DJ peered through the window. “That’s not the assistant he was assigned.” The nurse sitting nearby was the same, but not the assistant.

“She works in pediatrics. He met her this morning when she brought her patient to the solarium, and he demanded that she be assigned to him. We do our best to meet his needs.”

There was something about the nursing assistant that bothered him. She was familiar. And then she turned her head and he saw her hot pink cat-eye glasses with sparkling rhinestones.

He’d seen those glasses before—in the scope of his rifle on that rooftop. She’d been with Mercy in the eye doctor’s office. She’d blocked his shot.

She’d fucked everything up. And then the real truth descended.

She was with the FBI.

Fucking hell. He remembered Nurse Gaynor, the little bugs she’d been planting. Had she been hired by Kowalski or had she been with the FBI, too?

Either way, the Feds knew that he was here. They were probably waiting for him outside. Why hadn’t they stormed the place? What were they waiting for?

Me. They’re waiting for me. He’d snuck in via the ambulance the night before, so they didn’t know. But they’d know now, because this woman was likely wired like Nurse Gaynor had been.

He needed to get out of here. But in a way they wouldn’t suspect.

The ambulance they’d used last night would be perfect. Nobody would stop him from leaving, and any Fed waiting outside would assume he was legit.

All of this thinking took about ten seconds, and when he glanced back at Innes, she looked wryly amused.

“Miss Barkley is quite pretty,” she said. “I think your father was charmed.”

“How long has she been here?” he asked, keeping his tone casual.

He didn’t succeed, because the nurse’s eyes narrowed. “Today is her first day. Why?”

Because you are a fucking idiot and I don’t trust you. “Introduce me,” he said smoothly. “Maybe I’d like to be charmed, too.”

Still wary, Innes opened the door, and DJ followed her into the bright room. It was hot, all the glass intensifying what was going to be a ninety-eight-degree day.

“Mr. Alcalde, excuse me for interrupting you,” Innes said with forced cheer. “You’ve had a long outing today. It’s time for you to return to your room. But before you do, your son came by. He says he’s going on a trip and he wanted to say goodbye.” She gave DJ a pointed look. “Say goodbye, Mr. Belmont.”

Pastor stiffened in his wheelchair. “Why are you here?” he asked, his anger barely veiled.

As for the nursing assistant, she froze for a moment, and then her eyes flashed with such a vicious rage that he might have been cowed had she been a man. He’d definitely be killing her soon. But Innes first. Now he turned to the nurse and said, “I’ll be going, but can I have a word with you first? Privately?”

Miss Barkley went still, eerily so. Not frozen, like before, but as if she were preparing. For what, he wasn’t certain. Maybe to attack. Maybe to flee.