Page 40 -- V.

Chapter Five: ‘Beholden to thy grim task...’
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Night arrived by the time Hector reached the hospital. He tried to air out his freshly sweat-soaked clothes as he entered the building.

Mallory’s daughter was supposed to be in protective custody for the remainder of the night, and Garovel had initially wanted Hector to get some rest. But then the reaper heard some of the officers talking privately. Each of the four guards assigned to her expected Rofal’s men to come for her by night’s end, and only Officer Colt seemed to harbor any notion of standing in their way. And it hadn’t taken the other three long to talk him down.

Having no need of further direction, Hector waited until the man at the reception desk wasn’t looking and snuck past. He held his bag close at his side and tried not to make eye contact with any of the passing attendants.

Mallory had been taken to the rear wing of the hospital for surgery, and according to Garovel, his daughter sat in the waiting room. Hector peeked around the corner and saw the four officers standing at the other end of the hall.

‘I see the room,’ he thought. He took a seat out of the officers’ sightline.

‘Good. I’m with the daughter.’

‘Learn anything new?’

‘Her name is Melissa. A bit on the short side, looks a couple years older than you, brown hair, ponytail in a braid, green shirt with a cute dog on it, blue pants, white sneakers--’

‘That--uh--that’s a lot of information...’

‘You may need to know what she looks like.’

‘Uh... yeah, okay. Thanks. I meant more, um... about the mother or about Rofal, maybe...’