24
“Whoa, wait a minute!”
Her hand listened. “Why?”
“Why?”
“Is there an echo in here?”
I went for the obvious.
“Because you owe me!”
Her hand started moving again.
“Darrow, wait. Seriously.”
“Oh, I’m serious as a bullet.”
“Five minutes.”
A chair scraped across the hall. Up went my ’kerchief again. I coughed a little to sell it.
“Everything okay here?” The voice was serious, male, and bored enough to hope everything wasn’t okay there. He was behind me but sounded about my size. I figured I could take him. Then I reminded myself I was in a bunker full of bored, serious voices. Doubted I could take ’em all.
Darrow narrowed her eyes at me. Her hand became more interested in the cold metal of her desk, less in the alarm. “Fine, Malachi. Thanks for the concern. Aren’t you off in a f
