Page 120 of Last Chance Love

“I’m a patient who’s not locked up, and I can cover it by going in there and getting some meds for the screaming migraine I’m known to have that’s keeping me from sleeping.”

“Oh…that’s a good idea.”

“I did think about this more than just a little, Reed, Christ, give mesomecredit.”

It was hard to give to a man who had devised this harebrained plan, but I let him go with a grunt of approval. He walked out from behind the building, strolling toward the front of the clinic as casually as you please. Icouldhave been worried that he was technically walking from the wrong angle if he was supposedly coming from his cabin. Considering it was Dr. Gideon working the clinic tonight, though, the chances of him being up front were low, and the chance of him knowing which direction Leon or anyone at the ranch was coming from was zero.

I watched, my heart thumping heavily as I saw him approach the front and look around. In all fairness, this was the part of the plan with the least chance of failing miserably, but my nerves were on edge. He stood there for a moment, peering in at the front windows before turning and walking back toward me with that same steady, patient gait he’d approached with.

“There’s no one up front,” he whispered once he was back behind the building.

“No surprise there,” I said with a roll of my eyes. “Dr. Gideon is probably snoozing in the back office. Relying on the buzzer to let him know he needs to do his job.”

“Uh…buzzer?”

“Yeah. Someone should always be upfront. But a buzzer in the doctor’s office lets any doctor on staff know there’s someone there, just in case they’re doing paperwork…or napping.”

“Oh,” he said, and I could see him frowning heavily. “Well, that’s a problem, isn’t it?”

“Not really,” I said. “If he’s the one on staff, we can go in the back door.”

“Wouldn’t that also be rigged to make a sound?”

“Usually, but if he’s working, he’s got that stupid brick in the back door, so the alarm doesn’t keep going off when he interrupts his napping with the occasional smoke break.”

“Your grudge against him is coming in handy.”

“Who knew bitterness was good for attempted espionage.”

“Alright, back door it is. Ha, not the first time we’ve thought that.”

“Seriously?” I asked, looking at him more closely. “How much caffeine have you had today?”

“Are you kidding me? With my nerves the past few days, I haven’t touched anything with caffeine, which wasn’t great that first morning. Gave me a migraine flair-up. I’m not tweaking out on caffeine or anything else. I’m just…tweaked out on this.”

“Well, try to keep it under control. The last thing we need is you so tense you jump at every little thing and cause trouble.”

“Yeah, yeah, let’s go.”

I led him toward the back of the building, stopping under one of the windows. Like the jail cell, it had a thick, wide steel mesh. Unlike the cell, it was the only mesh, and the window was much larger. The windows for the back break room were much the same, while there was no window in the storage room, only the solid door that required a code…which I happened to know.

I peered into the office and rolled my eyes when I saw Dr. Gideon slumped over his desk, forehead pressed against his forearm. I was more amazed that I couldn’t hear the chainsaw snoring he was so good at. Sometimes, the man got so loud you could hear him in the lobby. Sometimes, it was so unbearably loud I’d trip the front door so the buzzer startled him awake.

Crouching down, I motioned for Leon to follow me. “He’s dead asleep, just like I figured, c’mon.”

“Does that guyeverwork?”

“Only when he’s forced to.”

“What quality people Mona decided to bring on board to take care of us.”

“He’s actually a decent doctor when he’s doing what he’s supposed to do. I think he took this job because he felt it would be easier than wherever he came from before. Probably thought he could pass the work on to other people for the most part.”

“Which, according to you, he does all the time.”

“That he does.”

My complaints about Dr. Gideon aside, I got to my feet as we reached the back door. Sure enough, a shaft of light spilled out into the night, with the familiar brick at the bottom. The funny part was, Dr. Gideon didn’t even smoke that often, but those few times a night were enough for him to put the brick down so he didn’t have to hear the buzzer that went off for five seconds each time he opened it.

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