Hellooo my friends!

Wednesday = excerpt day 😀

Thank you for all your comments on Part 25! Those always give me lots of energy to start working on the next episode.

Okay, let’s see what I have for you today…

Sigrid

Hobbs was waiting for Louise in the lobby. Louise scanned the room from the top of the stairs and was relieved to see he was alone. El should be outside by now. She hoped Hobbs hadn’t seen her.

“Finally!” he said, clearly annoyed at her. He winced and lowered his arms, taking in a deep breath.

Louise took her time with the last few steps, arching an eyebrow at him. “Those ribs are still acting up, huh?”

He grimaced. She nodded her head in the direction of the storage room, expecting that’s where they would go to talk. “Let’s go.”

“Storage room is locked,” he muttered.

Louise crossed her arms, her brow creased. “Then how did you get in to read the instructions?”

He shrugged, holding his side. “Talked one of the guards into letting me in for a few minutes.”

“You threatened him?” Louise asked, lowering her voice.

Hobbs rolled his eyes. “No, I gave him an incentive to help me,” he said sarcastically.

The muscles between Louise’s shoulders tightened. It seemed like she wouldn’t be able to see the instructions herself until they left for the fourth inspection today. The gear was locked away every night as dictated in the rules of the inspections.

Louise would have to warn El someone in her staff was swayed too easily. That was a problem she’d deal with later, though.

She shook her head. “Where do we go to talk then?”

His expression was incredulous. “One of our bedrooms. If you would have just listened upstairs, I would have…”

She gave him a long, cold stare. He stopped.

“Or outside, I guess,” Hobbs added reluctantly.

Louise exhaled slowly while she made a quick calculation. She didn’t want to go back upstairs with this guy. However, outside they could run into El. She guessed they would see her approaching so the chances of her overhearing them were slim.

“Outside it is. Let’s get this over with,” she said and headed for the patio. He followed her, breathing heavily.

Louise knew she had made the right decision the moment she stepped into the soft, morning air. Her hair was still wet from showering and the morning felt more crisp than it really was. It was a nice change from the heat.

She took in a deep breath and looked around. There was no sign of El in the garden, nor in the forest behind it. She enjoyed the peace and quiet for a few more seconds before she turned around.

Hobbs was staring at a chair. Her lips quirked up into a mocking smile. “Want me to help you?”

Hobbs glared at her. “I’m fine.”

Louise shrugged, plopping down on one of the other chairs. “Tell me what we need to do,” she said.

He moved closer, his eyes glancing around nervously. “They picked up on some broadcasts about Monique Biden’s death. Could be planted, tho. So still no certainty she actually died.”

Louise nodded slowly. She wasn’t surprised the teams were still suspicious. She would have been too before she met El. Now, El’s sad eyes were enough to convince her it was true. But it’s not like she could tell Hobbs that.

“And?” she asked. She was getting antsy to find out what had been so damned urgent.

Hobbs’ eyes darted around again. He took a step closer and leaned in, wincing audibly. “They want us to focus on the network monitoring rooms. The renovations,” he said quietly, holding his side.

Louise looked up at him, frowning. “The renovations?”

He inhaled through his nose slowly before answering. “We need to find proof they renovated all the rooms as a distraction. Just like you suggested.”

“But I didn’t see anything yesterday. I’m not even sure about the first location. I only noticed it at the second one,” Louise said hastily.

He raised both of his eyebrows in response. Louise’s mind raced.

“What?” she stammered.

He widened his eyes.

A chill ran up Louise’s back. “You mean,” she stuttered, her throat tightening.

Oops. That was it!