Page 70 of Protecting Silver
“Sorry, but seeing him again brought it all back.”
“Don’t worry about it. I don’t know you well, but from what I was watching from the van, you held it together pretty damn well. I would have lost it long before you did.” Daniel said, then looked at Silver with a grin. “And you.”
“What?”
“I about swallowed my tongue and choked on my coffee when you said you didn’t want an infant because of the dirty diapers. Please, tell me you don’t really feel like that.”
“No, the entire time I was in there, I thought of how old Douglas was when he was taken. I was trying to convey that I wanted someone just like him.”
“Thank you,” Patch said as he kissed the side of her head. He sat in a chair and grabbed a bottle of water from the table in front of him. “What do we do now?”
“Wait for his call. I do have to say that when he said that amount of money, it shocked the shit out of me.”
“Yeah, I think he saw me as having deep pockets. Mark my word, he’ll be back for more money before he even produces a child.”
“Or,” Silver said. “He’ll dangle a potential child over our heads and demand more money.”
“There is that.” They sat around and when there was nothing more for Patch and Silver to do, they left to get dressed in their own clothes, then went back to their hotel with the promise to check in the next day.
Silver knew Patch was wiped out, so when he flopped on the bed, and closed his eyes, she let him be.
* * *
Three weeks later,Patch was out running when he rounded the corner onto the last stretch of street before returning to the hotel. A car pulled up beside him and honked its horn. At first he ignored it, until someone called his name. While running in place, he went over to the car and saw Daniel behind the wheel.
“What’s up?”
“Merriweather called. He wants to meet. We had the people monitoring the phone number say you were in a meeting on the other side of town and couldn’t make it for three hours. That was thirty minutes ago.”
“Where’s Silver?”
“Tamara and Jackie are at the hotel room collecting her. They’ll meet us back at the office. Can you come with me now?”
“Sure, but call Silver and tell her to grab my phone and wallet.”
Daniel did as requested as Patch walked around and got in the front seat. In fifteen minutes, he was in the shower at the Bureau washing off his run before getting ready to dress for his meeting with Merriweather. He’d just stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around his hips when the door whipped open, and Daniel stood there holding a phone out. On a piece of paper, Patch read who was on the line.
“Roundtree,” Patch barked into the phone that was handed to him.
“Mr. Roundtree, sorry to be calling again so soon. Your assistant did tell me that you were in a meeting, but I really needed to talk to you.”
“Yeah, I got your message. I’m in a meeting across town. I’m on a quick break, what did you need?”
“We have a child for you and your wife. I know this is unorthodox, since we haven’t completed your background check yet, but we got a call the child needed to be placed. As I’m sure you already know, my regular job I work with the foster-care system, and well, frankly we don’t have a home available. I immediately thought of you and your wife when I realized how desperate you were for a child.”
“And this is legal? Don’t we have to be registered with someone to be able to take a child?”
“Normally, yes, but as I said, this is an emergency situation.”
“Okay, I can be there in just over an hour.”
“Please, make it three, my associate is at the hospital with the child getting him checked out. He seemed to have a little runny nose this morning, and we wanted to make sure he’s healthy.”
“That’s great news,” Patch faked his enthusiasm, and wrinkled his nose at Daniel as he wrote furiously. Patch nodded and went with the next part of the conversation. “I hate to bring this up at this time, but now that I’m finally going to be a father, how much will this cost me?”
“If you don’t mind, I prefer cash for this transaction. And the fees and everything will be two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.”
“Wow, that seems high.”
