Page 124 of Last Chance Love

I could only watch in uncomprehending horror as Reed’s body went rigid, his hands closing into tight fists. After an untold amount of time, his stiff body went slack, and he slumped to the floor. By God's grace, his head didn’t thump heavily onto the floor with the full force of the drop. Staring at him, I waited for him to move before remembering we weren’t alone in the building.

The black box in Dr. Greenway’s hand was still held out, and I realized what it was. My hands balled into fists as I took a step around the chair Reed had just been sitting in. “You bi?—”

“Don’t,” she snapped, hastily dropping the Taser and fumbling. I froze when she brought the handgun from the inside pocket of the jacket she was wearing and held it out. “Don’t be stupid any more than you already have been.”

I fought the urge to hold my hands up as she used both hands to hold the gun toward me. “What are you doing?”

“Cleaning up a mess,” she said in a calm voice that was utterly betrayed by the way her eyes darted toward the double doors leading to the clinic. “Now, you’re going to come with me. And you’re going to be very quiet, you understand?”

Growing up in a rough neighborhood had afforded me the unfortunate experience of being threatened with a weapon more than once. At a glance, I could tell she had only held a gun a couple of times in her life, if that, and was not accustomed to violence. Hell, there was a chance she hadn’t even turned the safety off. At the same time, a nervous person with a weapon they weren’t accustomed to was even more dangerous than someone calm and experienced.

“Afraid someone’s going to walk in and see this? That would be unfortunate,” I said, glancing down at Reed’s still unmoving body. “You’ve gone and tased him, and now you’re holding me at gunpoint. Where did you even get that?”

“All staff are allowed to carry weapons or defense tools,” she said, shaking her head and raising her chin. “The men here may not be murderers, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have a violent history. We’re supposed to carrysomethingon us.”

“Never seen you with a gun before.”

“Yes, well, in here, it never seemed necessary. We have one in the office, and I have one, this one, in my quarters.”

Okay, that was news to me. I didn’t even know she lived on the ranch. Reed probably had, but that wouldn’t help at the…oh. “Wait,that’swhy you’re here.”

Fear sparked in her eyes. “What do you mean? I came back to the clinic to check on Rufus. His health hasn’t been all that great lately, and working late hours can be bad for your health even when you’re not pushing seventy. And then I found the two of you breaking into our records, and here, Reed, breaking out of his cell with your help and trying to cover his tracks.”

“Your tracks,” I corrected. “That’s whyyou’rehere. Kind of late for that, isn’t it? Reed’s already taking the fall for everything you did, and we both know if Mona knew it was you, you’d be locked up, not him.”

She sneered. “Damn, that woman. I’d love to know what pit of hell she spawned from.”

It took everything in my being not to move or show anything on my face when I saw movement behind her. Unbelievably, I saw a wrinkled face peer into the hallway before shuffling out and freezing when he saw what was happening. I prayed Dr. Gideon had the sense to keep his mouth shut at the sight of the three of us and get the help we all sorely needed right now.

“You and a whole lot of people at this ranch,” I said to cover the silence I’d let stretch, trying to keep Dr. Greenway’s attention on me. “What’d she do to piss you off? Notice the shit you were up to?”

“There was always a chance someone would notice,” she said with a snort. “You can only alter inventory records and peddle pills to felons for so long without someone noticing. Reed’s system changes made it easier for me, and I thought that would be good enough while I kept tweaking things along the way.”

“But Mona isn’t the type to sit around idly and let things run on their own,” I said. “She started nosing around, didn’t she?”

“I’d still love to know what tipped her off to start investigating,” Dr. Greenway huffed.

“See, that’s where you fucked up. Mona doesn’t need a reason, or at least not one she’s going to share unless she wants to,” I said, trying not to sound relieved as I noticed Dr. Gideon was still standing in the hallway. I wasn’t focusing on him, so he didn’t draw her attention. From what I could see out of the corner of my eye, his hearing wasn’t all that bad when he was awake. “Maybe she just had the urge because she was bored. Maybe she knew to keep an eye on freaking drugs at a place full of guys who have drug charges. Or maybe she just had a feeling. No one knows but her and probably Mr. Isaiah.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Dr. Greenway said, shaking her head. “Reed is already taking the fall.”

“Yeah, and how’s that going to work now?”

“Easy. Take care of you and Reed, feed everyone the necessary story, and let the rest of us move on with our lives.”

“Yeah? You’re just going to…what? Kill us?”

“Well, leaving both of you around would be rather stupid. You’ve already heard too much. And Reed isn’t exactly stupid. He’d figure things out at some point.”

“You’re the one who decided to start talking about what you’ve been doing,” I said with a roll of my eyes. “Shit, all you had to do was leave us alone, and your plan would have gone off without a hitch.”

“Would it? I stood here long enough to hear what the two of you were up to. Perhaps there was enough in the records for Reed to start making connections, and maybe someone you talked to might have enough information to give me away,” she said with a heavy frown. “I was careful to use drop points and ensure no one ever saw me, but that doesn’t matter because I couldn’t be sure. That bitch is too smart for her own good.”

“Or ours,” I said, gesturing at Reed, myself, and then her, thinking it was rich for her to call Mona a bitch when she was holding me at gunpoint after stunning Reed. Then again, Mona was a bitch, but at least she used those bitchy powers for good…for the most part. “Otherwise, we wouldn’t be in this situation.”

She gave me a sick smile. “Tell me about it. Now, what’s going to happen is you will come with me.”

“Where are we going?” I asked, glancing down at Reed. He didn’t seem to have moved, still slumped on his side, legs splayed, one arm behind his back toward me and the other…the other had moved. “I assume it’s all of us.”

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