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"No need to send him to Morpheus just yet," Rob said as he flipped on the safety and pocketed the nine "Did you find the other esture with his free hand "He’s concealed hiroped at the back of his belt until he felt his throay piece He thought about ja it into the Brit’s belly, but the other un he had left "Leggo," he wheezed

"My pleasure" Will shoved DeLuca away

"How the hell did…" DeLuca trailed off as he clearly saw the three holes in Rob’s sweater No blood stained the knit, and through the holes only pale, unmarked flesh showed His eyes shifted to the other distorted slugs scattered on the lobby floor before he aze "What the hell are you?"

"Rather more than a rat or a bastard" Rob stepped between DeLuca and the hostages His eyes began to change, the centers shrinking to thin slivers of black while the purple turned darker and becas of copper "Where is your acco and landed on one of the teller’s ith a loud clatter So like an unray-white smoke into the air

Norman backed away

"It would seerenade into a far corner

"Apparently they’ve no interest in negotiating" Rob knelt beside the unconscious bank er to cover her mouth and nose with a white handkerchief "Take care of thean to sing what sounded like a lullaby, his voice soft and low, and went fro his hand briefly on an arm, shoulder, or neck As soon as he touched someone, they s a minute later, everyone in the lobby had fallen asleep

The tear gas burned DeLuca’s eyes as he kept backing up out of the reception area He didn’t knohat kind of weird hypnosis the blond guy was using, but neither he nor Rob was paying any attention to his happen, but the way this was going down defied all logic or explanation

The hell with the Italian and the goods; I’ve got to get out--now

DeLuca ai three shots into his forehead before swiveling and eazine into the back of Rob’s skull He then hurried to thethe door behind him

The businessman he’d jumped earlier still sat where he’d left hiy eyes opened to watch DeLuca strip out of his hten the checked blue jacket and white trousers he wore underneath

"Hey I’ve been ed," the businessman said as soon as DeLuca yanked the duct tape from his mouth The Rohypnol he’d been forced to s ed in my own bank" He looked down at the jumpsuit Deluca had dressed him in earlier "And these aren’tthe soggy cotton balls out of his mouth, and stuck them in his pocket "There’s been a robbery" He uncuffed the businessman and pulled a clean ski et out of here"

"That right?" Dilated eyes rolled comically around the holes in the mask "Why did you put this on as inside the bank," DeLuca told him "It’ll protect your face"

He popped open the businessman’s briefcase, the contents of which he had dumped into the trash earlier, and transferred the h, but it would get him out of Atlanta

DeLuca stuffed his own ju "Don’t let anyone take this away from you," he told the man as he uncuffed him and helped hiave hiot evidence I’ll be a hero"

"Yeah" DeLuca finished by pressing his empty backup piece into the man’s hand "You’ll need this, too Watch out for the bank robbers They’re dressed exactly like cops"

The businessun and used one eye to peer into the barrel "Smells like firecrackers Should I shoot at thehtened his jacket "No, just point it at them That’ll scare them, and they’ll back off"

"Okay" The businesser past DeLuca "What about that guy?"

DeLuca turned and saw Rob standing against the door

"No Can’t be You… you’re dead"

"Killing me takes more than a few bullets" Rob walked over to the business this poor fellow out, drugged and dressed as he is, however, would work very well Are you a murderer as well as a thief?"

The restrooes

"No," DeLuca heard himself murmur

"It’s tian re businessman

It’s ti in his head, as they had been mercilessly for the last twenty minutes, Norman opened his eyes and stepped into the bathtub As he sat down, he bent his elbows and knees to fit his arainst his back and ass He turned on the water, adjusting the temperature to lukewarm, but left the drain stopper open