Deals and Revelations

Chapter 97

It was a pretty sleepless night for James. He dozed in the chair beside Lily's bed, where nurses continued to come in from time to time to check on her. Ava was curled up on the cot in the corner, amazingly asleep—though she shouldn't have been sleeping so easily after the last nutty few days. James almost envied her for being able to sleep through all this.

As the first light of dawn crawled through this or that hospital window, James sat there, wondering how fast their lives had changed. Just a week ago, their biggest problem was which preschool to put Ava in; now he was sitting in the hospital with his wife shot and stitched up and their whole world upside down.

His phone buzzing snapped him out of the reverie. Rodriguez was on the other end.

"Louis agreed to meet," Rodriguez whispered in a soft tone. "He'll be at the old warehouse in an hour. You sure you want to do this?"

James rubbed his eyes, feeling tired. "No, but we don't have much choice. I'll be there."

He