She sucked in a sharp breath. “Why would they be hostile?”
“I don’t know. I’m trying to consider every angle.”
“Okay, then who is it that was trying to get information about us—at your house? Some of the other adults who were born because of the project?”
“Or someone else.”
They had reached the front door, and Matt pulled it open.
She grabbed his arm, stopping him from walking out on the porch.
“What?” Matt asked.
“There’s a car next to ours.”
“Another visitor.”
“I don’t think so.”
As they watched, two men got out. Both of them were wearing sports shirts, casual slacks, and what looked like football helmets.
Football helmets?
I don’t like it.
When they saw Elizabeth and Matt they started rapidly up the walk toward the building, and the expressions on their faces weren’t particularly friendly.
“What are we going to do now?” she asked.
“Find the back exit.”
The receptionist looked up at them as they hurried down the hall in the direction they’d just come from.
“You can’t just go back there again,” she called.
Matt turned toward her.
Two men are headed this way. They’re thugs. Keep them from following us.
Praying that the mental suggestion was going to give them a little extra time, Elizabeth kept pace with Matt.
He took a side hallway, then dodged into one of the rooms. A woman was in a hospital bed watching television. She looked up in alarm as two strangers charged into her room.
“Who are you?”
We’re friends. Just keep calm. Don’t tell anyone we were here,Matt instructed as he crossed to the window.
It was of the casement variety, and he turned the crank, then used his foot to knock out the screen.
“Go on,” he said to Elizabeth. With no other choice, she swung one leg over the sill, then levered herself the rest of the way out, glad that it was only a few feet to the ground.
Come on,she called to Matt.
I wish I could close the window, but you can’t crank it from the outside.
Just get out of there.To her relief, Matt stuck his foot out the window, then his head and shoulder. He lowered himself to the lawn, and they looked around. The grounds of the nursing home were well kept, but beyond them was a scraggly area that bordered one of the bayous that cut across the town.
Can we make it to the car?Elizabeth asked.