Page 80 of Sentinel's Kiss
“Where are you off to now?” Ashley asked, annoyed.
“I’m sorry, baby. I’ve got some things to take care of.”
“Victoria and Molly?”
Sentinel didn’t like to lie, but that one was convenient. “Yeah.”
“Late hours.” She sat up, wrapping the cover around her.
“I’m a night owl, and they need me.” He felt like a grade-A shit using those poor defenseless babies as an alibi.
“I’ll go with you.” She threw back the covers and looked around for her clothes.
“No,” he said, a little more sharply than he’d intended.
Ashley cocked her head at him in puzzlement.
“You had a long day. A long, stressful day.”
She considered his words. “True.” He hated that he had made her doubt herself. “I guess I thought I could handle it. But you’re right. I’m a loose cannon right now.”
“No, you’re not. It’s also that you have to have a background check and get cleared medically before you can cuddle the babies.” That was true, at least. “You’d only be hanging out in the waiting room. You’d be better off here.”
“Nah, I’m going to go home. I don’t feel right being here without you.”
“Shit,” he said. “I’m sorry I woke you.”
“It’s all right.” Ashley pulled on her underwear and her jeans. “I’ll just call an Uber.”
“The hell you will. Ryder can give you a lift.”
“If she’s even awake.”
“She is.”
“Don’t you think you should ask her first?”
He needed to get the information for the hit without Ashley listening in, so he nodded. “Yeah, let me go find her. Meet me downstairs after you get dressed.”
Sentinel rushed out of the room and darted into the boardroom. Warden and Evil were also there. “Don’t you two sleep?” Sentinel asked his other two friends. Evil was nursing a beer and Warden was drinking coffee. “We have to hurry. Ashley wants to go home. Can you take her?”
Ryder nodded.
“Ryder wanted us to hear this. Where does Ashley think you’re going?” Warden asked.
“Hospital for the babies.”
Evil grunted. “Better hope she doesn’t check.”
Ryder clapped her hands to get their attention. “Okay, real quick then. Our guy’s name is Lewis Jones. He was dishonorably discharged from the army for slugging a superior officer.”
“Shit,” Sentinel said. He knew better than to ask Ryder if she was sure. She wouldn’t have gathered them all together until she had double-checked her facts several times.
“Like I said, one of us can do this.”
“Go on.” Sentinel hated having to kill another brother in arms, but Lewis had gone off the rails when he killed women and children whose only crime was being involved with an asshole.
“He applied for a maintenance position at the Poconos Hunting Club three years ago. No family. No close friends.”