One Grave Less

is he doing here?” said Chanell.
    “He thinks I have a package from Simone Brooks, the woman who was injured here,” Diane said.
    “You mean those feathers and bones? That’s what he wanted?”
    “I don’t think so. He seemed to want a package that was sent to me. The hell of it is, I wasn’t sent a package. Or at least it hasn’t gotten here. All this mayhem was a waste of energy.”
    The man looked over at Diane. His face was expressionless. Diane didn’t know if that was the drug or his super-thug persona.
    “Really,” she said. “I haven’t a clue what it is you are looking for. If it is the feathers, bone, and monkey parts, they have been processed and the reports sent to the detective in charge. Is it a package? Is that what you were sent to find?”
    He said nothing, merely looked away.
    “You know,” she said, “you have this murder and mayhem down pretty good, but you are an awful detective.” Diane turned to Chanell. “We have someone in the museum working with this guy. We need to find out who it is.”
    “Here?” said Chanell. “We have one of these guys working for us?”
    “More likely, they paid someone to try and find the package,” said Diane. “I need to call Frank. This guy left men to watch the house if he didn’t return.”
    “I sent the police over to your home. Or at least Andie did. I suspected he had a hostage,” said Liam. “You were supposed to be at home with your family and you showed up here with this guy dressed for a mission. And it was pretty obvious you were under stress.”
    “I was hoping you noticed,” she said.
    “Hard to miss,” he said. “I got out of the car down the hill, called your security, and told them what was up. The hard part was finding you. I didn’t think you were in the crime lab, or you would have entered from the west wing. I had security stop the elevator and deactivate your access to the locks until we saw which door you were trying to enter.”
    That’s why the elevator was slow and she couldn’t unlock the lab the first time. Damn, Liam was thorough.
    The paramedics finished hooking Pendleton up to an IV and had stabilized his wound.
    “Can we carry them together?” they said.
    “Gracey can take me,” said Pendleton.
    “You need to go with the paramedics,” Liam said. “In case you start bleeding again. This guy will be fine once he’s out. I’m sure the paramedics will be glad to have the two of you with them.”
    “When will that happen?” said Chanell. “When is this guy going to keel over?”
    “Soon,” said Liam. “He’s pretending to be going out now, you notice. It will be real fairly soon.”
    “How do you know so much?” asked Pendleton. “Are you like him?”
    “I hope not,” said Liam. “But I’ve had special military training. He’s not superhuman. Humans can do some pretty amazing things when they are well trained in something they have a talent for. Look at Olympians. They aren’t superhuman, just very good athletes who have trained all their lives. I’m telling you this so you will respect what he can do and not decide that, since he is not Superman, you can take him. You can’t.”
    As Liam talked to Chanell and the others, Diane went to a phone and called Frank. It took several rings. She let out a sigh when he answered.
    “Are you all right?” she said.
    “We’re fine, are you? More police arrived and told us where you were and who you were with. They are out around the property looking for his friends now.”
    “I hope they are really careful,” said Diane. “This guy’s had some kind of elite military training.”
    Superlative man fell over.
    “Okay,” said Chanell, “is this real?”
    “Real enough. Can I borrow your restraints?” Liam said.
    “Are you all right?” said Frank.
    “Yes. Liam noticed what was happening. Frank . . . are you and Star really okay?”
    “Yes, baby, we’re fine. After we discovered you were missing, all the drama stopped. Star was a little panicked over your kidnapping. She’s okay now. She’s staying in the safe room with that Get-Home-Safe backpack David got her for acing her chemistry finals. The house is an armed camp at the moment. Gregory seems to be having a good time. Said if he knew it was going to be this entertaining, he would have brought Marguerite and the boys. David and Steven arrived just after our second wave of reinforcements. They are shocked, as you can imagine. I’m just relieved . . . I’m relieved Liam