Page 67 of Bears Behaving Badly
From David: “I think you read too much into a three-second silence, Annette.”
“Also, am I the only one who can’t stop thinking about Big Bowl’s chicken pot stickers now?”
“Yes, Annette.” Nadia sighed. “The only one.”
Chapter 24
“I feel like I’m in a sitcom,” Annette fretted. “A dark one with an ever-increasing body count.”
The four of them (she couldn’tbelievethere were four of them) were doing their best to pull off nonchalant expressions as they crossed the street. David led them to the west entrance, where they passed any number of patients, visitors, and hospital employees.
“All right,” David announced. “Here’s where it gets tricky.”
“It wasn’t tricky before? GoodGod.”
“Darlings, all we need to do is decide who wants to distract the guard, and who wants to—”
“Seduce distract?” Oz asked. “Or chat distract? Or stage a fake-fight distract? Dammit, I need parameters!”
“Naw, you don’t,” David said. “You just need to follow me.”
David took a few more rights and lefts that Annette hoped weren’t random, and then they were in United’s newest wing, still under construction, with tarps and plastic and paint and Sheetrock and tools and builders everywhere, and David was introducing them to the man Annette assumed was in charge.
“Hey, Bri.”
“Hey, Dave.” Brian, if his ID was accurate, came right over to shake David’s hand. His broad brown face creased into a delighted grin. “How’s it goin’, man? Haven’t seen you since the Fourth of July.”
“Work junk. Speaking of, these are my colleagues, Annette and Nadia. We’re hoping you can get us to the other side for reasons none of us can go into.”
“Sure. Cake.”
“It’s lovely to meet you, Brian, but you mustn’t ever mention cake around Annette unless you have an actual cake.”
“Kindly go straight to hell, Nadia.” Annette took Brian’s large, callused hand. It was like shaking hands with a baseball glove. “Nice to meet you. That’s Oz. Feel free to ignore him. Or smack him.”
All this while Brian was looking them over. To his credit, the man didn’t seem especially alarmed. “Sure, c’mon. I’ll take you over. So, Dave, remember that cabin we rented up north last spring? Me and some of the guys were thinking it might be fun to rent the place for the fishing opener…” Then it was time to follow DavidandBrian, take an elevator down two floors, pass through several hallways, and then step into an underground tunnel which brought them to… Wait. Were they…?
They were. Somehow Brian had led them to a virtually unused section of the Shifter side of the hospital. Even more astonishing: no guard.
No doors, either. From where they were standing, the place looked abandoned, like no one had been in this hall for at least five years.I’ve been at United dozens of times—both sides!—and I’ve never been down here. What the blue hell?
Brian, helpful architect/construction foreman/tour guide/cabin renter, must have seen the confusion on her face, because he elaborated. “This used to be the main entrance to the Shifter wards, right up until they put in the new walkways with the security upgrades.”
“Ah, yes.” Nadia nodded and did a beautiful job of pretending she knew what was happening. “New walkways. Security and such-like. Indeed.”
“Nobody needed to use this part anymore—like when you build a new bridge, but you’re slow to get rid of the old bridge? So everyone’s just kind of forgotten about it.”
“Sloppy,” Nadia commented.
“Bureaucracies.” Brian shrugged, unconcerned. “Anyway, it didn’t pay to keep a guard way down here, so you only have to get past the key-card lock.”
“Fascinating. Unfortunately, we don’t have… Oh, you’ve pulled out a key card annnnnnd you’re opening the door for us.”
“Bri doesn’t throw anything away,” David confided. “You should see his basement.”
“Anyhoo…” Brian stepped back as the door rattled open. The thing certainly sounded like no one had tended to it for years. “It’ll bring you out right by the cafeteria and from there you can head up.”
So straightforward. So helpful. So Stable. Oh, and because her brain thought it bore repeating:Brian was a Stable.
