Chapter Forty-eight
Once inside, a male nurse recognized Sloan and reached to shake hands and do a man-hug. “Hey, Booker. Figured you’d be here soon. Nice to see you again.”
“You too, man.” Sloan recognized Ryan from high school. They’d hung out but hadn’t caught up with each other for a few years. “Hey, bro, how’re things with you?”
“All good on my side, married now and got a kid on the way. How about you?”
“Not so lucky.” He glanced at Alia and then back to Ryan. “But I’m working on it. Meet Alia Hawkins, a friend from the Bureau. How’s the ole man?”
“Hi, Alia.” Ryan shook hands with her. “Roy’s in 404 and he’s making a fuss. Says he needs to get home; something about a kid he’s taking care of.”
“Okay, thanks.” Sloan stopped Ryan from hurrying away. “Hey, man, two questions. One – where can I get an allergy shot for felines? I have a blasted cat in the house and it’s almost killing me.”
“Where? How about in the ass.” Ryan laughed at Sloan’s darkening expression and thumped him on the arm. “Just kidding, dude. Lighten up. They’re working on a new product named Cat-SPIRE. It’s promising to stop the symptoms after only four shots but the producers are still doing case studies now. Other than that, there’re needles, but it isn’t only one shot. It can take many.” Watching Sloan’s face drop, he added. “You’re probably better off just using the over-the-counter medication for now and getting rid of the cat.”
“Shit.”
Alia stepped closer. “We’ll take her back to the garage, Sloan. Kean will understand.”
“Yeah. Well, we’ll talk about it. In the meantime, can you tell us how Miss Hawkins can donate some blood for Roy? Les said he needs a transfusion and she’s his blood type, AB.”
Ryan perked up, looking interested. “Come with me, Alia, and I’ll take you to the lab. It’ll be good for the old guy to get some of the fresh red stuff. He’s pretty lethargic as well as argumentative.”
Sloan let go of her hand and watched Alia follow the blue-garbed nurse before he headed to room 404.
Roy was lying back on the white pillow, his hair a billowing cloud of silver framing his tanned face. The vivid blue of his eyes had paled slightly and his usual happy glow seemed less happy.