s okay. I’ll be fine. I can handle it from here. You just focus on finding work so you don’t have to sleep here anymore and be bothered by strangers.”

“You sure you’re not in any trouble?”

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