“I don’t want to talk about this right now, Harry, because it’s scaring me shitless. So let’s talk about something else. You should probably get in touch with your guys and tell them what’s going on. We promised to show them Vegas. I liked those guys a lot. You really have a great bunch of friends. Did I tell you that Annie arranged for suites for all of them at Babylon? For all of us, actually. Hell of a perk, wouldn’t you say, plus all the chits for free food and drinks.” Jack was babbling, more to have something to say so he wouldn’t have to think about Cosmo Cricket and Lizzie and what the future might hold for the two of them.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. I’ll do that, but Jack, what the hell happened to Cricket? I need to know.”

“I don’t know, Harry. I heard it on the TV this morning when I was shaving. They didn’t mention a name, but from what they said, I knew it had to be him. He got shot in the head, back, and shoulder. They said some VIP at the Gaming Control Board. Now you know as much as I know. We left right away. You were with me, and we had the radio on, and nothing else was said on the drive here from Reno. I guess that ditty about ‘what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas’ is true.”

“It doesn’t make sense,” Harry grumbled. “Cosmo Cricket is no schmuck. How would he allow himself to be in a position where he could get shot; plus, Lizzie told us a while back he has security when he’s out and about.”

“I don’t know, Harry. When Lizzie wakes up is when we’ll find out. It could be something as simple as he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Okay, we’re here. How do you want to get her out and into the house?”

“I’ll carry her. You go ahead and open the door. What are you going to do if there’s an alarm?”

Jack grinned. “The code is Little Jack’s birthday, so I know it. Okay, let’s do it,” Jack said as he sprinted to the front door of a low, sprawling, gorgeous Mediterranean-style house. He unlocked the door and immediately hit the code for the alarm system, right next to the front door. The armed red light turned green the minute he pressed in the code. Jack let out a sigh of relief, glad that Lizzie hadn’t changed the numbers.

“Do you know where the bedroom is?” Harry asked as he marched into the house, carrying Lizzie like a baby.

“Actually, Harry, I know that, too; it’s down the hall, and the master suite is at the end. I used to play hide-and-seek with LJ when he was little, and he’d always hide in his mother’s closet. Yep, here it is.”

Harry gently lowered Lizzie to the bed.

“Whoa! Whoa! We have to turn the bed down first, take off her clothes, and get her under the covers. How do you expect her to get twelve hours of sleep on top of the bed?”