Chapter 52

Ronan types in the code to open the door and heads inside, with Dustin following. They’re on the second floor. So they go upstairs, and then Ronan lets them into the office, where he finds his whole team waiting. Harry is on his laptop on the couch, Lisa is cleaning her gun at her desk, and Alice is at her desk typing something on her keyboard. Rick and Alan are standing in the little kitchen area, drinking coffee.

They all look up when he walks into the room. They knew he was coming from the moment he keyed in his code, but to anyone else it would look like they just sensed him.

“Boss is back!” Alice grins, looking much younger than her forty years—mainly because of her smile, partly because of the fact she’s wearing her hair in pigtails and a Hello Kitty T-shirt.

“I’ve only been gone a week,” Ronan points out.

“You know this place isn’t the same without you. They slack,” Rick laughs.