“I’ll never forget his face. I could help with a sketch of him. And he had a strange accent.”

“Yes, we were thinking South African.”

“Sounded more like central or northern Africa to me. Maybe Nigerian.”

“Thank you, we’ll keep that in mind. Which one of them was in charge?”

“I can’t say for sure, but it seemed like the big one.”

“Did you overhear anything or notice anything that could help? Anything, even a small detail, that you think we should know?”

She thought about this for a moment and said, “They tortured some info out of the manager, but other than harassing me, they didn’t seem interested in us. The woman and the big one spent most of their time in the vault room, with the younger man on guard duty.”

“Thank you. We’d like you to wait in the store at our makeshift sick bay, just in case we have further questions, and we’d like you to give us a sketch of their leader.”

“I’ll help in any way I can.”

“Thank you. Is there anything we can do for you? Any family or friends you’d like to contact?”

“Family is dead, and all my friends are back in London. But thank you. I’m fine.”

“Okay then, we’ll get one of the—”

Carter noticed Burke asking her an additional set of questions in sign language. She smiled and replied with her hands. They made a few more nonverbal exchanges that made Carter feel like the only person in the room who didn’t get a joke.

With a final exchange, Burke stood and shook her hand. Carter did the same and followed Burke into the hallway winding away from the manager’s office.

Carter grabbed Burke’s shoulder, and the young doctor pulled away.

“Sorry, I forgot you don’t like to be touched,” Carter said, “but are you planning to let me in on the secret?”

With a look of confusion on his handsome boyish face, Burke said, “I don’t understand what you mean.”

“What were the two of you talking about there at the end?”

“Sports.”

Carter blinked a few times. “Now I’m confused. Anything you’d like to share with me?”

Burke looked back toward the manager’s office and seemed to ponder that. “No, just a little small talk.”

“Are you absolutely sure? Nothing you picked up on that I should be aware of?”

Burke’s gaze went to the floor. Then he started walking again and replied over his shoulder, “Nah, it’s nothing.”

Chapter 40

Gabi Deshpande had been waiting for the right moment, and some feral part of her brain knew that moment was coming soon. The younger gunman seemed distracted and even more on edge than before. The longer she allowed him to fight with himself internally, the easier he’d be to defeat externally.

But that same feral part of her brain also told her that the danger grew with every tick of the clock. The giant had taken the trays of hamburgers into the vault room with him, which struck her as odd. But maybe they were all for him. Lord knew how many calories it took a day to satiate a Sasquatch.