Page 88 of Dead Fall (The Quantico Files 2)

“Doesn’t sound too bad.”

“Hey, man, thanks for what you did for me at the warehouse. Your makeshift splint probably kept this from being a lot worse.”

Noah smiled. “No problem. I’ll break a chair for you anytime you want.”

Logan laughed. “How’s Kaely?”

“Good. She gets to go home later today as well. She and Alex both could have had serious neck injuries from what Bayne did to them. Especially in Alex’s case. Kaely told me Alex had given up right before we broke into the warehouse. Pushed that chair over to her so one of them would hopefully survive. She could have easily died, Logan.” He shook his head slowly. “She saved Kaely’s life. She’s quite an agent—and human being.”

“Yes, she is. And so are you. I’m sure glad you didn’t let me open that door. None of us would have made it.”

“God was with us,” Noah said. “That’s all I can say.”

“Boy, Bayne didn’t miss a beat, did he? What a monster. He killed Cooper and Palmer as soon as they delivered Alex and Kaely to the warehouse. I mean, what they did was awful. Especially Palmer. But I almost feel sorry for them.”

“Alex said something when we were on the way to the hospital, and it stuck with me,” Noah said. “She said, ‘If you do a deal with the devil, you have to be prepared to pay the bill.’”

Logan nodded. “I guess their bill came due.”

“They still haven’t found Bayne.” Noah shook his head. “He may be long gone, I don’t know, but I still have to wonder if the storm slowed him down. Maybe he’s closer than we think. Of course, he’s a planner, so I’m sure he had a contingency plan in place. Terry says his wife claims she doesn’t know where he is, and maybe she doesn’t.”

Noah sat down in the chair near Logan’s bed. “How long will you have agents outside your rooms?”

Logan shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess they just want to err on the side of caution.” He frowned. “They didn’t find any pages from Davis’s book at the warehouse. I guess Alex and Kaely were his last victims, so he didn’t need one.”

“You don’t look convinced.”

“He’s a psychopath. He loves attention. For him to just slink away ...” He looked out the window. It had snowed twice more since the storm, but only lightly. Still, it was a mess out there.

“So you think running away is—”

“A rather anticlimactic ending? Yeah.”

“Don’t forget the bomb. He thought there would be a major explosion, and we’d all die. That’s pretty dramatic.”

“Yeah, that’s true,” Logan said slowly. “Still, he likes to take credit for things. Maybe we’re not hearing from him because he failed.” Logan grunted. “I’m sure he doesn’t like to lose.” He paused for a moment. “Hey, can you find me a wheelchair? I want to see Alex.”

“She just got out of surgery. I expect she’s resting.”

“I know. I just want to talk to her a minute. If she’s asleep, I won’t bother her. I haven’t spoken to her since yesterday, and our conversation was limited since she could barely talk. I want to know what she thinks about Bayne’s next move. Maybe we can help the police narrow down their search if we can figure out where he’s headed.”

“Shouldn’t you wait a bit, man? I mean, seriously. Let her have some time to recover.”

Logan knew what Noah said made sense, but he couldn’t shake the feeling he needed to see Alex. “I won’t stay long.”

Noah sighed. “You BAU people really don’t take any time off, do you?”

Logan smiled. “It takes over your life. We analyze everything. It’s a sickness, I guess.”

Noah’s expression tightened. “Yeah, I believe that. Kaely’s thinking about Bayne too.” He stood. “Stay there while I look for a wheelchair.”

Logan laughed. “Like I’m going anywhere.”

Noah had just walked out of the room when Monty came in. “So how long are you going to milk this?” he asked, grinning.

“Hey, I’m already tired of it.” He was glad to see Monty, who gave him a quick hug.

“Glad you’re alive, brother. I can’t stand to lose anyone else I care about.”

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