Chapter 32: The best of plans.

DANIEL LIFTED THE CIGARETTE to his lips, his gaze on the black SUV. He didn't smoke, but it gave him a reason to loiter outside the hospital. Tapping the phone lines hadn't told him anything he couldn't have guessed on his own. What he needed was another way to keep tabs on them, especially once they returned to Vegas later in the day.

Three figures climbed out of the truck. The two men automatically put the smaller woman between them, not that Bliss was worth saving. But she was for later.

He waited until they'd entered the hospital, and then waited longer, letting the cigarette burn down almost to the filter. Disposing of the butt, he kept his head down and strode out to the parking lot, peering at the other cars. No one had pulled in after the two bodyguards, but that didn't mean someone wasn't waiting for him to expose himself. So far, the cops were looking in all the wrong places, the places some other idiot would go on the run. But not him. He had a brain.

Daniel pulled the