Page 36 of One More Chance

“It doesn’t matter.” One lifted his silverware and cut a bite of what looked like chicken.

“Potatoes?” Four held up the dish.

She stared at him.

“I thought you liked them.” He handed the dish to Five.

One was definitely in charge. The others deferred to him. Seemed like Three didn’t say much at all. She turned and looked at the paintings hanging behind her, history looming over the present as if to say,You should be as impressive as I am. And yet, the images were of the same men sitting across the table from her.

“You like those?” Four had a smile in his voice.

She shrugged, turning back to face them. “They look like you guys, but it can’t be you.”

Four gave her a toothy smile. “I had them commissioned. One didn’t seem to find them as funny as I did, and I nearly threw them out, but they were up there the next morning. Hanging on the wall.”

“So, you all live down here?”

Five looked at his friends. “Does she not know what a Batcave is?”

Kenna said, “I know what the Batcave is.” She grabbed a roll and tried to tear it in half. With a towel around her hand, it was difficult.

Jax took the roll and tore it for her.

She buttered it with jerky movements, irritated she couldn’t tear it herself. Her forearms felt better than they had in years. But the trade-off might be far too costly.

“He fixed you, didn’t he?” One motioned with his fork. “The tendons in your forearms. Maybe you’ve been ignoring it, but there’s not nearly as much pain. You can lift far heavier things. Right?”

He was right about part of it. Since the other day. She’d had a lot more strength and less pain. “Can I?”

Jax turned to her. “Is that true? Your arms are better?”

She lifted her hands and stretched them out in front of her, rotating her wrists. “How am I supposed to know what he did when I was unconscious? I wake up, and I feel different. I have no answers and no clue what is happening.”

“So you came to find us.” One took a bite and chewed thoughtfully.

“What did he do to me?”

“Time will tell, I suppose.” One shrugged. “That’s how it was for the rest of us.”

Five looked at him.

Three and Four, on his other side, just ate their lunch. Jax served himself some chicken and potatoes and dug in. She finished her roll, still irritated at the whole thing. Was this really better than being pregnant? Not that she’d have been able to enjoy it with their enemy looming.

She blew out a breath and rolled her eyes, eating some chicken and potatoes while One asked Jax how he liked being the boss at the Phoenix FBI office. They made their way through some small talk, including comments about Jolene. Seemed that Five liked cats.

After she’d scarfed down most of the meal, she said, “Enough chitchat.”

Four smiled at her.

“Do you know Doctor Nicola Santorini?”

One wiped his hands on a cloth napkin and tossed it onto his plate. “Not the doctor I thought you were going to ask me about.”

“We’ll get to him. Answer the question.”

“Very well.” One sipped his water, then said, “Nicola is our doctor also. The very things that led you to her, paying her under the table in cash and keeping everything off the record, meantthat she was ideal for us also.” He nodded. “Your instincts were right. She would have done right by you if your friend hadn’t confronted that lady.”

“You mean if he hadn’t protected those two kids?” She figured they knew Bruce was upstairs. “Do I need to be worried about my friend?”

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