“Fuck that. As far as I’m concerned, the gloves are off.” A soft chime announced the elevator’s arrival. They stepped in and waited for the stainless-steel doors to close. “We take care of our own.” Henning stabbed the third-floor button harder than he needed to.

Being careful not to sound condescending, Nathan said, “That’s not how you felt the other night. Look, I’m dirty when it comes to this sort of thing. I don’t give a rat’s ass about the Constitution when the stakes are high enough. Only a fool plays by the rules when the other side doesn’t. If we’re going to find these guys, things may have to get nasty. And I mean nasty.”

“Just tell me what you need, and I’ll make sure you get it.”

“For starters, I’ll need access to the NCIC database, and I’ll need license plates run, addresses, phone numbers. Those kinds of things.”

Henning pulled his wallet, removed a business card, and wrote a number on the back. “This is my cell. I keep with me all the time, twenty-four-seven.”

“You’re risking a lot by helping me.”

“I have to sleep at night.”

“This doesn’t go any farther than you, Harvey, and me unless you want Holly to know. It’s your call. Given the circumstances, I don’t think she’ll object.”

The elevator opened onto the third-floor ICU where they had assisted with the wounded several hours ago. All was calm. The nurse’s station was manned. The gurneys gone. The blood mopped. The smell of charred flesh cleaned from the air. Henning nodded to the uniformed police officer sitting to the left. Nathan followed Henning to the nurse’s station where they identified themselves and signed the log sheet. Holly was in room 312. As they walked through the ICU, Nathan considered telling Henning about his conversation with Holly in the piano bar, how she’d agreed to help in much the same way, but dismissed the thought. He didn’t want to betray her trust. It wasn’t Nathan’s place, nor his nature, to disclose anything he and Holly had talked about. If Holly told Henning, that was fine. And he wasn’t going to betray Director Lansing’s trust either. As far as Holly was concerned, Lansing’s call giving Nathan a green light never happened. And what exactly was a green light? What did it mean? For now, he couldn’t worry about it. He’d do things his way and let the chips fall where they might, although he was reasonably sure the old adage Kill ’em all and let God sort ’em out, didn’t apply.

“What are you thinking about?” Henning asked.

“My next moves.”

“And those are?”

They stopped at Holly’s room. The door was closed.