Secret Keeper. Пола Грейвс

matter,” he said.

      “Why not?”

      “Because you’re not doing anything illegal, and my cousin is currently informing the hospital security staff that you’re being removed from the hospital under authority of the Chickasaw County Sheriff’s Department.”

      “He can do that?”

      “The sheriff can, and Aaron’s arranged it with him.”

      “Won’t the sheriff want to know where I am?”

      “Sheriff Canaday has an understanding with Cooper Security. We deal with a lot of high-risk security cases.”

      “The real A.F.O.S.I. is going to want to talk to me,” she warned.

      “I imagine the FBI will, too,” Wade affirmed as they passed the final security camera in the tunnel. “I have a cousin in the Huntsville Resident Agency—we’ll call him in a few days and see how they want to proceed.”

      Annie’s head was starting to swim. “I feel as if I’ve awakened in the middle of a spy movie.”

      Wade laughed softly, the warm, rich sound catching her by surprise. “Believe it or not, I know what you mean.”

      The wheels of the wheelchair rattling on the dull tile flooring made a loud clatter that echoed off the walls of the tunnel, drowning out almost everything else. But not even the squeaky wheels could mask the loud ding of the elevator at the other end of the hall.

      “Is that—?”

      Wade paused a second, then suddenly started running. She felt his breath hot in her ear as they picked up speed and heard, when his steps quickened, that his limp nearly disappeared when he ran. Behind them, the pounding of footsteps on the linoleum echoed down the tunnel.

      “Wade—”

      “Almost there,” he breathed, his shoes squeaking on the floor. He sounded almost as scared as she felt.

      The chair made it impossible for her to turn around and look to see who was coming behind them. But who else could it be? The men who’d come to her room to take her away had apparently figured out where she’d gone.

      They reached the end of the long tunnel, where a heavy-looking steel door stood between them and whatever came next. Through the large square window set into the door, Annie glimpsed a concrete parking deck before Wade hurried around the chair and held out his hands. “We have to run,” he urged, his dark eyes meeting hers.

      She let him pull her to her feet, daring a quick look behind them as they ran for the door. The two fake A.F.O.S.I. agents were gaining on them, only fifty yards back down the tunnel.

      Wade pushed open the door and pulled her outside with him, emerging into a dimly lit parking garage at a sprint.

      But there was no getaway vehicle waiting for them.