Accidental Acquisition by Evangeline Anderson
43
“Right here is fine. Thanks for dropping me off,” Jillian said to the Blood Kindred pilot who had brought her down to Earth and then driven her over to the Emergency Entrance of the Valley Hospital. He was one of the pilots always standing by to take people back and forth from the Mother Ship to Earth, but just because he was only doing his job didn’t mean she couldn’t be grateful.
“Of course.” The pilot nodded in a friendly way. “Would you like me to wait for you?”
“No, that’s okay.” Jillian shook her head. “This might take a while. I’ll just catch a ride to the HKR building and call for a shuttle back to the Mother Ship whenever I get this wrapped up.” The Human/Kindred Relations building was in downtown Vegas, not far from where she was.
The pilot nodded again.
“As you wish. Enjoy your night.”
Jillian very much doubted that she would, but she nodded back politely and thanked him again as she climbed out of the shuttle. The door of the sleek silver craft shut behind her and it sped away into the night.
With a sigh, Jillian headed for the emergency entrance.
But before she could get to the sliding glass doors, a long black limo pulled up beside her, blocking her way to the Emergency Room. Feeling irritated, Jillian started to walk around it, but the window rolled down and a vaguely familiar face looked out at her.
“Jillian Marks? That you?” The man had a thick, New York accent and a beefy red face. His bushy black eyebrows shaded small, beady eyes.
“Um, yes?” Jillian wasn’t sure what to make of this. “Who are you?”
“Jimmy Moreno—used to have dinner at The Palms sometimes,” the man told her. “You made the best fuckin’ steak I ever ate—never forgot it, honeybee! The place is a dump now, without you. New chef they hired can’t cook to save his fuckin’ life!”
“Oh, that’s right!” Jillian remembered him now—he had always been seated in the high-roller’s section, often with Brad. “Um, how are you?” she asked politely.
“I’m just fine, but I’m afraid Brad’s in some trouble. That’s why I was sent to come get you,” Jimmy told her. He opened the door of the limo. “Get in.”
“What?” Jillian looked at him in confusion. “But I was told that Brad was in the hospital and that it was a life and death situation.”
“Nah, honeybee, you were told to come to the hospital.”
Jimmy was out of the limo now. He was a big guy—not Kindred big, but big enough that he loomed over her in a somewhat simian manner. Jillian thought—as she had when she’d seen him at The Palms—that the big man looked like a gorilla someone had shaved and put into an expensive suit.
“We just wanted to give you a landmark you’d know,” he went on, taking her by the arm to help her into the limo’s plush interior. “Brad’s somewhere close by, in a private facility. He’s safe—for now.”
“But I don’t understand,” she protested, even as she got into the long black car.
“That’s okay—you will,” Jimmy assured her as he closed the door behind them. “Get comfy, honeybee—we’ve got a little ride ahead of us.”
And with that, the limo sped off, taking Jillian with it.
